A Squid Day Mystery: Who made this vintage Architeuthis toy?
It’s 10/10, Squid Day, and the last of the International Cephalopod Awareness Days. I ran out of time to get the big post I’d planned to have finished by today, so instead I thought I’d take advantage of all this increased awareness to try to get a little mystery solved.
When I was a kid in the 70s, I remember one of our neighbors had a cool set of orange toy sea animals. I had forgotten all about them until I found these two figures (see photos below) at a flea market in Raleigh, NC several years ago. They mystery is that I have no idea who made these toys, or when, exactly, they were produced. Furthermore, I can find absolutely no trace of them on the Internet. None.
The underside of this figure reads “Giant Squid 60ft” and the number 12. There is no manufacturer name or date (not even a “Made in China”). I am fairly certain that each animal in the set was numbered, indicating that there were at least twelve pieces.
[Squid Day Fact! It was once widely accepted that Architeuthis, the Giant Squid, grew to a maximum length of 60 ft. or even longer. These figures were largely based on a dubious report from 1877. Modern length estimates for Architeuthis are more conservative, usually in the 30-40 ft range. That's not to say that larger specimens are not waiting for us down in the depths...]
The other figure from this set that I have is the Giant Oarfish (Regalecus glesne), on which is printed “Oarfish 30ft” and the number 7. To my knowledge, this is the only toy reproduction of an oarfish that has ever been made.
Apart from the Giant Squid and the Oarfish, the only others I specifically remember are a Sperm Whale, Manta Ray, and (I think) a Sailfish.
A commenter on Flickr has a vague memory of these toys and thinks they might have been part of a mail away promotion, but he can’t remember anything else specific. So, if anyone has any information about this toy line–who made it, what other sea animals were included, etc.–please let me know!
Also, if anyone owns any other figures from this set, I’d love to post pictures of them here!
Tags: architeuthis, giant squid, ICAD, International Cephalopod Awareness Day, oarfish, Squid Day, vintage toys
As High Priestess of the Cult of the Great Oarfish, I think you should surrender that toy to me!
All joking aside, I seem to recall some references to a plastic oarfish being available as part of a sea-themed fruit snack promotion, but I think that was from the 80s or 90s, not the 70s. I could be wrong, though, since I read about it 10-11 years ago when I was most obsessed with oarfish.
I had this toy set way back in the 70’s as a kid. I remember the oarfish, the squid and a manta ray in the set. I had gotten the set at a local drug store in a shopping plaza up the street from my house in Louisville, Ky. It was about 1973 I think.
Howdy!
I might be able to shed a little light on the Mystery of the Plastic Oarfish.
In or around 1972, we found the aforementioned toy in a box of Ruskets cereal (similar to Wheatabix). Our family instantly fell in love with the creature.