"Tom Corbett Space Cadet" Atomic Pistol/Flashlite PROTOTYPE - Marx 1952.

This is the hand-carved hard plastic PROTOTYPE for one of the coolest Space Ray Guns ever made!
Marx's "Tom Corbett Space Cadet" Atomic Pistol/Flashlite from 1952.
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It was sold in a variety of colors including brilliant red, light blue, dark blue, deep green, silver, charcoal grey, metallic gold, bright orange, a lovely shade of aqua and even featured in a radiant yellow on the cover of Collier's in April of 1953,
but never produced in the colors seen in these pictures.
After it was successfully marketed with Tom Corbett, Marx couldn't let a good design lay dormant, so they re-branded it.
They would simply change the printed logo on the pistol's grip and in the upper left corner of the illustrated box
and market it to a whole new audience.
It went on to be licensed as the official spaceman's sidearm for "Rex Mars Planet Patrol", "Space Patrol" and even became a Headquarters Signal Ray Gun for "Get Smart"!
This particular one-of-a-kind example from the history of Space Toy collectibles was put up for auction in 2015
by Hake's Americana & Collectibles.
The winning bid was an astronomical $4,795.50 !