On this page

Here on DinoToyCollector we currently list 98 different companies in the database - and we are still far from covering every figure and every manufacturer. Many manufacturers are well-known and recognized in the dinosaur collecting world. And then there’s that one manufacturer everyone eventually just accepted, because it “simply exists.”

I’m talking about U.K.R.D.: an abbreviation that appears on countless figures, usually alongside the years 1991–1993, again and again in eBay lots, again and again the same familiar sculpts - but never any tangible company history. And U.K.R.D. vanished as quietly as it arrived. The more you search, the more it starts to feel like a running gag:

Well-known references like DinoToyForum, Randy Knol’s Collector Site A, ToyAnimalWiki - and various collector comments online - all paint the same picture: “You won’t find anything. Dead end. China. Mysterious.”

I get it. Many of these figures were produced cheaply, a lot was rebranded, and much of it moved through middlemen. But there were details that didn’t fit the “it is what it is” narrative, and they’ve been stuck in my head ever since. I like systems (obviously), and something doesn’t add up here. For each of the 98 companies you can say something - except for this one.

The First Cracks in the UKRD Story

In my first round of research six years ago, two things stood out:

  1. Dual branding on actual figures
    I had pieces where the same figure shows both “DOR MEI” and “U.K.R.D.” - not as a seller claim, but as real embossing on two different mold halves.

  2. Dor Mei packaging with “UKRD” dinos inside
    There were reports (and photos) showing dinosaurs in a Dor Mei box that collectors would categorize as “UKRD.”

Those weren’t answers; those were questions and hints that Dor Mei is more than “just a monster manufacturer,” and that it is tightly intertwined with UKRD. Up to that point, the question remained open for me - and surely for others as well:

  • Is Dor Mei the manufacturer and UKRD the product line?
  • Is it co-branding?
  • Is Dor Mei merely some export label?

My Search, Part 2:

The questions started bothering me again, so I tried once more to track down the company U.K.R.D. But the results were the same as back then. UKRD could stand for anything; no manufacturer can be found. Translating UKRD into Chinese goes nowhere just the same.

So I tried the route via Dor Mei - and while U.K.R.D. as a “company” became even more nebulous, “Dor Mei” became surprisingly tangible:

Dor Mei Factory Ltd. is documented as a Hong Kong company.
Founded: 1978, Hong Kong.

(https://www.ltddir.com/company?utm_source=dor-mei-factory-limited)

In my head, that immediately made sense: that era matches what many collectors say about Dor Mei monsters, Godzilla variants, and “classic” Hong Kong toys.

And still: my finds didn’t explain why the dinosaurs so persistently say U.K.R.D.

The key thought: What if U.K.R.D. isn’t a company or a factory at all?

That flipped this research from “more Googling” to “different thinking.” And with U.K.R.D., the simplest question suddenly became the most important: What does U.K.R.D. stand for?

I once read the term “United Kingdom Rubber Dinosaurs” - a funny and fitting acronym. 

But UKRD also looks suspiciously like: UK Registered Design.
(https://www.taylorwessing.com/-/media/taylor-wessing/files/uk/2023/2312-design-protection-in-the-uk.pdf)

And this was the moment when the “UKRD myth” became testable:

I took one of these typical numbers and searched it in the official register.
https://www.registered-design.service.gov.uk/find

The Discovery: The Allosaurus Opens the Door

I opened the register and entered the Allosaurus number:
2022244.

Hit.

Okay, cool.

Let’s look at the overview: Registration date 1992, expiry date 2002, Indication of Product: Toy animal - aha! And what’s this?

An image. An image of the UKRD Allosaurus!

Now it gets concrete - but it still could have meant a lot of things. Then came the click that changed everything: Illustrations.

There’s a second image: a scan with two perspective views of the UKRD Allosaurus. But even more exciting is the text above it. Right there, in black and white, it says:

DOR MEI FACTORY LIMITED

And at that point it was clear:

I had found the manufacturer of the “U.K.R.D.” Allosaurus. We are not looking for a “company called U.K.R.D.” We are looking at a design protection marking - and Dor Mei is anchored directly in the official documents.

Suddenly everything makes sense: the belly embossing many figures carry (e.g., “U.K.R.D. … No. XXXXXXX”) is very likely exactly that: UK Registered Design No. XXXXXX - not a company name.

This also explains why so many collectors keep running into walls with “UKRD”:
They search for a company, but in reality they’re reading an official reference. Nothing more.


Further Findings / Interpretation and Facts

Of course, I checked all numbers in the register, and the Illustrations pages (with one explainable exception, the Velociraptor) show “Dor Mei Factory Limited” as the name. That means these are Dor Mei designs - even if collectors (still?) call them “UKRD.”

But we don’t just get a look at the designs. The page also gives insight into the history of the design rights and supports observations about the disappearance of the UKRD dinosaurs - no, wait, the Dor Mei dinosaurs! Wow, I’ll need to get used to that…

After verifying all UKRD numbers and doing further research on Dor Mei, here’s the part that can now be told fairly cleanly:

  • Dor Mei Factory Limited (多美製造廠有限公司), Hong Kong, founded 12 September 1978

  • 1986: Early dinosaur designs, also with UK registered design markings

  • 1992: Registered Designs for the well-known “UKRD dinosaurs” in various sizes

  • May 1993: Rights to the designs transfer to Toy Major Enterprise Ltd.

  • 27 August 1994: Dissolution of Dor Mei

  • After the takeover, Toy Major Enterprise or Toy Major Trading Co. Limited (from 1997) continues distributing the figures

Sources:

The rights transfer in 1993 is exactly the point where “Dor Mei disappears” as owner in the register data. And it matches suspiciously well with the collector impression that this line drops out of circulation “sometime in the early 90s” or appears under different labels (most likely the original molds continue to be used).

This is not a clean corporate chronicle from an annual report. This is collector research and that kind of research gets its shoes dirty:

  • Some numbers led to different products (I ran into a “measuring cup” or “crocodile,” for example). That doesn’t mean “everything is wrong” - it means: number misread/misattributed, or the wrong pictures have been uploaded.
  • Some 1986 assignments are muddled: unfortunately, for the 1986 designs the register provides no images, only the note “a toy dinosaur.” And that leads to a curious problem with UKRD No. 1034940. This number appears on the Ankylosaurus, the Spinosaurus, and the Edaphosaurus. After intensive searching, it can be said that the Ankylosaurus and Spinosaurus ALWAYS carry 1034940, and 1034943 is reserved only for the Edaphosaurus.

Still: the “UKRD secret” is solved in one decisive point.

We Say Goodbye to U.K.R.D.

  • U.K.R.D. was never the manufacturer name.

  • It is the collector abbreviation that arose from a real marking - but that marking stands for UK Registered Design.

  • The designs collectors refer to as “UKRD dinos” can be linked very clearly in the register to Dor Mei Factory Limited (and later Toy Major).

Concrete consequence for DinoToyCollector:

  • The company “U.K.R.D.” will be removed from the database (as an independent manufacturer).

  • The line will be correctly listed under:

    • Dor Mei Factory Limited (early phase / design owner shown on Illustrations)

    • Toy Major (Enterprises/Trading) (later rights/proprietor phase)

  • “UKRD” remains as an alias / marking / note

But one thing is now certain:
I didn’t “find a company called U.K.R.D.” I removed it from history - because it never belonged there, like a Trachodon or Seismosaurus.

This is the end of the main text. Anyone who wants to keep reading will find open questions, facts, sources, and research tables below.

Your DinoToyCollector
Stefan

Facts, Open Questions & Sources


Fun Fact: Dor Mei & Toy Major

Both companies share “多美” (Dor Mei / Duo Mei) in their Chinese names. That’s a pretty strong indication that Toy Major (Trading) and Dor Mei (Factory) are - at least historically - closely related.


The Numbers 1034944–47

These numbers appear bundled on the left foot of the Godzilla figure.


Why do different sizes share the same number?

Multiple figures across different lines share the same UKRD numbers. For example, we find the same Apatosaurus shape in several sizes, sometimes with slightly altered poses or mirrored. This is compatible with design protection: a UK Registered Design protects the overall visual impression of the submitted design. Scaling or small deviations can still fall under it depending on the overall impression—so many manufacturers register only a “base design” which they then use across multiple variants.

Table of Numbers

UKRDGenusYearDesign Origin
1034940Ankylosaurus1986Dor Mei
1034940Spinosaurus1986Dor Mei
1034940Edaphosaurus1986
Dor Mei
1034941Styracosaurus1986Dor Mei
1034942Stegosaurus1986Dor Mei
1034943Edaphosaurus!1986Dor Mei
1034944“A Toy Dinosaur” → vintage Godzilla figure1986Dor Mei
1034945“A Toy Dinosaur” → vintage Godzilla figure1986Dor Mei
1034946“A Toy Dinosaur” → vintage Godzilla figure1986Dor Mei
1034947“A Toy Dinosaur” → vintage Godzilla figure1986Dor Mei
1036998Brachiosaurus1986Dor Mei
1040983“A model dinosaur” → T-rex1987Dor Mei
1041716“A toy gorilla” → King Kong figure1987Dor Mei
2022241A crocodile → Styracosaurus1992Dor Mei
2022242Dimetrodon1992Dor Mei
2022243Apatosaurus1992Dor Mei
2022244Allosaurus1992Dor Mei
2022245Parasaurolophus1992Dor Mei
2022246Protoceratops1992Dor Mei
2022247Tyrannosaurus
1992Dor Mei
2022248Triceratops1992Dor Mei
2022249Stegosaurus1992Dor Mei
2022250Pachycephalosaurus1992Dor Mei
2022251Brachiosaurus1992Dor Mei
2022252Iguanodon1992Dor Mei
2022253Ankylosaurus1992Dor Mei
2029431Velociraptor1993Toy Major