Every smurf collector hopes one day to find their dream smurf ignored and forgotten in the bottom of a box at a garage sale.
The funny thing is that a smurf does not necessary have to be from the 1960’s or 1970’s to be considered rare. Some of the smurfs released around the late 1990’s and early 2000’s are some of the hardest smurfs to find. The good thing is that not everyone is aware of this.
Let’s take Tourist Smurf (Schleich reference 20455) as an example. In 1999 Schleich only released six new smurfs. Five of the six were made in Germany but Tourist was the only one made in China.
For one year maybe two, smurfs made out of China were painted with very shiny blue paint. All the smurfs painted with shiny blue paint are highly collectible.
Tourist was only sold between 1999 to 2002 and is hard to find. This pushes up the price when sold by collectors who know their stuff. Though once in a while you will be presented with some smurfs where the seller has no idea of their true value.
A tourist likes to visit places that interests them. So when you are at that garage sale and find that dream smurf, enjoy the moment and act like a tourist!
Keep on Smurfin
Kath B