For some time now, Smurf collectors have been left scratching their heads and bemused by the fact that on some of the Sauna Smurf’s you can see its blue tail. One would have thought that it should be under the towel and should not be seen.
Sauna Smurf (#20108) can be found washing his back with a scrubbing brush with his left hand and holding a cake of frothy soap in his right hand, while wearing a red towel around his waist. It was first made by Bully in 1979 and later sold by Schleich from 1980 to 1993, 1997, 1998 and 2000. It was also made out of Hong Kong between 1981 to 1984.
German made
All German made Sauna Smurfs have unpainted tails and can be found with Bully and Schleich markings. However, the Bully made ones are made out of a white pvc material and the Schleich ones are made out of blue pvc material. The colour and the thickness of the brush can also be found. I have always found it difficult to distinguish the colour differences on the brush, especially when looking at photographs online. For me, there are too many other factors in play, such as the lighting, the quality of the photo etc.
All the newer German made ones there are no differences found with the brushes.
Hong Kong made
Like the Bully made ones, the Sauna Smurf produced out of Hong Kong was made out of white pvc material. With the Hong Kong made ones, you can always see its blue tail. Not really sure why they did this…. But they did.
Sauna Smurf was first made in Hong Kong around 1981 and was sold by both BP New Zealand and Wallace Berrie for the US market. I don’t think it was released by BP Australia but I could be wrong.
Like a lot of Smurfs made out of Hong Kong, you can find ones with the year marking changed. From 1979 changed to 1980 and then back again to 1979. It is thought this happened around 1982 when Smurfs were only being made for Wallace Berrie. This was also around the same time that the colour of brush changed from light tan colour to an ocher brown colour.
Fakes
Due to the popularity of Sauna Smurf, there are many different fakes to be found. Some are beautifully crafted and painted like the PVC No Toxico ones and then there are the fakes from Mexico made out of different coloured rubber like material.
When looking to add Sauna Smurf to your collection don’t forget to check if you can see his tail. You can tell a lot about someone from looking at them from their behind.
Keep on Smurfin
Kath B