Today, I wanted to share with you a variation of Lion Tamer that you might not be aware of and this is not even mentioned in the Der Schlumpf Katalog IV. Its Lion Tamer, #20115 with a short whip.
Lion Tamer was first released by Bully in 1979 for possible only six months. It was then sold by Schleich with Bully markings until around 1984. The first version has a yellow and red drum, with a yellow loincloth & whip. The size of the whip can be found both short and long. Sometimes this version can be found with four black spots on his loincloth.
When Schleich got the mould they changed the colours of the drum to green and black, with an ocher coloured loin cloth & whip. Schleich also made a green drum version with a shorter yellow whip. This is considered rare as it is harder to find than the one with the longer whip. Sometimes the Schleich version can be found with five black spots on his lion-cloth.
Lion Tamer was also made out of Hong Kong and can be found with the green and black drum and extreme blue skin. It was sold by Wallace Berrie for two years, 1982 & 1983. Not sure if it was ever sold by BP Australia.
Schleich sold Lion Tamer from 1980 to 1989. It appears very little changes were made to the figurine, just little variances in the paintwork depending where it was painted. I have also seen some people refer to the thickness of the whip but in my opinion this is a very minimal difference that it is not worth mentioning.
A lion tamer is a person who trains and tames lions for entertainment in places like a circus. It is thought that lion taming has been around since the early part of the 19th century. Like other smurfs that have been made over the last 50 years or so it is unlikely that a Liontamer smurf would be re-released due to changing shift in people’s attitude to animals performing in the circus. However a circus themed play-set featuring smurfs, that could be a bit of fun.
Keep on Smurfin
Kath B
This is really cool! Out of curiosity, how much shorter is the short whip? Or, conversely, how much longer is the long whip? I am scambling to find my lion guy to see which one he is holding. If it isn’t too much trouble, would you be able to measure the whips in mm?
This is a tricky question to answer, as the whip is not straight. However I have measured the whips on two Lion Tamers and the difference is approximately 15mm. The version with the short whip is commonly found with the whip ending at the of the whip stick, whereas the version with the longer whip is curled under the whip stick. Just let me know if you require any additional information.
Thanks so much, very appreciated. Also feeling silly here because I didn’t evenn pick up on how the tips of the whip curl differently. Sometimes spotting smirf variations reminds me of the puzzles for children where you have 2 drawings side by side and are supposed to spot the differences between them. I was never great at solving that type, which is why I am grateful for your posts.