Marcus Designs (also Marcus Replicas) was started by two friends, Dennis Morton and Brian Flannery in the late 1960's with Dennis sculpting the designs, whilst Brian found outlets for them as the sales director, many times through the gift shops of stately homes.
Whilst early work focussed on the medaieval, later the firm produced figures from many other periods of history, and also completed commissions for individuals, companies and town centres.
Dennis left the company at the end of the century to start a new company - Vale Garden Houses and was the designer of many custom built and designed conservatories and garden houses for wealthy clients worldwide. The company is a family run concern and includes not only Dennis (who though now semi-retired still does much of the design work) and his wife, but also his and daughter and son Simon who now runs it.
Marcus Replicas (Designs) continued to be run by Brian Flannery until his death in the late '90's, after which the premises and many of the stock items were taken over by the production manager Chris (Bud) ?
Equestrian artist and sculptor Elizabeth Sharp joined the firm as a free lance sculptor in the 1980’s, to help Dennis to produce figures for an historical Clock made by the firm of Thwaites and Reed, (who also look after Big Ben in London) for the Victoria Centre in Sydney Australia. This clock featured 6 mechanised scenes from British history, including the beheading of Charles 1 and the Battle of Hastings - where Elizabeth's equestrian expertise was most useful! After Dennis left the company, Elizabeth continued to produce a number of sculptures of historical figures for Marcus Replicas (amongst them being a bust of Churchill, a suit of armour of Henry 8th, scenes of Robin Hood and a portrait of Richard III, as well as larger sculptures including the 4' round 'Flying Horse' for Nottingham City Centre), until the firm's closure. More of Elizabeth's work can be seen at www.stantongraphics.co.uk.
The Marcus Design buildings were sold off for development at the start of the 21st century, and though Chris did produce the designs elsewhere for some time there seems to be no sign of the company now.