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
Interesting post – I am a big fan of french fries. (Sorry, but what does CNT stand for?) Thanks for writing this!
CNT also known as Comics No Toxico were smurfs produced in the 1980’s out of Spain. Typically they are found with no markings but were released with a gold oval sticker with the words ‘Comics No Toxico’. They are loosely based on Schleich smurfs made at the time, but were typically painted with different variations and are slightly smaller in size. For example I have Cake smurf with a yellow cake and not the typical orange cake.
They are highly regarded due to the high quality material used to make the smurf and the quality of the paint. I have very little knowledge of CNT’s smurfs and by no way an expert. I am just a passionate smurf collector.
Keep on Smurfin
Kath B