Smurf in Bed

Buying Super Smurfs can be tricky, especially if they don’t come with their original box. Smurf in Bed is a good example of this. Smurf in Bed, #40240 was first released by Wallace Berrie in 1983 and then by Schleich in 1984. The sleeping smurf is lying on yellow mattress with a dark brown frame while wearing a red night gown and matching white hat with a red pom pom.

Hong Kong W. Berrie Co Schleich S © Peyo 1982 markings

Wallace Berrie only sold Smurf in Bed for two years, this was around the time that they changed their name to Applause and also the beginning of the end of smurfs in the USA. This version was made out of Hong Kong and the smurf was made out of white pvc material and then later painted. Like a lot of smurfs made out of Hong Kong it has dark blue skin. It was only ever sold with Super Smurf!! box

However in 1996 when Irwin Toys attempted to sell smurfs again in the USA and they sold Smurf in Bed on a blister card. Only six Super Smurfs were ever released by Irwin Toys, all sold on blister cards and all made out of China.

W.Germany Schleich S © Peyo 1982 with a mustard paint dot.

When Schleich first produced the smurf was made out of a red pvc material, and the mushrooms on the bed-frame were unpainted. Later this was changed so the mushrooms were painted red with white spots. As Schleich sold Smurf in Bed for at least 19 years, between 1984 to 2015 there are at six different markings that can be found. Like when buying any Super Smurfs always check if you can that the markings on the smurf correspond with the accessory. The markings on the bed can be found under the mattress.

If you are keen to also collect the boxes, there are at least four different ones.

Super Schlumpf Smurf – 1984 to 1994
Smurf head logo with dancing smurfs pattern – 1995 to 1998
Circular Smurf logo with dancing smurfs pattern – 1999 to 2008/9
Peyo Creations with dancing smurfs pattern – 2009 to 2015

In 1996 the Belgian Fast Food restaurant also used Smurf in Bed as part of their promotion. These can be found with the Quick logo embossed onto the side of the head of the smurf. There were six different Super Smurfs to be found.

Recently I acquired a Smurf in Bed with a white mattress. This version has always intrigued me as it was never displayed like this in any catalogues or posters but it can be found amongst other collector’s sites. It wasn’t until I was cleaning my smurfs the other day that it finally dawned on me that most likely the white mattress was from the Smurfette’s Bedroom play set. For me it doesn’t really matter as long as the smurf has a pleasant night’s sleep.

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B

Cooking with the smurfs

It isn’t hard not to get confused when collecting smurfs, especially if they all share the same occupation. There are at least three smurf figurines that love to cook; Cook #20073, Chef #20042 and Head Chef #20099. Each are uniquely different from each other which makes them worth collecting all three.

The first one produced was Cook made by Bully in 1974. He is the one holding a large yellow spoon in his right and a pot in his left hand. The smurf is also wearing a white chef’s hat, apron and white bow tie. I have also seen pictures of Cook with a red bow tie and also with a white spoon and a yellow pot, not sure if they are genuine or not. Then of course there are also fake versions of Cook to be found. Like a transparent one without a saucepan from Mexico.

The next one produced was Head Chef made by Bully in 1978. He is holding a raised large yellow rolling pin in his left hand. The smurf is also wearing a white chef’s hat, apron and a light yellow bow tie. I have also seen this one referred to as Baker by other collectors. Both Cook and Head Chef were never sold by Wallace Berrie in the USA. I don’t think they were ever sold by BP Australia either. There are also different Polish fakes of Head Chef with different coloured rolling pins that can be found.

Also in 1978 Schleich released their own Chef. He is holding a brown wooden spoon to his mouth as if testing the food, while wearing Chef’s whites. The first version sold by Schleich has red sauce on the spoon but this was later removed. Chef was produced by both Schleich and Wallace Berrie. Chef was also sold by BP Australia, possibly around 1980.

As all three were produced by different makers, here are a few things to keep an eye open for when looking to add one to your own collection.

With Cook it is possible to find this with no markings. This was quite typical for smurfs first made by Bully in the beginning. Later they added their own Bully © Peyo hand etched markings; © Peyo on the back of the arm and Bully under the pot. The hand etched Bully marking remained under the pot, most likely with the agreement made between Bully and Schleich until 1984. Cook was produced by Bully between 1974 to 1979 and Schleich 1980 to 1991 then 1995 to 1999.

Head Chef was only produced by Bully for two years but can be found with at least four different Bully markings under the feet. It was produced by Schleich from 1980 to 1986 and then 1991 to 1993. Head Chef was also made out of Sri Lanka so possible to find with Sri Lanka markings or with a red paint dot.

Chef is the only one out of the three that is wearing a Chef’s jacket. The buttons on the front of the jacket should be same colour brown as used for the spoon. With the Chef made out of Hong Kong it can be possible to find this with markings on the back or under the feet. It is also possible to find this with the year changed to 1980 on the Hong Kong ones. Not sure why they did this. Chef was produced by Schleich from 1979 to 1986/1991 to 1994/1997 & 1998/2011 and by Wallace Berrie from 1981 to 1984. So there are plenty different markings to be found with Chef and then of course there are also the many different fake ones.

I would like to see a Cafe scene produced one day which includes a new Chef, Dish-hand, Barista, Waitress/Waiter and Smurf customers. I wonder what name you could call the cafe?

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B

French Fries Smurf

French Fries smurf was first released by Schleich in 1981. In their 1981 catalogue you will see a smurf wearing his customary white trousers and hat while holding an orange chip in his right hand and a cone of orange coloured french fries in his left hand. The smurf’s tongue is hanging out of his mouth waiting with anticipation of eating his fries. I am not sure how long the orange fries version was sold but they are generally considered harder to find.

In the same year Wallace Berrie released their version of French Fries smurf with yellow French fries. In their catalogues they referred to it as French Fry. Wallace Berrie sold French Fries smurf between 1981 to 1983. So far I have not been able to find a Hong Kong made one with orange fries. But I am happy to be proved to be wrong.

When Schleich started selling French Fries it was found with a small hole under it’s right foot and W.Germany Schleich S © Peyo markings. It is unsure what the hole under the foot was meant to be used for but this was later removed and the markings were changed to include the year 1981.

When comparing the markings it is interesting to note the year on the two moulds are different, which makes me think that Wallace Berrie made their version first and then Schleich made theirs. The W.Germany made ones have the year 1981 whereas Hong Kong made ones have 1980.

French Fries smurf was also made out of China. There are at least three different marking variations to be found. These can only be found with light yellow French fries. I also have a version that was made in China where under the feet you can see that they blocked out the original Hong Kong markings.

Schleich sold their French Fries smurf in 1981 to 1986/1991 & 1992/1995 to 1997 and then in 2000.

Not surprisedly a number of fakes have been made of the French Fries smurf. I have seen a lovely CNT one with yellow fries, one brown fries with a flesh coloured skin smurf from Mexico, but the one that causes the most debate is the French Fries holding a red cone with yellow fries. Is it genuine or is a repaint? Are the markings W.Germany Schleich S © 1981 Peyo or Hong Kong Schleich S © 1980?

I am always suspicious when comes to rare paint variations. My approach is simple, happy to collect as long as the price is right. Also happy to admit that I am not always sure if they are fake or genuine or a repaint.

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B

2019 Schleich Smurfs

What do you think of the 2019 smurfs?

This week I came across a picture of the 2019 Schleich smurfs on the Peyo’s Smurfs Facebook page and also the Blue Cavern Facebook page. At this point of time I don’t know much else about them. No official date has been announced but most likely in early 2019.

At first I thought that they were a combination of previous smurfs released by Schleich and miniature Plastoy smurfs. Perhaps the two companies have gone into partnership with producing smurfs?

What do you think?

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B

Hot Dog Smurf

In the early 1990s new child safety laws forced the discontinuation of a number of smurfs that were made with separate, removable, parts. These include Hot Dog smurf, Papa with Pizza, Smurfette with Ice cream, Hamburger smurf, Heart smurf, Gargamel with net, Surprise Cone smurfs and many others.

Today I just wanted to talk to you about Hot Dog smurf first sold by Wallace Berrie in 1983. Wearing his customary white trousers and hat, while holding out in front of him with both hands a large hot dog bun, with a red hot dog and mustard. Wallace Berrie only sold Hot Dog smurf for two years 1983 and 1984.

Hot Dog smurf was also sold by Schleich in Europe but only for two years; 1984 to 1986. This was made in West Germany and also in Portugal.

If you like to collect smurfs based on their markings, be mindful that with Hot Dog smurf the markings are on the body of the smurf and not under their feet. So as far as I am aware it can be found with the following markings:

There appears to be very little difference between the Wallace Berrie and Schleich ones except for the colour of the hot dog bun. The Hong Kong made ones tend to have a lighter hot dog bun compared to the Schleich ones which are a darker brown colour. You may also have a hot dog that has more mustard depending if the painter liked mustard or not.

I am always curious to see how smurfs were made when they included a seperate or removable parts. Hot Dog smurf was no exception to this, as I always thought that the hot dog bun was glued to the smurf’s hands until I received this one. In this picture you can clearly see that the hot dog bun is connected by a piece of mould on the smurf that is inserted into the bottom of the hot dog bun. It’s almost like the smurf has an extra finger. This smurf has W.Germany Schleich S © Peyo 1982 markings.

I have also been able to find a Hot Dog smurf with a Schleich CE label/tag written in Italian. This is thought to be released around 1986 when Schleich had a large surplus of smurfs. The other smurfs I have seen with an Italian Schleich CE label/tag include Smurfette with Ice cream, Skipping Rope and Plumber. No doubt there are others out there.

All this hard work is making me hungry, must be time for a snack. Please feel free to share anything you like regarding the Hot Dog smurf.

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B