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A Buck Rogers celluloid button sold in March 2019 for $2,764 plus the buyer’s premium at Hake’s Auctions. Image courtesy of Hake’s Auctions and LiveAuctioneers.

Vintage Buck Rogers collectibles go back to the future

Sheila Gibson Stoodley
Sheila Gibson Stoodley
A Buck Rogers celluloid button sold in March 2019 for $2,764 plus the buyer’s premium at Hake’s Auctions. Image courtesy of Hake’s Auctions and LiveAuctioneers.
A Buck Rogers celluloid button sold in March 2019 for $2,764 plus the buyer’s premium at Hake’s Auctions. Image courtesy of Hake’s Auctions and LiveAuctioneers.

NEW YORK — Space exploration continues to fascinate. Millions watched Neil Armstrong take his first steps on the moon, followed the troubled Apollo 13 mission and viewed launches of civilian astronauts on rockets funded by billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson. Closer to home, space toys have provided hours of imaginative play for kids of all ages, and a longtime favorite in this field has been the fictional Buck Rogers.

Buck Rogers made his debut in a novella, Armageddon 2419 A.D., published in August 1928. The character had his own syndicated comic strip series in the 1930s, which was later adapted for radio, TV, film, video games and books. At the height of its popularity, the Buck Rogers comic strip was published in nearly 300 newspapers in the United States. An 1½-inch celluloid character button from 1936, depicting Buck Rogers and Dr. Elias Huer with a small rocket ship in the background, may have been issued by a newspaper to promote the comic strip. An example sold at Hake’s Auctions for $2,764 in March 2019. Hake’s wrote in the catalog description for this button that they had only seen four examples in 52 years in business and this item was a “must have for even the most advanced Buck and/or character pinback button collection.”

Buck Rogers toys first appeared in stores in 1933, a few years after the comic strip started and one year after the radio show began. Comics and entertainment-related merchandising is the norm today, but it definitely wasn’t in the 1930s. Some pop culture historians credit Buck Rogers with being one of the earliest characters licensed for toys and merchandise, along with Mickey Mouse and Popeye.

A 1935 Buck Rogers pocket watch realized $1,900 plus the buyer’s premium in November 2017 at Milestone Auctions. Image courtesy of Milestone Auctions and LiveAuctioneers.
A 1935 Buck Rogers pocket watch realized $1,900 plus the buyer’s premium in November 2017 at Milestone Auctions. Image courtesy of Milestone Auctions and LiveAuctioneers.

In any case, Buck Rogers rode a wave of interest in outer space. Kids who sat rapt for tales of Roy Rogers and the Lone Ranger immediately saw the appeal of the good guy vs. bad guy storylines set against an interstellar backdrop. Buck Rogers became part of American culture, and even non-toy companies were eager to cash in. The E. Ingraham Company in Bristol, Connecticut released a colorful and striking Buck Rogers pocket watch that featured Buck Rogers and Colonel Wilma Deering on the front with a Cyclops-style monster on the back. A 1935 example that appears to have never been used realized $1,900 plus the buyer’s premium in November 2017 at Milestone Auctions.

Nearly a dozen toy makers produced Buck Rogers toys and merchandise, including Britains, which created a set of action figures around 1935 that was available for just one year. The set of non-articulated figures featured Buck Rogers, Colonel Wilma Deering, Dr. Huer, Killer Kane, Princess Ardala and Meccano Man.

A Buck Rogers Atomic Pistol Holster Set with its original box realized $3,700 plus the buyer’s premium in October 2018 at Milestone Auctions. Image courtesy of Milestone Auctions and LiveAuctioneers.
A Buck Rogers Atomic Pistol Holster Set with its original box realized $3,700 plus the buyer’s premium in October 2018 at Milestone Auctions. Image courtesy of Milestone Auctions and LiveAuctioneers.

Action figures and vehicles were immediately popular, but toy space guns were the most iconic accoutrement in the Buck Rogers universe. Various makers released several different lines of toy guns between the 1930s and the 1950s. Most made a popping noise and activated a flashing red light when fired. The Daisy Manufacturing Company in Plymouth, Michigan created multiple iterations on the form, including a Buck Rogers Atomic Pistol and a later version dubbed the Disintegrator Pistol. An example of the company’s Atomic Pistol Holster Set, featuring a leather holster and retaining its original box, made $3,700 plus the buyer’s premium in October 2018 at Milestone Auctions. The pistol is said to have originally sold in stores for about a dollar.

Interest in Buck Rogers waned around 1947, with the advent of the Cold War. The first Buck Rogers television show aired in 1950, but it only ran one year. But pop culture is famously cyclical. Buck Rogers enjoyed a revival in the late 1970s.

A Buck Rogers in the 25th Century movie debuted in March 1979 and doubled as a pilot for the NBC network’s TV series broadcast that fall. As with the 1950 attempt, this TV show also proved short-lived, airing for just two seasons. Nonetheless, collectibles inspired by the show and the movie are now highly coveted.

Buck Rogers’ robot assistant Twiki appeared on an NBC show that aired from fall 1979 to spring 1981. A Buck Rogers Twiki communications playset sold for $200 plus the buyer’s premium in January 2021 at Van Eaton Galleries. Image courtesy of Van Eaton Galleries and LiveAuctioneers.
Buck Rogers’ robot assistant Twiki appeared on an NBC show that aired from fall 1979 to spring 1981. A Buck Rogers Twiki communications playset sold for $200 plus the buyer’s premium in January 2021 at Van Eaton Galleries. Image courtesy of Van Eaton Galleries and LiveAuctioneers.

When articulated figures, which had posable limbs, appeared in the 1970s, action figures came into their own. Mego created action figures and toys for the Buck Rogers franchise and learned from then-upstart toy company Kenner, which made a splash with its Star Wars line. Mego produced Buck Rogers action figures that could interact with vehicles and, in a minor stroke of genius, made the figures in the same scale as Kenner’s Star Wars figures, not-so-subtly encouraging children to buy and mix figures across toy lines. While heroes Rogers and Deering and villains Princess Ardala and Killer Kane were the central characters, a popular character on the 1979 TV show was Twiki, a robot voiced by the legendary Mel Blanc. A Buck Rogers Twiki communications playset sold for $200 plus the buyer’s premium in January 2021 at Van Eaton Galleries. It included a pair of walkie talkies, a wrist radio, a battery-op Twiki robot toy and a Buck Rogers belt.

A Buck Rogers rocket ship, made by Marx and offered with its box, brought $2,000 plus the buyer’s premium at Bertoia Auctions in May 2020. Image courtesy of Bertoia Auctions and LiveAuctioneers.
A Buck Rogers rocket ship, made by Marx and offered with its box, brought $2,000 plus the buyer’s premium at Bertoia Auctions in May 2020. Image courtesy of Bertoia Auctions and LiveAuctioneers.

And lastly, what would a franchise set in space be without a spaceship? Rockets are as vital to Buck Rogers as ray guns. A boxed Buck Rogers rocket ship made by Marx brought $2,000 plus the buyer’s premium at Bertoia Auctions in May 2020.

Long before Buzz Lightyear famously quipped “to infinity and beyond,” Buck Rogers was vicariously taking kids on space adventures. Though Buck Rogers now represents retro-futuristic cool and early 20th century nostalgia, he continues to take collectors on wondrous voyages in the form of vintage branded collectibles and merchandise.