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There are 2 posts tagged 20232 (this is page 1 of 1).

Party Pigs Ice Hockey Smurfs

It’s funny how things happen. In 1999 a special limited edition pair of Ice Hockey Smurfs were released in Canada. The story goes that the Ice Hockey Smurfs were distributed by Party Pigs, the Canadian division of Schleich. Approximately 2000 were thought to have been made until they were pulled by Schleich as they were not properly licensed. 

Ice Hockey Player 1

This Smurf is made out of blue pvc material. Is wearing a white helmet, with white and black uniform and red details. Initially given article number 20458 by Party Pigs.

Ice Hockey Player 2

This Smurf is made out of blue pvc material. Is wearing a navy blue helmet, with red and navy blue uniform and white details. Initially given article number 20459 by Party Pigs.

  • Player 1
  • Player 2

In the Smurf Collector’s Club International Newsletter Issue #54 they make mention of the special release. However, there is no mention in future newsletters of the special release being pulled.

It’s hard to resist these Ice Hockey Smurfs even if you know nothing about the sport. I was to lucky enough to buy mine as a pair over ten years ago. But as time goes on, the pair of Ice Hockey Smurfs are getting harder to find.

Watch out for coloured ice hockey sticks

What most people don’t realise is that the Ice Hockey Smurfs were never actually sold like this. The coloured sticks were made for Sniks and feature the puck on the right hand of the stick. The Ice Hockey Smurfs were only ever made with a brown stick with the puck on the left hand side.

Do you know something about the Party Pigs Ice Hockey Smurfs, let us know?

Keep on Smurfin
Kath B

P.S I’d love to hear your thoughts. We would like to hear your comments, qiestions and opinions – please contact us by using the Comments field.

Gargamel – 20232 or 40211

sm20232aToday I have found inner peace by sorting through my smurf collection. There is no better way to spend a day by scanning each smurf, to see if there are any missed discoveries. This is when I stumbled across Gargamel upon where I was asking myself,  is it the regular Gargamel with lab glasses (ref# 20232) or is it Super Smurf Gargamel (#40211) without Azrael.

The first one I came across was the unique Bully version of Gargamel with the raised finger in the air. Like some of the early Bully releases this version of Gargamel is made of a very soft almost rubbery like material. This has Bully Peyo hand etched into his feet and was never actually sold by Schleich.  Bully also never made any Super Smurfs!

sm20232pinkThe next in the pile of Gargamel’s I came across had the markings Made in Hong Kong Schleich S Peyo (c) 1978 on his back. I was pretty sure this was a Super Smurf without Azrael.  This is because the regular version of Gargamel was never made in Hong Kong.

Around 1987 Schleich stopped producing the Gargamel  & Azrael Super Smurfs so it should only be found Hong Kong, Hong Kong W. Berrie and W.Germany markings.

The regular version of Gargamel was made in 1992 and has the markings W.Germany Schleich S Peyo (c) 1992 Ce. It was last released around 1999.

By now I was starting to think to myself that I knew everything about Gargamel and was about to give myself a big slap on my back when I found another version of Gargamel that was made in China. I started to doubt myself, and lined up each of my Gargamel’s and placed them in some of sort of order. Where did this version of Gargamel come from?

It wasn’t until I started flicking through a copy of the Gian & Davi Collezioni – The Smurfs Official Collector’s Guide that it dawned on me that Gargamel Castle was released in 1993. To complement the castle, a version of Gargamel must have been produced that was made in China.

Sometimes understanding a little about the different markings that can be found on your smurfs can help tell a story of your collection. At least you could never call Smurf collecting boring.

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B