Smurfette – my hero

It’s hard to imagine a world without Smurfette. So imagine a smurf collection without Smurfette. By today’s standards the original Smurfette created first by Schleich in 1972 may look a little average, however this does not stop some collectors in their interest in this figurine.

Smurfette (Ref# 20034) was first released by Schleich and is one of handful of smurfs that have the Schleich Emblem under their feet. When Schleich lost their licence to produce smurfs around 1973, Bully started to produce Smurfette with red or white high heeled shoes. It is not unusual to find this with the markings W.Germany © Peyo and the Schleich emblem blocked out.

Around 1975 Bully produced their own version of Smurfette who is more affectionally known as Flirting Smurfette. With one hand on golden blonde hair and one on her white dress, red lipstick, this version of Smurfette was and still is highly sought after by avid collectors.

When Schleich started to produce smurfs again in the late 1970’s for companies like BP Petrol and National Petrol in the UK, Smurfette was one of the first smurfs to be made. These were commonly made without any markings and only a cavity number. It is important to remember many smurfs have been produced without markings in the early days as they were given away as promotional items by companies.

In Australia, the majority of our smurfs were being produced in Hong Kong. You will tend to find Hong Kong made smurfs will have darker blue skin than ones made in Portugal or West Germany. Smurfette is no exception to this.

Depending if you are stickler for details, you can find Smurfette with different styles of her smile, eyes, with or without eyelashes and most importantly high heels. In the Der Schlumpf Katalog IV published in 2003 there are 12 different variations listed. Who am I to argue with this?

Schleich last produced Smurfette in 1986. Though since then a number of different versions of Smurfette’s have been produced. From a cowgirl, mermaid, baseball batter, to just about everything. The interest in Smurfette continues to grow especially as she is the only girl in the Smurf Village. Imagine 99 boys to 1 girl in a whole village.

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B

Smurf Tags – on or off?

When you buy new smurfs, do you like to keep the Schleich tags on or take them off?

What are the pros and cons of leaving the tags on?
Lastly what are your reasons?

Whatever your feelings are on this, there is no wrong or right answer to the question. But dig a little deeper and it may tell you a little bit about what type of collector you are.

In some instances the Schleich tags used in the early 2000’s would leave a nasty sticky residue on the smurf after removing the tag. This would then require you having to wash your smurf in soapy water. Some collectors found that it would also leave a yellow mark on the smurf but I never found this.

I recall reading about one collector who stated that a real collector would never remove the tag. This same person also believed that by leaving the tag on preserved the collectability value of the smurf. The theory was that by trying to keep the smurf as near to its original condition would increase its value.

If you are a keen on taking photographs of your smurfs, you may feel that the tags get in the way and are distracting when trying to capture the perfect shot.

For the majority of my smurfs I have in my collection, I have removed the Schleich tags. I have kept random tags on some of the smurfs over the years more out of curiosity than anything else.

In my opinion smurfs were created to be disposable toys for children to play with. So this is why Schleich have probably designed the tags to be easily torn off and without damaging the smurf.

Then there are always those collectors who buy two of the same figurine, one for display purposes and one to be stored carefully away until it becomes a highly valuable.

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B

Smurf Masterpiece

I have always wanted to go to an auction that is offering something for an avid smurf collector, like myself. So next week, on Saturday 19th November Christie’s Paris and Daniel Maghen will offer their second ‘Comics & Illustrations’ auction of 2016.

This comprises a wonderful selection of great European comic masters from the past and present. It will feature artwork by the likes of Herge (Tintin); Albert Uderzo (Asterix) and our beloved Peyo the creator from The Smurfs. Along with this will be artwork by Piece Gibrat.

Though I have large admiration of Herge and Albert Uderzo due to my husband’s enjoyment of reading the comics over and over, my main interest is in a piece by Peyo. This is the original cover for the Journal de Spirou comic of 6th January 1966 featuring ‘ The Egg and The Smurfs’ estimated US $38,000 to $43000. © Dupuis 2016 Delporte/Peyo

For those of you who are interested in the actual listing by Christie’s Paris I have added a link to this – The Egg and The Smurfs’

For those who are wishing to place a bid on this wonderful piece of artwork, I would like to wish you all the best. Geez, I hope my husband is reading this (hint! hint!)

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B

Halloween Smurfs with new markings

Well, I will be honest I was not expecting Schleich to re-release their Halloween Smurfs in 2016. Was this Schleich offering us a trick or treat this Halloween? My feelings it was unexpected treat.

Back in 2006 Schleich released their eight Halloween themed smurfs. This included Dracula, Ghost, Werewolf, Mummy, Grim Reaper, Frankenstein, Witch 2 and Pumpkin. (Schleich reference numbers 20541 to 20548). The markings to be found was: Made in Germany Schleich S Germany Peyo © 2005 Ce

At the time there was a real mixed response by collectors, some loved them and some disliked them as in their eyes they did not look like smurfs. This may be one of the reasons why they were only sold by Schleich for two years.

Around 2010 fake smurfs were starting to be found of the Halloween set. Generally fakes can be easily dismissed by collectors but on this occasion the Halloween set become highly collectible due to the fact that the pirate copy of the smurfs had mispelt China on the markings. The marking was made with – Made in Chian instead of Made in Germany.

So it would be interesting to know the reasons of why Schleich decided to reproduce the Halloween smurfs. Perhaps this is part of new change of direction for the smurfs, to be released to celebrate special events throughout the year. This started with the announcement of the Olympic Smurfs being re-released this year in August when Rio hosted the Olympic Games.

For someone who is passionate about collecting smurfs based on their markings this could be the beginning of exciting times for collecting smurfs. The new set of Halloween Smurfs can be found with the markings: Made in Germany Schleich S Am Limes 69 D-73527 Schw. Gmund Peyo © 2005 CE with time stamp.

So what will be the next event that Schleich will celebrate. Let’s hope it is Christmas.

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B