2002 Smurfs Marching Band

In 2002 Schleich released a Marching Band that consisted of 12 different smurfs. This set has remained one of my favourites since Schleich started releasing themed sets since 2002.

There are a number of things that makes this set a favourite amongst collectors. So if you adore your smurfs these are ones that should be on your most wanted list especially if you can get all twelve.

The first thing you notice with each of the smurfs released as part of the Marching Band is the attention detail given to their uniforms. All of them are wearing a red jacket, navy blue pants with a gold stripe, (except for Smurfette who wears a skirt) and each have a navy blue peak on his white smurf hat. The red jacket also includes gold frogging on it.

The smurfs can also be found with light blue matte skin. It was never released with shiny blue paint like other smurfs released around this time.

The other thing you notice is their expression on their faces while they play their instruments. Little things like a bead of sweat on the cheek of the smurf playing the tuba.

We also can see popular smurf characters within the Marching Band such as Brainy, Smurfette and Papa Smurf.

Also if you are lucky you can find slight unintentional mould variances with some of the smurfs. Good examples of these include Papa Conductor with his held in slightly different positions such as to the side or titled back. I have also seen MB Trumpeter with his head titled back so that it looks like his trumpet is held quite high.

Sadly the Marching band was discontinued by the end of 2003. This was a surprise to many as it was always seemed to be extremely popular.

Around 2007 a French magazine was released that included a bonus smurf. The magazine was called Je collection les Schtroumpfs and five Marching Band smurfs were included as part of the promotion. Sadly the magazine is no longer in production.

All five released were painted in bright gold colours and did not include any blue paint dots under their feet.

The Marching Band included the following twelve smurfs:

MB Trumpeter (ref #20479), MB Tenor Horn (ref# 20480), MB French Horn (ref# 20483), MB Trombone (ref#20484), MB Saxophone (ref# 20485), MB Clarinet (ref# 20486), MB Flute (ref#20487), MB Tuba (ref# 20488), MB Snare Drummer (ref # 20493), MB Bass Drummer (ref# 20494), MB Cymbals (ref# 20495) and Papa Conductor (ref# 20496)

Je collection les Schtroumpfs Marching Band smurfs were the following: MB Trumpeter, MB French Horn, MB Clarinet, MB Snare Drummer and MB Bass Drummer.

Since 2002 Schleich has continued to release a themed set each year. In my opinion this is the best one to date as everyone admires a really good Marching Band.

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B

30 Years in the markings

Have you wondered how many different markings can be found on a particular smurf. Let’s have a look at two smurfs that have been made for more than 30 years – Smurfette with baby (#20192) and Smurf with teddy bear (#20205)

Smurfette with Baby first came onto the scene in 1985 as seen in the Schleich catalogue from that year. This has continued right through to the latest Schleich catalogue released in 2015.

Wallace Berrie gave their version number 6256 and is the only version found where the baby’s blue tail can be seen.

It is hard to say if the mould has changed over the years but by looking at my own collection they all look like the same mould but just different paint colours have been used over the years. Smurfette is wearing a white dress and white heeled shoes while holding a baby smurf wearing pink pyjamas. The baby smurf is holding onto a red rattle that has a yellow centre.

Smurfette with Baby has been made in many different countries over the years. These include Hong Kong, Portugal, W.Germany/Germany and China. It can also be found with different paint dots which generally indicates the country that it was painted in, these include mustard (Portugal), red (Sri Lanka) and black (Tunisia or Portugal) It can also be found with a blue paint dot which indicates a different pvc material was used, this was around the early 2000’s.

Smurf with Teddy can be found wearing white pyjamas, with two yellow buttons on the back flap – Baby Smurf sits with a teddy bear on one knee.

Smurf with Teddy was first released in 1985 by Wallace Berrie as a set of two. The other smurf included in the set was Baby with Ice-cream (#20206) and can only be found with Hong Kong markings.

Over the years the figurine does not appear have changed, only the colours used on the blue skin and teddy bear’s light brown colour.

Smurf with Teddy has been made in many different countries over the years. These include Hong Kong, Macau, W.Germany/Germany and China. So far I have only found Smurf with Teddy with two different paint dots, black and blue.

I have always been curious why some smurfs are continually made year after year, where others are only made for one or two years. I have no doubt it has to do with sales. But sometimes I would like to think is because they are cute and adorable.

Collecting smurfs with different markings is an endless task though something I really enjoy. So imagine if every smurf produced was made with ten different markings. So if my maths is correct up until 2015 – there has been 468 regular pvc smurfs produced x 10 = 4680 smurfs!

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B

Finding a Baseball Smurfette

What do you value the most with your smurf collection? Perfection or is it the desire to every smurf that has been released.

I recently found myself asking this question when I received a Baseball Smurfette (Schleich ref# 20186) that had clearly seen better days. Her front shoes were damaged, there was paint rub on her nose and even after a bit of a clean I still could see some grim marks on it.

We find Baseball Smurfette wearing a pink and white baseball uniform with purple socks and purple trim around her hat. In her hands is her baseball bat. The markings to be found are: Made in Hong Kong W.Berrie & Co Schleich S Peyo (c) 1984.

However I was also fully aware of the significance of Baseball Smurfette. This was considered by many, one of the hardest smurfs to find. This is because Baseball Smurfette was only sold for a short time around 1984/85 by Wallace Berrie and was originally only sold in the USA. I was also fully aware that the rarer the smurf the more likely there are fakes out there.

Once again I inspected my newly acquired Baseball Smurfette and carefully studied the figurine. How do I know if I am holding a genuine or fake Baseball Smurfette. Previously I had only seen pictures and read about this being on people’s most wanted list. So now I found one in my actual hands and I had not paid a fortune to get it.

I took a deep breath and started to ask myself some questions about Baseball Smurfette that I knew were important if I was going to reassure myself that I was the owner of a rare smurf. I was determined to reassure myself I had not purchased a fake!

The markings under her feet were clear and did not appear blurry. The number 1 on the back of pink jumper was hand painted on and was stamped on. The more I studied the figurine in my hands the more I was convinced that it was genuine.

So I asked myself again – Do I want to keep a really rare smurf even though it is not in perfect condition? My answer was definitely YES. To be honest there was never ever real doubt that I would throw it away just because it wasn’t mint condition.

Most of my smurfs would never be considered to be in mint condition. I have smurfs that are in excellent condition right down to smurfs who have major paint rub and are almost beyond recongnition to their original condition. This has never really fazed me as in my opinion this is what makes my smurf collection more interesting to view.

So ask yourself what do you value the most with your smurf collection?

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B