I got this guy at Forest Gangu and I can't figure out the maker. I know Marusan made some new ones a couple of years back, so is this a vintage Marusan? Or something different, like a Nitto? BTW, my nose tells me this is vintage...
Ha ha! That doesn't help too much. It looks like the Nitto mark. I have the re-issue in brown around somewhere and it looks the same. I have to dig it out and check the feets. I never noticed if they added a Marusan mark to the re-issue.
Looks like a vintage Nitto to me, judging by the amount of play wear. The reissues are in the same vinyl and spray colors and are very difficult to tell from the originals. They are not marked differently. Slash company did the same thing with the Kawada series Gamera vinyls and others from the Nitto line. I am glad I got mine before the reissues came out. The reissues seem to have more and better applied paint. That vintage smell will also give it away. Marusan only made a Gamera, Barugon, Gappa, and Girara from the original Daiei series toys. They came before the Nitto ones. Nice examples of these easily fetch over 1 grand each.
Thanks for the schooling! It's really hard to find info on Nitto---they seem to get left out of the vintage discussion (in my limited experience, anyway).
I agree they are overlooked and that is a shame. They are some of my favorite pieces. The Marusan and Slash reissues seemed to bring the prices down a little on the originals but I would definately not want to try and put together a collection now from pictures on YJA. The nose knows.
I found my re-issue and it just has the same marking on it. The paint application is a bit more even, but the colors are the same. It's crazy that the there is no way to tell the original from the re-issue! I agree with you guys, it's hard to find anything on Nitto at all. I want to start picking up a few Gamera pieces but like Mark said I can't be sure what is original from auction pics. Poor Nitto always gets shortchanged, just like the Daiei characters. Congrats on a great pickup Hypermook!
