While browsing on Ebay, I came across this curious little item: a John Jay figurine. Approximately 2 3/4 inches tall, it caught my eye for two reasons. First, who would possibly think there was a market for a John Jay figurine? Second, the figurine itself looked remarkably like a Zombie John Jay. 

The seller stated that the figurine was manufactured by the Marx Toy Company in the 1950s and 1960s. It was part of a larger series on the Supreme Court Justices. Marx also produced other series devoted to historical figures, including the Presidents.

The Louis Marx and Company manufactured toys between 1919 and 1978. Their motto was "One of the many Marx toys, have you all of them?" and their product line was large and varied, encompassing dolls, playsets, mechanical toys, HO scale trains, action figures, and toy guns. They created the legendary “Rock’em Sock’em Robot” and the “Big Wheel” tricycle. In 1955, Time Magazine declared Louis Marx the “King of the Toys.”

The figure, as you can see, is remarkably odd. It is based on the famous portrait of Jay in his Supreme Court robes (actually, his robes from Harvard, which awarded him a Doctor of Law degree in 1792), by Gilbert Stuart. The features are indistinct, the figure hunched, and the paint job rather sloppy. One wonders who bought these figurines. Lawyers? Supreme Court groupies? Parents wishing to encourage their children to go to law school? Did buyers “collect them all” or just purchased their favorite Chief Justice? Our particular figurine has an honored place in the Jay Project office.