COPYRIGHT, MOLDS, AND OTHER STORIES...

"The datestamp on the foot of PLAYMOBIL® figures does not indicate the year of production, but the year of copyright registration of the mold." 

On auction sites like Ebay, it often shows that there is great confusion between two concepts: the original copyright date of a certain mold and the actual year of production of a specific set. 

Some of the older PLAYMOBIL® figures that are being offered for sale on Ebay, are claimed to be genuine 1974 productions by auctioneers, because they mistake the copyright imprint on the foot of the figure for a production date. Most of the PLAYMOBIL® figures produced between 1974 and 1992 have the very same 1974 imprint on their foot. A good example is the photographer figure shown above which was produced for the first time in 1989 #(5401).  

As a result, the actual year of release / first production of a Playmobil® set cannot be determined by checking out the mold copyright imprint alone.

NOTE: Some of the very first figures produced did not have any copyright year stamp on their feet at all, some only had the circular Brandstätter logo imprinted, and in other cases the feet simply displayed the word geobra. These are figures dating back from the very first production runs, and usually also have their eyes and mouth painted on instead of molded in with a second plastic material.