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Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Keystone No. 823 Shooting Frontier Set - Pt 1

I came across  this set a couple of years and thought it was so cool. As someone who grew up in the '50s and '60s the nostalgic pull of Cowboys & Indians themed toys was too strong for me and I bit the bullet to get the set. I guess it was the really nice graphics or perhaps a nearly complete set with a fort, cowboys, Indians, desperado's, ranch hands, stagecoach, and covered wagon but it sure did appeal to me at the time. The set is missing it's small rifle which apparently shot 'harmless' projectiles at the figures - this is after all a shooting game, a very popular type of toy back in the day. The pieces are all either solid wood or laminated wood with colorful lithography - a hallmark of Keystone toys of the '50s of which I have several.

The set consists of:
-1 rifle w/'ammo' (missing in my sample)
-Stockade with mountain backdrop
-2 'L' shaped stockade walls
-Small mountain backdrop
-Stagecoach
-Covered Wagon
-6 Indians w/bases
-9 Cowboys/Cavalry/Ranchers w/bases

Okay, we'll let the photos do most of the talking from here on out. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina





The stockade/mountain piece measures 23" (58.42cm) W x 11 1/2" (29.21cm) H



Both terrain pieces have ledges on the rear to hold set pieces
Notice the red 'M' on the back side. Many of the pieces are marked like this and I believe it was some well meaning mother (or maybe even the young lad who's set this was) marking ownership of the toys. Who owned this set? Mikey? Marvin? Matt?


The small terrain piece measures 11 1/2" (29.21cm) W x 4 1/2" (11.43cm) H

There are two long sections and two short section that combine into 'L' shaped stockade walls


The figures are all lithographed front and back and slip on to half-round bases allowing them to stand on their own or on the ledges in the rear of the terrain pieces.

The figures are quite tall, the Cavalryman on horse back w/guidon (top row, far left) measures 5 1/2" (13.97cm) H


My set came with a small wood cabin but I don't believe it's original to the set, however I did use it in the photos because it looks 'right' when displayed with all the other pieces.




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