The holy grail of animal figures

[AnimalToyForum]

Does anyone have any idea what are the rarest most sought after animal figures? In particular, are there any retired figures from Schleich or Safari Ltd that are now considered the holy grail of animal collectors? If not, do you have your own personal holy grail?

[brontodocus]

Interesting (and difficult) question. Didn't Battat make a highly sought after African Bush Elephant that was rearing up? Oh, wait, no... that was some sauropod figure...
I'm sure some old retired Schleich figures would qualify but I can't say which one since I'm not collecting these. I'm sure we do have some members here who do know more about the really rare ones.
About Safari Ltd, many retired figures are quite rare (although they probably wouldn't qualify to be seen as the holy grail), notably the Vanishing Wild Collection (the predecessor of the Wildlife Wonders, only with massive instead of hollow figures and even larger on average). African Bush Elephant Female, Gemsbok, and Snow Leopard come to mind. Even the Monterey Bay Aquarium Collection has some rare and sought after retired figures e.g. the Sea Otter pair and the Sperm Whale calf. The Tennessee Aquarium Collection Mudpuppy is also quite rare. But I'm sure there is so much I'm still unaware of. Thinking of Lineol and the like and I virtually don't know anything about them.
Oh, and does anybody here have the Dodo pair from Noah's Pals? I can imagine these must be very rare, they were only available for people who had the codes of all other figures from the series.
Among the Japanese figures the Kaiyodo Study Room Bongo is one of the most desired and despite its tiny size it's a magnificent piece. Or the Phat! Dokidoki Shoebill (whaaat? We don't have a walk-around of that one, yet? ). And the entire Kaiyodo Aqualand series is awesome and some of the larger resin figures easily demand a few hundreds. I know OkapiBoy has at least the big Aqualand Coelacanth!
However, I don't believe any of those would be universally considered "holy grail" figures.

As for my own collection interest, even though I sort of focus more on extant animals than on dinosaur figures (for the moment) I never spent as much for a figure or model of an extant animal species as I did for my Sideshow Apatosaurus or my Battat Collection. But the figure that has been a bit of a holy grail for me may indeed be the Agatsuma Entertainment Water Bear, Echiniscus sp. which is featured in my avatar. It remained a mystery for me for a long time, I first saw it when I didn't even collect figures and later I even thought I had made it up and it wouldn't really exist. It took me years to finally find it on Jauce.

[sbell]

Interesting (and difficult) question. Didn't Battat make a highly sought after African Bush Elephant that was rearing up? Oh, wait, no... that was some sauropod figure...
I'm sure some old retired Schleich figures would qualify but I can't say which one since I'm not collecting these. I'm sure we do have some members here who do know more about the really rare ones.
About Safari Ltd, many retired figures are quite rare (although they probably wouldn't qualify to be seen as the holy grail), notably the Vanishing Wild Collection (the predecessor of the Wildlife Wonders, only with massive instead of hollow figures and even larger on average). African Bush Elephant Female, Gemsbok, and Snow Leopard come to mind. Even the Monterey Bay Aquarium Collection has some rare and sought after retired figures e.g. the Sea Otter pair and the Sperm Whale calf. The Tennessee Aquarium Collection Mudpuppy is also quite rare. But I'm sure there is so much I'm still unaware of. Thinking of Lineol and the like and I virtually don't know anything about them.
Oh, and does anybody here have the Dodo pair from Noah's Pals? I can imagine these must be very rare, they were only available for people who had the codes of all other figures from the series.
Among the Japanese figures the Kaiyodo Study Room Bongo is one of the most desired and despite its tiny size it's a magnificent piece. Or the Phat! Dokidoki Shoebill (whaaat? We don't have a walk-around of that one, yet? ). And the entire Kaiyodo Aqualand series is awesome and some of the larger resin figures easily demand a few hundreds. I know OkapiBoy has at least the big Aqualand Coelacanth!
However, I don't believe any of those would be universally considered "holy grail" figures.

As for my own collection interest, even though I sort of focus more on extant animals than on dinosaur figures (for the moment) I never spent as much for a figure or model of an extant animal species as I did for my Sideshow Apatosaurus or my Battat Collection. But the figure that has been a bit of a holy grail for me may indeed be the Agatsuma Entertainment Water Bear, Echiniscus sp. which is featured in my avatar. It remained a mystery for me for a long time, I first saw it when I didn't even collect figures and later I even thought I had made it up and it wouldn't really exist. It took me years to finally find it on Jauce.

And here I was finding the water bear and buying it on Jauce as soon as I found out about it!

I think it's tough to narrow down 'animal figures' to one Holy Grail--there are some very rare Breyer and Stone(...something) horses that were extremely limited, and some of those collectors can be very adamant, but I wouldn't even look twice (don't do farm stuff). But there are people who would kill for, say, the Bandai Protozoa set (Euglena!), but many others wouldn't care. Broken into categories, by animal group or brand, type of figure, the Smithsonian insects from Safari is right up there--as rare as the Vanishing Wild, but more poorly known and didn't last as long; and most of the salamanders. The special-isue WWF Starlux figures are better than their regular figures, and a very broad range. There are always the special-made figures too. I would say that the Aqualand Kaiyodo figures are probably up there, for aquatic figures at least--fairly obscure, large, expensive, and some of them (like the Silver Arowana) are ones that I have yet to see again, after seeing on here just once...(I will make one mine someday...somehow).

[tyrantqueen]

A lot of people seem to like the Safari Vanishing Wild figures (although they're not super rare). My personal grails at the moment are some of the obscure AAA reptiles released under the name Yolanda, such as this anole lizard:



I'm also trying to get the AAA big 40 inch monitor, but it's hard to find anywhere that will ship it for a reasonable price.

And also my Safari Gila Monster.

[brontodocus]

And here I was finding the water bear and buying it on Jauce as soon as I found out about it!

Yes, that was definitely more clever than how I did it.
Ah, and of course, the Smithsonian Collection! Oh, and I even thought about mentioning tyrantqueen's Gila Monster, too.

[AnimalToyForum]

I'll keep my eyes peeled for those Yolanda figured for you Tq. 

[sauroid]

are some PlayVisions figures considered very rare?

[sbell]

are some PlayVisions figures considered very rare?

They are--some, like the lemurs and eels/sea snakes weren't in production for very long, and the range of animals they made means that the sets are pretty sought after.

[brontodocus]

Oh, yes, and especially some of the larger figures. I remember I once saw the big (approx. 15 cm) Amazon River Dolphin go for, what was it, more than sixty pounds or so on ebay.

[Ana]

I think Playvisions Lemurs' set is even harder to find than this dolphin, I haven't heard about anyone buying or selling it since I started collecting in 2005.  During this time I know at least 3 persons bought Amazon River Dolphin big version.

Beside that I think Jeol figures are very rare too, all of them. I have only one, the waterbuck. Most of Jeols are possible to find but usually are expensive.

[tyrantqueen]

I'll keep my eyes peeled for those Yolanda figured for you Tq. 

Thanks

[sbell]

I think Playvisions Lemurs' set is even harder to find than this dolphin, I haven't heard about anyone buying or selling it since I started collecting in 2005.  During this time I know at least 3 persons bought Amazon River Dolphin big version.

Beside that I think Jeol figures are very rare too, all of them. I have only one, the waterbuck. Most of Jeols are possible to find but usually are expensive.

I saw a couple lemur figures from the set on ebay (as part of a lot) a few years ago, but I seem to recall it went for what seemed to be an unreasonable amount of money.

[widukind]

I think Playvisions Lemurs' set is even harder to find than this dolphin, I haven't heard about anyone buying or selling it since I started collecting in 2005.  During this time I know at least 3 persons bought Amazon River Dolphin big version.

Beside that I think Jeol figures are very rare too, all of them. I have only one, the waterbuck. Most of Jeols are possible to find but usually are expensive.

Yes, you are right Anna- that is a holy grail (especially for me ). But you are not right with hard to find- i think you can early find the real holy grail as this set 

[bmathison1972]

HA! My biggest prize is also the water bear (and it's also the most expensive individual figure I've bought--I think like 50 or 60 USD on ebay a while back).

Those of you who know me know I have a rather specialized collection. One set I'm really like is this one:
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~CH2M-NITU/imeikane.htm

I'd also really like the Kitan Club barnacles, the Play Visions parasites, Play Visions insects (colored, I have some in monochromes), and Bandai protozoa.

If anyone has suggestions (outside of Jauce) let me know!

[brontodocus]

HA! My biggest prize is also the water bear (and it's also the most expensive individual figure I've bought--I think like 50 or 60 USD on ebay a while back).

Those of you who know me know I have a rather specialized collection. One set I'm really like is this one:
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~CH2M-NITU/imeikane.htm

I'd also really like the Kitan Club barnacles, the Play Visions parasites, Play Visions insects (colored, I have some in monochromes), and Bandai protozoa.

If anyone has suggestions (outside of Jauce) let me know!

Ah, the barnacles set... I still haven't a single figure of them. But luckily I have a few of the Kabaya Insect Directory figures from the link you posted. They're a bit tiny and not as detailed as the similarly soft Colorata beetles but the choice of species is excellent. I'd love to find the Golofa porteri and Kallima inachus, too.

[Ana]

I think Playvisions Lemurs' set is even harder to find than this dolphin, I haven't heard about anyone buying or selling it since I started collecting in 2005.  During this time I know at least 3 persons bought Amazon River Dolphin big version.

Beside that I think Jeol figures are very rare too, all of them. I have only one, the waterbuck. Most of Jeols are possible to find but usually are expensive.

Yes, you are right Anna- that is a holy grail (especially for me ). But you are not right with hard to find- i think you can early find the real holy grail as this set 

LOL! 

[AnimalToyForum]

It has been half a decade since this discussion! Are there any new contenders?

[bmathison1972]

It has been half a decade since this discussion! Are there any new contenders?

I don't have any new contenders but looking back I have acquired all of mine!!! Except the Bandai set in the link above, I am still missing one last figure in that set (the Dorcus).

[Beetle guy]

It has been half a decade since this discussion! Are there any new contenders?

I don't have any new contenders but looking back I have acquired all of mine!!! Except the Bandai set in the link above, I am still missing one last figure in that set (the Dorcus).

Kabaya you mean? 
Might be the same in the end ;-)

[Beetle guy]

From the Kabaya beetle series I miss the Cyclomattus elaphus, I have a broken one, since the none black beetles in some Kabaya series (those painted all over) are prone to deteriation of the pvc.