Teacher Smurf makes his point

Teacher Smurf can be found holding a book in his left hand and points with his point with his right hand. On the first version the book was painted brown with the black letters ABCD on the pages and a yellow bookmark. This was later changed to a red book. Both had the same markings – W.Germany Schleich S © 1980 Peyo markings. Schleich sold Teacher from 1980 to 1986/1991 – 1992/1996 – 1997/2000 – 2001.

The Hong Kong version has always come with a red book with black letters ABCD on the pages and a yellow bookmark. Some collectors make a note of the thickness of the black letters and the yellow bookmark compared to the Schleich made ones.

The Hong Kong one was produced with two different markings – Made in Hong Kong Schleich S © 1980 Peyo and Made in Hong Kong W. Berrie Co Schleich S © 1980 Peyo markings. Teacher was produced out of Hong Kong between 1981 to 1983.

There was also a Teacher made out of China. There are at least two different markings that can be found – M.China Schleich S Germany © 1980 Peyo CE. (small CE) and Made in China Schleich S Germany © 80 Peyo CE (large thin CE)

Check out the old catalogues

In the 1980 Schleich catalogue which was used through to 1984 it shows Teacher with a brown book with black scribble on the pages. It is unclear if Schleich ever released this version.

In the W. Berrie catalogues, you will notice in 1981 they display Teacher holding a book with red lettering (can’t see the colour of the book). In the 1982 catalogue they show Teacher holding a red book with black lettering.

Triangle Pedestals

There are also a number of triangle pedestals that used the Teacher figurine. There are American, English, French, Nordic and promotional ones to be found. From personal experience when buying a triangle pedestal check out the older catalogues to ensure it is genuine first. There is nothing worse than buying a triangle pedestal in a foreign language to find it was not actually released like this.

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B

Snippets from the catalogues taken from thecursedcountry.com

20107 Carnival Smurf

While Belgium celebrates 60 years of the smurfs with The Smurf Experience at Brussels Expo, back here in Melbourne on the other side of the world I thought what better way to celebrate the occasion but to write about Carnival smurf. Wearing a red mask over the eyes and painted with red, yellow and blue polka dots over his white trousers and smurf hat, Carnival smurf carries a drink in his right hand and a holds lantern propped on a long pole in his left hand.

First made by Bully in 1979 but actually sold by Schleich from 1980 to 1989. Like a lot of smurfs made at the end of the Bully era, extremely rare colour variations were made and can be found in the 1980 Schleich catalogue. Such as the Fisherman with red-white fishing line, Scot with brown bagpipes, Baker with dark brown rectangle bread and Carnival with the red-green lantern. It is also thought that the early version of Carnival was also made with orange pole.

This must have been a time for great colour experiments as I have also come across a Bully advertisement from 1979 that shows Carnival smurf wearing a black mask and carrying a white glass. The pole used is also quite different to the red one they commonly used. I don’t think was ever released commercially.

Carnival Smurf with W.Germany Bully © Peyo markings and a mustard paint dot.

So if you’re struggling to know what to look out for with Carnival smurf, you’re not alone. Typically the German made ones have a 6cm red pole with a yellow lantern. I also tend to find these have a slightly darker yellow lantern than the ones made out of Hong Kong. These Carnival smurfs can be found with either a Bully or Schleich marking.

Carnival smurf was also made out of Hong Kong and was sold in New Zealand and the United States. I am not sure if it was ever sold by BP Australia. Typically the Hong Kong ones have a 6.7cm red pole with a yellow lantern. These can be found with both Hong Kong and Hong Kong W. Berrie markings.

Large numbers of smurfs were produced in the early 1980’s which makes finding some of these Bully marked Schleich sold smurfs easy to find still today. If you are looking for a smurf to bring fun and colour to your collection I can highly recommend Carnival smurf. What’s not to like a smurf having a good time?

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B

Smurfette with Tea Set

I can’t stand when people try to flog incomplete Super Smurfs. A couple of good examples of this is Smurf in Bathtub #40235 where people try to sell just the smurf without the bathtub or Smurf on Raft #40246 without the raft. However back in 1990 Applause did just this as they sold the Smurfette with Tea Set without the table.

Smurfette with Tea Set was first sold in the USA in 1984. Around 1984 Wallace Berrie had also rebranded itself with the new name of Applause. So this possibly why you can find Smurfette with Hong Kong W. Berrie Co markings but sold in an Applause box. From my understanding only six Super Smurfs were sold with this Applause box. So this is considered extremely rare especially outside the USA.

Like a lot of smurfs made out of Hong Kong, Smurfette is a dark blue colour. She is wearing a light pink apron, and is holding a lavender cup and teapot. It comes with a light pink table top, lavender cup, dark brown bread. The under side of the table is brown.

Markings on Smurfette: W.Germany Schleich S © 84 Peyo CE. No markings on table.

It wasn’t until 1986 that Schleich started selling their version of Smurfette with Tea set. In the end it was sold by Schleich right through to 1993, so it is possible to find a version with a CE marking. Smurfette can be found painted in a lighter blue colour, pink apron, pink cup and teapot. The table cloth is a darker pink colour compared to the Hong Kong version and underside of the table is same colour.

Smurfette markings: China Applause ™ Peyo CE

In 1990 Applause released their last smurfs in the USA. In the SCCI (Smurf Collectors Club International) newsletter they called them ‘The Eleven Figurines’. All eleven smurfs are old releases with new markings China Applause ™ Peyo CE. As part of the release they included Smurfette with Teapot (without a table).

It is unclear exactly why Applause decided to do this, one suggestion is that it could have been a child safety issue with the small loose items such as the teacup and bread that previously would be displayed on the table.

This is a very cute Super Smurf and is well worth collecting whether it be with a table or without. Displaying Smurfette can be a little tricky especially if you have one that leans to the left, like I do. Lucky for me I have been able to find a little wooden box to display her which helps her from falling over.

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B

Swimmer Smurf

I have a confession to make and that is I can’t really swim. Even with this small flaw, it doesn’t put me off from liking Swimmer smurf first released in 1977 by Schleich. This is unique smurf as it can be found with mould and colour variations.

The first mould was made out of light blue pvc material and can be found with either orange bathers with a yellow ring or yellow bathers and an orange ring. Both also have a blue valve. The other distinctive thing is the small red mouth and the arms on the underside are completely shaped

Like a lot of smurfs produced around this time, there are many different shades of paints used on the bathers from orange to dark red. Also the eyebrows can vary, from unpainted to thick.

#20025 Swimmer with yellow bathers & red ring

#20025 Swimmer with yellow bathers & orange ring

When the Swimmer was made out of Hong Kong they used a much larger mould and white pvc material. Typically these are found with yellow bathers and a red ring with a black valve. Also with this larger mould you can no longer see the mouth as it is hidden by the smurf’s hands.

The Hong Kong version was sold in the USA from 1981 to 1985 by Wallace Berrie. As you can find the Hong Kong version with and without W. Berrie markings, it makes me think it was also sold in Australia as well but I couldn’t find anything to back up this theory.

I also have one with Hong Kong markings where they blocked out the year 1977 and replaced this with 1980. It is thought this happened around smurfs sold in 1982. So basically any smurf made before 1980 they blocked out the year and replaced this with 1980. Oddly they later changed the year back to the original year marking on these smurfs.

Around 1983 the German mould was changed to be more like the Hong Kong version. Though they used a blue mould. It was sold like this until 1986.

Between 1994 to 1996 Swimmer was re-released but this time with China markings. The China version can be found with yellow bathers and an orange ring with a black valve.

In the Der Schlumpf Katalog IV they list a Swimmer with Macau markings, possibly made around 1985. Ever since this has created debate amongst collectors whether it exists or not. I doubt this actually exists but I am happy to be proved wrong, all in the name of collecting smurfs.

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B