20142 Archives

When is a smurf not a smurf? For example let’s have a look at Mermaid Smurfette first released back in 1982.

We first see Mermaid Smurfette is sitting on a light grey rock, with blue and silver scales, red starfish on hat and wearing a pearl necklace in the 1982 Schleich catalogue. This version was typically made out of blue pvc material.

A version of Mermaid Smurfette was also made out of Hong Kong, which has a dark green scales, orange starfish on hat and is wearing a pearl necklace. It was also made out of white pvc material. This was sold by BP in Australia and New Zealand possibly in 1982 and then in 1983 was sold by Wallace Berrie for two years.

The markings for Mermaid Smurfette can be found underneath the rock. It can also be found with different paint dots; mustard, green or red which was used as a method of quality control. It tells us which country the smurf was painted in by Schleich. Mustard indicates it was painted in Portugal. Green indicates it was painted in Tunisia. Red indicates it was painted in Sri Lanka.

Though it is a strange choice of a smurf figurine, it must have been fairly popular it was sold by Schleich between 1982 to 1988 and then again 1993 to 1996. During this time, it was also used on several triangle pedestals.

OMO back in around 1983 also created a miniature version of Mermaid Smurfette made out of blue material. These miniature smurfs came free inside a box of OMO washing powder. A total of 16 were produced as part of this promotion.

Plastoy

In 2009 Plastoy produced smurf bath toys which included Mermaid Smurfette with a silver tail. The smurf bath toys were produced as two sets of four different smurf characters. Mermaid Smurfette was part of set 1 which also included a smurf riding an orange fish, Diving Smurf and a smurf sitting in a rubber duck tube. These pieces make a beautiful to your smurf collection especially if you like to display the pieces.

So what inspired the creation Mermaid Smurfette? Who knows and who cares. Whoever it was, created a beautiful figurine to be admired when displayed with other smurfs.

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B

Some collector’s sites mention different coloured material when speaking about variations, like white material or blue material. Have you ever wondered what this means? Or how you can tell the difference.

This is referring to the different coloured pvc (Polyvinyl chloride) the smurfs are made from. Typically smurfs are blue or white but there are other base colours used.

A really good example is Mermaid Smurfette (#20142), as she comes in both blue and white pvc and can easily be seen by looking underneath the rock.

Some figures are easy to tell as there might be an unpainted area on the figure but others are more difficult to tell as they are completely painted. Typically you will find the W.Germany version with a blue pvc material and the Hong Kong version with a white pvc material which is then painted.

In the early days when they were producing smurfs out of Hong Kong they would oftern use spray paint to paint the smurf. This may have been something to do with the huge demand for smurfs in the early 1980’s. A good example of this is Painter Smurf (#20045) and can be easily seen by looking around the smurf’s waist.

A good tip it to look closely at the face especially the eyes and the hat to see if they have been painted and also at the bottom of the feet to see of there is paint missing.

Here are just some that I have noticed:

#20142 Mermaid – blue or white

#20065 Rugby – blue or white

#20176 St Patrick – green or blue

#20001 Papa Smurf – red or blue

#20137 Surfer – blue or white

#20167 Indian Smurfette – mustard or white

#20180 Papa Smurf with Pizza – blue or white

#20122 Cowboy – blue or white

#20108 Sauna – blue or white

#20213 Devil – pink or white

No doubt there are others that I can be added to this list……

Depending what base material was used on the smurf can make a big difference when it comes to adding to one’s own collection. The best example of this is Rugby Smurf, especially with the ones in the South African team colours.

More recently you are unlikely to find their variances with the base material like the ones produced in the 1980’s. This is because the smurfs are now produced out of the one place and not multiply places. The other thing is that Schleich is producing smurfs for shorter periods.

Happily collecting smurfs can never be called boring.

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B