Carpenter verses New Carpenter, which one do you prefer? Carpenter that was first made by Bully in 1979 or New Carpenter that was made by Schleich in 2001. Whichever one you prefer may tell you a lot about the kind of smurfs you like to collect.
Carpenter can be found holding a plank of timber on his right hand side and a silver saw with a red handle in his left hand. Depending on the mould the angle of the saw blade can vary anywhere from horizontal to upwards. The other noticeable difference is to do with the yellow paint used for the timber. Some from light yellow to an orange yellow colour.
Carpenter was one of the last smurfs produced by Bully in 1979. In 1980 Schleich made Carpenter with Bully markings until around 1984. During this time, smurfs would have a paint dot added to their markings to indicate which country it was painted in. So its possible to find Carpenter with mustard, green or red paint dots. After this time Schleich were allowed to use their own markings on smurfs.
Carpenter was also sold in Australia by BP Australia around the Summer of 1981/82 as seen in the BP Summer Guide 82. This can be found with Made in Hong Kong Schleich © 1979 Peyo markings. They must have sold a lot of these as it can be easily found today.
The Hong Kong made Carpenter was also sold by Wallace Berrie in the USA between 1981 to 1984.
In 2001 Schleich released New Carpenter. New Carpenter carries a piece of timber over the right shoulder and a hammer in his left hand. Dressed in a navy blue wide brim hat, blue overalls, white shirt and brown working boots. New Carpenter was sold by Schleich between 2001 to 2005 with very little changes made to the figurine.
During this time, New Carpenter was sold with the same markings Made in China Schleich S Germany © 2000 Peyo CE but can be found with or without a blue paint dot. The blue paint dot was used between 2001 to 2003.
If you like to know when New Carpenter was produced you just have to check whether it has a blue paint dot added to the markings under the smurf’s foot. In 2001 the smurfs with a blue paint dot were painted with a high gloss shiny blue colour. In 2002 and 2003 they painted the smurfs in more of a matte paint colour. The smurfs were also made out of China at this time. By 2004 the smurfs were no longer being produced with a blue paint dots and were now being made out of Germany.
I like both Carpenter and New Carpenter as I like to think that they both have their own personalities as they are quite different from each other. So what does tell you about the smurfs I like to collect? Basically I like to collect all types of smurfs.
Keep on Smurfin
Kath B