Sunbather Smurf saving our oceans

Anyone new to collecting smurfs, will always want to know why there are so many different paint variations, especially of the older figurines. If you are like me and enjoy collecting smurfs made in different countries, in most cases you will also find a paint variation. In most cases smurfs made in Hong Kong for BP Australia and Wallace Berrie were almost painted differently than those made in West Germany by Schleich. Then there are other countries that the smurfs were made in one country but painted in another.

This will then lead up to the follow up question – ‘How do I know if I have an original or variation smurf?’. This is not such an easy question to answer as this will depend on where you live in the world. I live in Australia and most of the smurfs originally sold in Australia by BP Australia were made out of Hong Kong. So in one sense, I could refer to these as the original smurfs and the ones made in either West Germany or Portugal are variations. But to be honest I don’t refer to a smurf as an original.

Sunbather – #20014.

To give you example of what I am trying to explain, let’s examine the Sunbather smurf first released in 1970 by Schleich. When Sunbather was first sold it was painted with red and white bathers. This continued right through to 1977/78. This is quite interesting as even when Bully had the rights to produce the smurfs between 1974 to 1977 they didn’t change the colours on the bathers. Whereas they did change the colours on other smurfs such as the Judge smurf where’s his robe changed from black to red.

So sometime in 1977/78 when Schleich started producing smurfs again, Sunbather was painted with yellow and black bathers. However in the 1978 Schleich catalogue Sunbather was shown wearing green and black bathers. Also sometime around the same time Sunbather was painted with red and black bathers.

When they started producing Sunbather out of Hong Kong back in 1979 they originally used spray paint for his bathers. This included two colour variations for his bathers, yellow and black or green and black. These are still fairly easy to be found today but not always in the best condition.

Which leads me onto this newspaper article I found this week in regards to the Smurfs joining the EU’s fight against ocean pollution in taking part of the Global Beach Cleanup campaign. https://www.euronews.com/2019/04/17/the-smurfs-join-eu-s-fight-against-ocean-waste

So if you have smurfs that aren’t in the best condition don’t just throw them away, see if they can be used in another way. This could be by moving them to the garden, recycling them or something else so they don’t end up in the rubbish bin.

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B

Skipping Rope Smurfette

There is always at least one or two smurfs that create a debate among collectors and Skipping Rope Smurfette is one of those ones. Is the version with a blue skipping rope genuine or not?

Skipping Rope Smurfette was first released by Wallace Berrie in 1983 and was only sold for two years. This version of Skipping Rope Smurfette can be found wearing a white dress with yellow underwear, with a thin white skipping rope with red handles rotated over hear head. The markings can be found under the feet: Made in Hong Kong W. Berrie Co Schleich S © 1983 Peyo.

Schleich released their version of Skipping Rope Smurfette in 1984 and continued to sell it through to 1989. This version of Skipping Rope Smurfette can be found wearing a white dress with white underwear, with a thick white skipping rope with red handles rotated over hear head. The other small difference is under the feet is two small rubber stops under the feet. My guess these were added to stop Smurfette tipping over when displayed. The markings can be found under the feet: Made in Germany Schleich S © 1982 Peyo.

Blue Skipping Rope Smurfette

I just want to point out the that the actual Smurfette is genuine, and it is the blue skipping rope part that is debated whether this is fake or authentic. Most collectors feel that the skipping rope is not genuine as it feels more like copper wire and it is nothing like the material used for the white skipping rope. Even so, this doesn’t stop people buying this version or paying major bucks for it!

However it is unclear where this version of Skipping Rope Smurfette originated from. The Smurfette used was made in Germany and also has white underwear. In the Der Schlumpf Katalog IV they list as a Spanish variant but in other collector books they don’t even mention it!

Both versions of Skipping Rope Smurfette are worth collecting and being on display. Like a lot of Smurfette figurines made in 1980’s they all appear to show Smurfette having fun and being portrayed in a slightly flirty way. Sadly in more recent times, Smurfette is still being portrayed as still having fun but less flirty.

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B

2019 Classic Smurfs Review

The new 2019 smurfs released by Schleich have been given the theme name of Classic, which came as a complete surprise to me. The other surprise was that four of eight smurfs had been released two years earlier. I was now suspicious what other surprises laid install for me as I inspected each one.

Back in 2017 Schleich released smurf sets to coincide with some of the main characters of the film – Smurfs The Lost Village. Each of the smurf sets would consist of three smurfs. At the time I took mine out of their boxes which I now regret. If I had known Schleich was going to release Clumsy, Hefty and Brainy as individual figurines I would have left them as a set in their original box. These smurfs made up the set known as Smurfs The Lost Village Movie Village Set 1. (#20800).

Clumsy – #20810

I am not a big fan of this Clumsy figurine. For me he doesn’t really portray clumsiness he appears to be more bored than anything else.

Hefty – #20811

This version of Hefty is good but nothing amazing. It would have been nice to see Hefty in a different pose.

Brainy – #20812

My opinion of Brainy is similar to the ones I have with Hefty. The figurine is OK but lacks imagination.

Smurfette – #20813

This is the same Smurfette figurine that was used in the Smurfs Lost Village Movie Set 2 (#20801) in 2017. The more recent versions of Smurfette have presented her more plainly. For example they could have added in coloured paint dots on her dress.

Papa Smurf – #20814

Of recent times Papa Smurf’s white beard appears to be getting bigger and bigger. Perhaps this has something to do with the smurf’s head being bigger than the rest of his body. At least it is a new Papa Smurf figurine!

Greedy – #20815

This is my favourite by far, as it has a little bit of silliness to it. For example it looks like a bite has been taken out of the cake and his mouth appears to be full. I also like how they show him wearing a white apron. All the others are wearing their customary white trousers and hat except Smurfette and Papa Smurf of course.

Smurf with Present – #20816

Again I feel Schleich lost a trick with this one, as they could have shown this smurf differently. The similarities of this figurine and Classic Jokey (#20538) are too much for my liking.

Smurf with Heart – #20817

Could this be the last smurf that Schleich ever make? Let’s hope not, as smurf is cute but lacks imagination in its design. Perhaps they could have painted the heart a brighter red colour or had an arrow going through it.

Each of these smurfs can be found with the markings on the back of their head and under their feet. Each of these have been made in China and do not have cavity numbers.

My conclusion:

I am glad to add these smurfs to my collection but wish they could have been more colourful. Once again these smurfs all appear to have a big head and small bodies which I find strange.

This is just my opinion and would love to hear your thoughts of the new smurfs; the good, the bad or the ugly.

The new 2019 smurf figurines from Schleich are now in stock at Toydreamer

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B

Teacher Smurf makes his point

Teacher Smurf can be found holding a book in his left hand and points with his point with his right hand. On the first version the book was painted brown with the black letters ABCD on the pages and a yellow bookmark. This was later changed to a red book. Both had the same markings – W.Germany Schleich S © 1980 Peyo markings. Schleich sold Teacher from 1980 to 1986/1991 – 1992/1996 – 1997/2000 – 2001.

The Hong Kong version has always come with a red book with black letters ABCD on the pages and a yellow bookmark. Some collectors make a note of the thickness of the black letters and the yellow bookmark compared to the Schleich made ones.

The Hong Kong one was produced with two different markings – Made in Hong Kong Schleich S © 1980 Peyo and Made in Hong Kong W. Berrie Co Schleich S © 1980 Peyo markings. Teacher was produced out of Hong Kong between 1981 to 1983.

There was also a Teacher made out of China. There are at least two different markings that can be found – M.China Schleich S Germany © 1980 Peyo CE. (small CE) and Made in China Schleich S Germany © 80 Peyo CE (large thin CE)

Check out the old catalogues

In the 1980 Schleich catalogue which was used through to 1984 it shows Teacher with a brown book with black scribble on the pages. It is unclear if Schleich ever released this version.

In the W. Berrie catalogues, you will notice in 1981 they display Teacher holding a book with red lettering (can’t see the colour of the book). In the 1982 catalogue they show Teacher holding a red book with black lettering.

Triangle Pedestals

There are also a number of triangle pedestals that used the Teacher figurine. There are American, English, French, Nordic and promotional ones to be found. From personal experience when buying a triangle pedestal check out the older catalogues to ensure it is genuine first. There is nothing worse than buying a triangle pedestal in a foreign language to find it was not actually released like this.

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B

Snippets from the catalogues taken from thecursedcountry.com