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Royalty Industries Boy/Girl Hobbit (Troll Doll)

21 Apr, 2023
2023-4-21 1:29:26 AM UTC

I came across this piece of ephemera for sale on AbeBooks…a flyer for a series of toy hobbit, troll-like dolls. Dated to 1973.

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The Hobbit Craze is Sweeping the Country: ...
Royalty Industries, Inc.
30359470498
(Paperback)
$18.00
Availability: Not Available


Looks like these dolls were distributed by Royalty Industries out of Florida.

I personally don’t recall ever seeing these in stores back then. And a search on the Tolkien Visual Collecting Guide produced no results.

Does anyone have insight in to these toys? (They can still be found for sale on eBay, Etsy). I was curious if there is some interesting history here…

5090_6441e6ada2191.jpeg 1653X1290 px
21 Apr, 2023
2023-4-21 2:28:54 AM UTC
Possibly an ill-advised last attempt to stay afloat for this company?

https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_fl/260417
21 Apr, 2023
2023-4-21 2:30:14 AM UTC
Fascinating! I don't think I've run across these before, personally. I tried to check a few 1973 Tolkien-related publications and didn't find any mention yet.

Also I checked the Beyond Bree List of Tolkienalia, George Beahm's The Essential J.R.R. Tolkien Sourcebook and James Gillam's Treasures From the Misty Mountains and didn't find anything in those collecting references, either.
21 Apr, 2023
2023-4-21 3:52:21 AM UTC
It could be that they were never sold. That seems to be a manufacturer's brochure, not a commercial one. The dating would be late 1960s, during the Troll craze, so one would think that they should have appeared by now.

Also, that 'TM' by 'HOBBITS' would have proven problematic. Tolkien trademarked 'hobbit'.
21 Apr, 2023 (edited)
2023-4-21 3:58:36 AM UTC
Do a quick search and you will see there are hundreds (thousands?) of these for sale on eBay, etsy, etc. Definitely we’re commercially sold!

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from= ... +industries+1973&_sacat=0

Tolkien never trademarked anything in his lifetime - the Estate trademarked "Tolkien", his monogram, and his signature more recently. It was Tolkien Enterprises (now Middle-earth Enterprises) that started trademarking proper names once they had the rights but that was long after 1973.
21 Apr, 2023 (edited)
2023-4-21 8:08:16 AM UTC
That is interesting there are no mention of these toys. Maybe they never actually made it out for sale and sat in storage? Also could be coincidence, but the timing of the product release appears to have been in 1973, same year as Tolkien’s death…

Anyway, I bought a 5 inch doll on eBay just to have (I couldn’t bring myself to get the 8 or 12 inch size). It did have a price sticker on the bottom of its foot for $3.25.

5090_644243c43d546.jpeg 1199X1080 px
21 Apr, 2023
2023-4-21 10:50:52 AM UTC
Ah, interesting. I was recalling the summary a letter from Joy Hill to Tolkien, 9 August 1966, in Hammond and Scull, Chronology, 706: 'She points out that it is not possible to copyright or patent the phrase ‘The Hobbit’, but it could be
registered as a trademark.' This was in response to a letter to her by Tolkien, 8 August 1966, Chronology, 705–6, in which he
asks if it would be possible to patent the word Hobbit which would ‘at least prevent people sticking this label on disgusting objects, or on any objects, [706] without some compensation’ (Tolkien–George Allen & Unwin
archive, HarperCollins). Clyde S. Kilby will recall: ‘A problem that was bothering him when I was with him involved an American manufacturer who proposed to exploit the Hobbit image by making dolls, T-shirts and the like. This manufacturer declared his intention of going ahead with or without permission but offered some remuneration for the privilege. Again I felt it was simply a legal matter that need not at all trouble Tolkien the writer’ (Tolkien & The Silmarillion, p. 32).

I wonder if these are some of the 'disgusting objects' or 'dolls' of an 'American manufacturer' he was concerned with?
21 Apr, 2023
2023-4-21 11:22:28 AM UTC

oxonianus wrote:

I wonder if these are some of the 'disgusting objects' or 'dolls' of an 'American manufacturer' he was concerned with?

Could be! Even though 50 years later I look at these more fondly, I could see how many folk might consider these toys disgusting. ?
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