Vintage 1940's Nosco Don Manning Figurines Rearing Horse and Gazelle RARE Copper Electroplated Collectibles

Two 1940's Nosco Don Manning figurines. Rearing horse and gazelle figurine. Modernistics series?

We have not seen any other figurines with this particular copper electroplate? finish except for two that we saw in silver tone and gold tone electroplate on a blog page.

So we think these would be on the rare side? They measure about 3" tall.

The horse is marked USA on one foot. The gazelle is not marked, but it could be under the electroplate. They are in decent shape with the exception of the copper coating inconstancy in a few places. And on the inside of one leg on the horse, the coating is flaked a bit in one area. I have pointed this all out in all photos. Please check all photos out. All sales are final.

Some blurbs on Don Manning and Nosco from the net:

"a series of a dozen artistic animal figures carved by Don as a basis for one of their first molds for plastic objects continues to sell steadily in the art shops."6 The article makes it clear that both Manning brothers were talented artists, but their true interests lay chiefly in designing and making the molds for creating products rather than in the products themselves which is likely how Nosco Plastics comes into the story.

Nosco Plastics, which specialized in "slum." These were small plastic toys that could be made quickly, cheaply, and in large volume to be sold as prizes for carnivals, charms, drink identifiers, cake decorations, etc. Nosco made a variety of brightly colored toys---soldiers, cars, trucks, various animals, and more. They are best known as the original producers of the Cracker Jack box toys.

The popularity of these toys really took off in the boom years following World War II, and in 1946, Nosco acquired the copyright to produce a variety of the animals designed by Don Manning. Presumably, these are some of the same animal designs referenced in the 1936 newspaper article mentioned above. From the articles, it sounds as though Manning produced these pieces from his own factory for a while before licensing the designs to Nosco."

More info on Wikipedia:

"The Modernistics"

In the 1940s, NOSCO produced some of its first non-organ items in the molded plastic figures by New York designer Don Manning. They were stylistic pre-war art deco versions of animals such as camels, deer, dogs, elephants, giraffes, horses, storks, and unicorns. Many are marked "USA" and some are marked "Don Manning".

Some larger ones are marked "Designed Don Manning". The larger molds were eventually copied by the Breyer Molding Company and were issued as the "Golden Buck" and the "Golden Doe" (often referred to by collectors as the Modernistic Buck and Doe).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nosco_Plastics