“Waxy” plastic prehistoric animals and cavemen toys made by Miller in 1956. The animals came in both large and small sizes. Kresges dime stores originally sold the large toys for 39 cents apiece. Today, when they can be found in good condition, their going price is considerably higher.
While Miller’s Tyrannosaurus (below) was based on the one depicted by artist Rudolph Zallinger in his “Age of Reptiles” mural for Yale University’s Peabody Museum of Natural History (some of the other Miller figures were also based on Zallinger’s work), the toy seems to have been the inspiration for this statue on display at Dinosaur Valley Bridge in downtown Drumheller, Alberta, Canada (both painting and statue seen in these souvenir postcards).
The Miller “Brontosaurus” (correctly Apatosaurus) was the basis for a Sinclair metal collectibible of the 1960s, a large statue (as shown in a postcard) at Drumheller, Alberta, Canada’s “Prehistoric Parks,” and also a ceramic figure by Elizabeth Simpson, also from Drumheller.
This Miller Dimetrodon figure was based on Zallinger’s depiction of the sail-backed pelycosaur in his “Age of Reptiles” painting, reproduced in the souvenir postcard from Yale University’s Peabody Museum of Natural History shown below.
Miller’s figure of Megatherium, a giant ground sloth, was based on the animal as featured in Zallinger’s “Age of Mammals” mural., also done for the Yale museum.
The Miller woolly rhinoceros Coelodonta was based on a painting by Charles R. Knight done for the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
