Blue Cavern

Anyone been getting smurfs, whether through ebay or from online, second-hand toystores, that--and you don't know for certain--but you think the smurf might've been repainted? I'm not talking about rare ones, just ordinary smurfs.

You know--the smurf is a little glossy. The paint seems either thin in places (like how model paint enamel dries) or else very rich (as though it were generously applied).

I don't know. My smurfs in question came from northeast USA and eastern Canada, so maybe smurfs in the 1980s in that region were painted differently than the modern smurfs.

And, mind you, the smurfs don't look bad--they look good. But, after closer scrutiny, the smurf just looks... different.

I don't know. It's easy to be smurf paranoid. You just wonder. Reminds me of Jane Seymour, who, in her sixties, still looked 30. Something must have happened behind the scenes....

Hi Tim

Yes, yes & yes

I have bought many smurfs from all over the world that have had touch ups especially small bits around the nose and ears. Most of the time these touched up areas come off when I am cleaning them to reveal the paintrubs they were hiding and I think this is reasonably common throughout the world not just in America & Canada. I would never touch up a smurf as I would probably sell them one day and I would have to mention it....now I will have to mention it even though I didn't do it which is bloody annoying. I buy smurfs on ebay because they look in good condition so when I get a touched up smurf I just feel that I have been ripped off as I probably wouldn't of bidded on that smurf if I knew it had paintrubs.....to me, a touched up smurf is worth less than one with paintrubs so that gives you an idea of how much it shits me.

I am sure others here have experienced the same problem and it really comes down to the honesty of the seller....although sometimes they can be overlooked as well to be fair...I know I have not noticed some straight away either.

Yeah, I know what you're saying.

One of the smurfs in question was tennis smurfette. I have another tennis smurfette, which I bought in the 1980s. I hoped she would make a good baseline comparison. Yet, still, I wasn't 100% certain (for one thing, my old smurfette was painted in Hong Kong, the one in question was from W. Germany. I have a third, with a rub, from China. But, with the suspect one, the eyes are a little less crisp. The hat has a hint of texture, when it ought to be flat-smooth.

And, as you're suggesting, the seller may even had had no idea. I mean, I couldn't tell for certain--and I'm a smurf freak.

I have a couple which I think might have been raws, painted by a collector--they have a few gaps of bare white inside the earlobes. Not rubs, but places where paint never touched. Schleich makes mistakes, but not like that.

Ah, yes--smurf forensics. You gotta love it, though, when your smurfette has a loose strand of real hair stuck in the paint!

I do get new smurfs from Schleich with white bits inside the ears, they do miss those bits sometimes.

Andrew, all your smurfettes have been touched up, I hope you realise that!

Andrew, all your smurfettes have been touched up, I hope you realise that!

I think even Granny has been given the treatment after long lonely nights...not that she has complained though as Grandpa has been waiting ages for the *censored* to arrive.....Syd actually raided his letterbox weeks ago and has been a walking...well...you know.

Hi Tim, I am sorry to hear that you have been having this problem. I totally agree with Dyar, I would much prefer to have a smurf in original condition, rub and all rather than a smurf where someone has tried to hide things.

I am sure there are people out there who don't actually realise they are doing the wrong thing, that they are restoring the smurf but of course this isn't the right thing to do and is so annoying to a collector.

I remember once receiving an angry smurf that must have been touched up using a felt tip pen or something similar because as soon as I picked him up my fingers were covered in black ink so I know just how annoying this can be.