Hi Daniel,
I get mine mostly off ebay but I got a few at Passion this year
I would love to trade sockels with you, but as of right now I don't have any doubles, except for one and I already checked your website...you have that one already
Top of the Black Forest probably describes the area..the Black forest is a mountain area in the South of Germany that is covered with Pine trees hence the name black (when you go there the area is very beautiful but also very wooded and darker than other areas in Germany, but probably one of the most beautiful areas of Germany
)
Here is a link describing the area
http://www.blackforest-tourism.com/inde ... onen/natur
I am not sure why they advertise with smurfs, but I like it
I think Dyar has most of the Schonwald sockels (well the last one hasn't been added yet, but it is the devil smurf on the sockel
)
Here is a link to his Schonwald webpage
http://www.geocities.com/sgtpapas/socke ... nwald.html
and Rachel has most of them also...here is a link to her site
http://www.blueimps.com/SmurfaGrams.html
I am not sure who has the most sockels on this forum (it would be fun finding out) but I know that David has over 200, I think
Here is an old thread in which he gives out a lot of information and included a lot of pictures
http://forum.bluecavern.com/viewtopic.p ... ht=sockels
The following information I found on the Mushroom Village website. I believe Herr Weis' wife collects smurfs & that's where the idea came from. I've updated the list as the original wasn't quite up to date:-
The Schönwald promos are part of a series of pieces made by Schönwald, a spa and resort located in the famed "Black Forest" of Germany. Schönwald purchased 5,000 blank blue Smurf-a-Gram bases, and then purchased figurines as they were needed to manufacture the promos themselves. This was an unusual arrangement in that Schleich usually manufactures the finished product when it is involved in a promo, and because they normally require a 5,000 piece order for each promo figurine. The Schönwald Smurf-a-Gram series was made possible by a special arrangement between Hendrik Coysman, (IMPS Managing Director) and Hans-Peter Weis (Schönwald tour manager) during Mr. Coysman's stay at the Schönwald spa. Because IMPS and Schleich relaxed the usual standards for promos, the Schönwald promos are available in much smaller quantities than any other promo from that period.
To make the promos, figurines were glued to a blank Smurf-a-Gram base, and then a pressure-sensitive Schönwald sticker was applied. Schönwald produced a first series (identified by a white Christmas tree on the label) and a second series (identified by a green tree). As the total number of pieces produced approached 5,000 pieces, an additional quantity of blank bases was purchased, so that the program could continue, although it is not known how many more were bought. The following is a current list of the pieces that have been produced to date:
Series 1 (White tree on sticker) {4180 pieces}
20176 Good Luck - September 1998 - 180 pieces
20452 Snowboarder - November 1998 - 250 pieces
20453 Snowboarder Smurfette - November 1998 - 250 pieces
20459 Nameplate - April 1999 - 800 pieces
(With Christof Duffner autograph, champion ski jumper & '94 Olympic Games winner.)
20455 Tourist - July 1999 - 400 pieces
20124 Santa - December 1999 - 500 pieces
20460 Golfer - July 2000 - 400 pieces
20467 Chimney Sweep - December 2000 - 400 pieces
20118 Umbrella - July 2001 - 500 pieces
20469 Bouquet - February 2002 - 500 pieces
Series 2 (Green tree on sticker) {3900 pieces}
20484 Tenorhorm - July 2002 - 800 pieces
20040 Gift - December 2002 - 800 pieces
20473 Hiker - March 2004 - 600 pieces
20522 Workaholic - June 2005 - 600 pieces
20547 Witch – April 2006 – 600 pieces
20213 Devil – February 2007 – 500 pieces