Are you a good judge of recognising a fake Smurf? Recently I received a Judge Smurf #20016 that looked genuine at first glance but wasn’t.

Judge Smurf was first sold wearing a black robe with black glasses and points with one hand. His mouth is also wide open showing his red mouth. Later the robe was painted red, which is more common variant.

So far everything seemed to be what I expected. Though it wasn’t until I inspected more closely that certain aspects of the Judge Smurf made me feel it was a fake.

Firstly, the ears were lacking their inner curved shape and looked flat. The other thing the hands also looked flat, especially the index finger that was pointing out. There was also no flexibility in the pvc material. One could call it a rock.

Like other Smurfs sold before 1974, when Bully won the production rights from Schleich they removed the Schleich emblem from the Smurf.

However if you look closely at these markings, you can often see the outline of the round emblem. Oddly enough I could not see this, though instead it had the markings W.Germany Peyo. Just because a Smurf has markings doesn’t mean it’s not a fake.

In summary, enjoy the experience of getting to know your Smurfs. Genuine or fake. No one is going to judge you for your purchases except you. 

Keep on Smurfin
Kath B

P.S Here, is another article I wrote that features Judge Smurf

http://www.smurfs.com.au/random-smurf-thoughts/smurfs-discover-australia-1979/