1940's Ideal Wooden Superman

[RickD]

The superman symbol is in tact.
The skin around the neck area is coming up.
Paint around the body is worn.
Looks to be the original cape.
No box

Price tag of $595. Seller is offering 15% discount. Any thoughts?

[MegoSteve]

How is the head? Any cracks? How does it look from the back?

Hard to tell, but the eyebrows look a little weird.

Overall, it looks pretty good. The face looks really nice on this one. If I saw this in person and the head was in decent shape and the browline didn't look like it was repainted, I'd probably buy it.

[RickD]

The head is in tact, no cracks. Just the paint looks to be coming up. Eyebrows looked weird to, but maybe my eyes are deceiving me.

These are usually found to be repainted but this one doesn't look to be. I've seen only a couple of these over the years and never with the original cape.

Thought I'd get some opinions before I dropped the cash. Would be nice to have it in my collection.

[RickD]

[MegoSteve]

If you are buying it for yourself, I'd say go for it. I don't think you'd have a hard time getting your money out of it if you needed to. I've wanted one for a while and would buy this if I saw it in person and it looked as good as your photos indicate. (That's also because I know where I can get the chest and neck restored through a friend of a friend) Nice faces are tough to find on these, and this definitely has a good face. Like you said, many have been restored, but unfortunately so many of the faces have been ruined by overzealous restoration. In my opinion, restoration in general isn't a problem if it's well done, because the composition is so delicate and really wasn't manufactured to survive 80+ years under normal conditions.

Check out this eBay auction:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-IDEAL-SUPERMAN-DOLL-WOOD-COMPOSITION-1930S-AS-FOUND-AS-IS-/180928058388?pt=US_Action_Figures&hash=item2a20271414

Images aren't online anymore except for the small preview. As you can see, it's in pieces, missing the cape, the entire left arm, most of the right arm, and the face doesn't have anywhere near the eye appeal this one has. It still sold for almost $400.

[RickD]

I can't believe that one sold for almost $400.

This piece is the holy grail for some superman collectors. Not many pop up.

[MegoSteve]

Hake's auction has them pretty frequently. They also pop up on eBay every once in a while, but they seemed to dry up on eBay late last year and the last couple went higher than I would have expected. It's tops on my want list, but I know there are enough of them out there to wait for the right combination of affordable price/nice face paint.

[toys2cool]

Awesome I've always wanted that figure

[Earth 2 Chris]

There was an antique/collectibles/pawn shop in Georgetown, KY about 15 years ago that had some quality stuff. The owner had an absolutely stunning example of this Superman doll. I was so tempted by it, but so broke. I'm not sure if he ever sold it. He kept asking me to make an offer, but I was too afraid to even consider it. I was afraid I'd get way too wrapped up and sell my life away. It was a close to mint as I think you're going to get for a (then) 60 year old wooden toy.

I did buy some nice Mego items from him though.

Chris

[Hector]

The cape alone makes this particular figure at that price a really good buy...more so if you get an additional discount.

I paid more for mine, and it has no cape.

[RickD]

I bought it. Was able to talk them down and this will be going straight to my collection. Fantastic piece!

[kingdom warrior]

Congrats! that's one piece that when you come across it and it's in solid shape you buy it if you have the money...if not you will kick yourself for not getting it.....I want to get one myself someday....

[Peter Panda]

I know where there is a beautiful one of these....but it's $800....but it's in super nice shape,cape original paint everything....it's the only one i've ever seen in person....so i'd say this was a good score for you for sure!

[Hector]

Congrats, great buy...can't go wrong with owning the first ever Superman action-figure.

It's a figure that in person, it takes your breath away, and a must have for any toy collector, more so if you love Superman.

[nobody]

It's weird how to looks so much like George Reeves even though it's from the 40's.