A little while ago on TV, Eriko Kusuda, famous as an eraser collector, showed off her collection. It seems that the world of eraser collectors is much more enthusiastic than that of dinosaur collectors, and many people, including international collectors, have created websites to compete with their collections online. Unfortunately, dinosaurs seem to be treated rather poorly, so I would like to use this space to promote the existence of dinosaur erasers. I hope eraser collectors will see this.

I searched online for the history of "toy erasers" but couldn't find a definitive answer. Wikipedia states that "supercar erasers were from the mid-70s," but some of our dinosaur erasers seem older than that. Most of the erasers introduced here have unknown manufacturers and dates, so they don't have much historical value, but please enjoy their shapes. I'm not sure how to define an eraser, but for this selection, I chose items that are (1) eraser-sized and (2) seem capable of erasing pencil marks.

Photos 1 and 2 are the only "treasures" I have. I bought them at the museum shop in 1980, during my first visit to the NY Natural History Museum. I looked up "Erasers" in the dictionary, and it indeed meant "消しゴム" (eraser). The Edaphosaurus has a good shape and is rare as a model. It's about 6cm long.

Photo 3 shows an old skeleton series that I'm fond of collecting. I occasionally find them on Yahoo Auctions and at antique toy stores. They're small, less than 4cm, but I think they're well-shaped and capture the characteristics nicely.

Photos 4, 5, and 6 are among the many others. Photo 7 is, surprisingly, a Desmatosuchus, a aetosaur! It hasn't even been featured by Choco-Raurus. To my knowledge, the only figures made of it are a prize from Nabisco cereals in 1950s America and a 1/40 scale model by the modern German manufacturer Schleich (Photo 8).

Photo 9 is definitely an eraser, as it clearly says "消しゴム" (eraser) on the package... but I'm not sure if the item in Photo 10 can truly be called an eraser. The material is acceptable, but it would be difficult to erase letters with it. It's an old Gashapon set with an amazing lineup: an Archaeopteryx (considering its release date, it might be the world's first 3D skeleton model?), an Ichthyosaurus (3D restorations are rarely seen even in museums), and a Moa (the only skeletal miniature I know of).

Photos 11 and 12 are modern items. "Dinosaur Encyclopedia" is an eraser in the shape of a book that comes with a small figure as a bonus. Photo 12 is called "Fossil Excavation Eraser," and it seems you can retrieve a skull once you've used it up.