UPDATED APRIL 01, 2018
VINTAGE G I JOE SALESMAN SAMPLE BOXED ACTION SOLDIER
The full description is at the bottom of the page after all of the photos.
I have been collecting a lot of different things most of my life and Vintage G I Joe for 20 years. I have sold hundreds of vintage GIJoe items in that time. I have sold items on my website, on eBay and on other for sale sites. I have been buying and selling on eBay since the beginning of eBay. My dmckee63 screen name was originally registered in January of 1997 and I have had great success making people happy with what I sold to them.
The time has come for me to pare down my collection and this will be the main place I will do so. I will be working on several pages and groupings of items for sale and linking them all to the main front page. I will also be selling items on eBay to get rid of a few harder to sell items. Please come back regularly to see what I have available. Some of these items will be things you have never seen before and will probably never have a chance to buy again once they are gone. Thank you for your time!
A QUICK EXPLANATION ABOUT THE TERM SALESMAN SAMPLE.
A lot of people have misused the term salesman sample over the years. When I use the term, I mean this piece was originally used or intended to be used by a Hasbro Salesman, or an independent salesman representing Hasbro's products. This salesman was given the samples of the products coming to the market to take out and show toy buyers at toy or department stores so they could envision what the item would look like. Many of these salesman samples have shown up over the years but for the most part there has only been either one or two of any particular item ever found. I honestly believe that the items I have chased, the salesman sample small accessory cards and window boxes, there have probably been less than 3 dozen total found in the whole world, EVER! I have actually seen less than 20 of these pieces change hands over the 15 years of looking for them including all of the items I have in my collection.
Most of the known sample cards in are the hands of less than a half dozen collectors, including myself. They are the true definition of RARE. 3 or 4 pieces have shown up on eBay over the years and a few pieces showed up in the big Don Levine auction around 1999. I have actually helped identify 2 small batches of these salesman sample packages when they were unearthed. Both batches were found around the Pawtucket, RI area. One big find was literally found at the Salvation Army, a few miles away from the original Hasbro factory. Regardless of where they come from, they are truly unusual pieces and have very distinctive markings that only a few people in the world can identify. I am photographing and posting these items on my website to sell for the first time. I have owned many of these pieces for a long time and have always been reluctant to post photos of them for fear of people trying to duplicate them and fake out other unsuspecting collectors.
PLEASE note that after I have posted these items that most people will think I have faked them and that I am totally full of crap. Believe what you will but I do know a few honest collectors who have seen my whole collection in person and can verify my claims and where many of the items have come from. This first issue type of stuff has ALWAYS been my specialty in the vintage GIJoe hobby. Please also note that this stuff will never show up for sale again unless someone buys it from me and then tries to resell it.
ITEM #153 - VINTAGE GIJOE SALESMAN SAMPLE COMPLETE BOXED SOLDIER
Here is the front view of the salesman sample box with the dressed salesman sample Joe, exactly how I found him. There have been no substitutions of anything and nothing shown has been added after the fact.
Here is the front view of just the box lid and base. Note how different the front of the box is from a normal soldier box.
Here is the inside of the lid and the bottom of the base. There is very little wear and tear overall.
HERE IS THE RIGHT SIDE OF BOTH BOX PIECES
This shows that this is definitely a salesman sample box. Those beautiful artwork panels were replaced in production with photos of window boxes.
HERE IS THE LEFT SIDE OF BOTH BOX PIECES
You can see how beautiful the original Hasbro design of the Joe boxes was. Why didn't they leave them this way? Too hard for the public to imagine what else would be for sale maybe?
HERE IS A CLOSE UP OF THE BOTTOM END OF BOTH BOX PIECES
This photo really shows exactly what you will get. There is definitely some wear on the box. I am sure the original owner of this piece had no idea this was anything special.
HERE IS A CLOSE UP OF THE TOP END OF BOTH BOX PIECES
Things look a lot better near the top of the box. I would imagine that this box had been shoved in and out of a storage box for over 40 years before I got it into a more protective case.
HERE IS A CLOSE UP OF THE ONLY PAPERWORK THAT CAME WITH THE BOX/FONT>
This is a really important detail too. There were no brochures, boot removal instructions or anything added here. These were original concept samples so they had just the basics; a manual and both sticker sheets.
HERE IS A CLOSE UP OF THE BACK OF THE PAPERWORK
This is a really good close up to show you that the manual had been glued onto something and that the sticker sheets were fairly normal ones.
HERE IS A PHOTO OF THE ACTUAL SALESMAN SAMPLE JOE WITH THE BLANK MANUAL OPENED UP
This is a GREAT Joe in the wonderful uniform he came in. That blank manual was in the whole lot of salesman samples that I bought and it had the sticker sheets tucked inside when it got to me. So, I am including this ultra rare blank manual with the Joe.
HERE IS A CLOSE UP OF THE FRONT OF THE DRESSED SOLDIER
The rubber boots are full size and super soft. The uniform is near mint and the shirt is tagged T M - HONG KONG.
HERE IS A CLOSE UP OF THE JOE'S FACE
This is a really good close up to show you that the Joe's head is full sized, fairly soft and the correct heavy eyeliner and matte paint on the hair.
HERE IS A CLOSE UP OF THE BACK OF THE DRESSED JOE
No scuffs or any paint loss on the head. He is tight and stands very straight.
HERE IS A CLOSE UP OF THE FRONT OF THE NUDE JOE
This Joe has ALL brass rivets and none of them are rusty; they all have the proper aged patina on the brass coating on each rivet. There is very little cracking and almost no wear at all on the body. He has the red pigment coming out of the torso plastic as well.
HERE IS A CLOSE UP OF THE SHOULDER HEAT STAMP MARKINGS
This is the real deal, nothing faked or put together here. Almost mint Nude shoulder stamp, brass rivet Joe, a TRUE SALESMAN SAMPLE FIGURE found in a salesman sample box. Note that all body parts are marked, as they should be, with only L or R on the body parts.
HERE IS A CLOSE UP OF THE JOE'S BUTT
This is a really good close up to show you that the butt on a shoulder stamped Joe should be very shiny because it was MADE WITH NO MARKINGS. I have seen several alleged salesman sample Joes that had butts that were dull, like someone had sanded off the markings and made it look unusual. This crap is just a lie, trying to sell normal junk for more than it is worth.
HERE IS A CLOSE UP OF THE WHOLE BACK OF THE JOE
You can see there is very little cracking, which is unusual for any first run Joe. There is also almost no wear or scuffing anywhere. This Joe has not been played with at all.
HERE IS A CLOSE UP OF THE RIGHT FOREARM
This is the only really bad crack on the Joe. It had not fallen apart when I put this piece of tape on the forearm to keep it from falling apart and getting lost.
HERE IS A CLOSE UP OF THE SUPER SOFT LIGHT BROWN RUBBER BOOTS
These are original to the Joe and they are perfect. They slip on and off the Joe's feet easily!
HERE IS A CLOSE UP OF THE FRONT OF THE UNIFORM
AGAIN, this is the original uniform that came on this Joe, in this box! It is the exact uniform I would expect to find on a first issue T M - T M boxed Joe, even a salesman sample figure.
HERE IS A CLOSE UP OF THE BACK OF THE UNIFORM
You can see that there is a small amount of wear on the uniform, probably from him being inside the rough paper box for 50 years. You can see a couple of rust spots on the uniform which I believe came from the rusty staples on the blank manual that was found with the Joe, in this salesman sample box.
HERE IS A CLOSE UP OF THE RUST SPOTS ON THE UNIFORM
These are very small spots but I want to disclose any flaw. You can't argue with the photo quality right? This iPhone I have has an amazing camera!
HERE IS A CLOSE UP OF THE TAG ON THE SHIRT
Just being thorough, showing the first issue tag inside the first issue uniform.
ITEM #151 - VINTAGE GIJOE SALESMAN SAMPLE BOXED ACTION SOLDIER
Salesman Sample boxed figures have shown up from time to time over the years in varying degrees of condition and authenticity. I think I have seen 3 or 4 other of these Soldier boxes in 15 or so years so they are quite rare. What makes this piece so special is that he is being sold exactly as I found him. He came in a large salesman sample lot with tons of loose pieces and one sealed package and with the Salesman Sample Sailor box which I also have listed. The person who purchases this box will get my saved photo of the whole lot which will prove that all of the items came together. I can guarantee NO OTHER collector had enough foresight to provide evidence to the next owner. I know a lot of people are and will be skeptical of what I am claiming. I do have a few people who know me and have seen my collection, including this salesman sample boxed Joe and will help vouch for it's authenticity.
This salesman sample boxed Soldier includes everything photographed above. The salesman sample box, the heat stamped all brass rivet Joe, the first issue shirt, pants, brown soft rubber boots, blank Soldier manual and rank and insignia sticker sheets. I do wish he had come with a cloth fatigue cap but there was no fatigue hat of any kind in the lot or dog tag either! One of the previously found boxes and Joes like this sold for $17,000 back in 1999 and it wasn't in as complete a condition as mine. Interestingly, there was no salesman sample Soldier box in any of the Don Levine auction pieces back in 1999. I have owned this salesman sample lot of items for a long time and you can be the next owner of this boxed Soldier for $4,900.
Feel free to contact me with any questions you might have. I stand behind everything I sell 100% and all of my descriptions are guaranteed to be extremely accurate.
There will be NO HIDDEN DAMAGE, NOTHING WRONG that is not described, there will be NO HIDDEN SURPRISES.
I promise that I will treat your transaction the same as if I were the one doing the buying and making sure that you are satisfied with your purchase.
I accept credit card payments through PayPal (my user ID is the same as my email address, dmckee63@aol.com)
If you still like to do things the old fashioned way I can accept postal money orders in the mail as well.
Make sure to send me an email (dmckee63@aol.com) BEFORE SENDING a PayPal payment if you want to purchase something.
I am including the price of INSURED PRIORITY MAIL in all sales over $50.
Let me know if you prefer shipping via UPS or Fed Ex.
EMAIL DAN MCKEE TO ORDER ANYTHING BY CLICKING HERE!
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UPDATED APRIL 01, 2018