[bundleofkent]

Hi this is becoming a ballache of a topic. I don't have one of these but am lead to believe they are "Hong Kong" marked.

I have a W Germany brolly which Andrew knows about. This I thought was yellow but looking underneath the mushroom it is clearly orange/yellow so I'd say this one has faded.

However I really don't think the all yellow ones are necessarily all faded. The ones I have seen are uniformly yellow including the underneath of the mushroom. Other smurf colours which fade tend to be patchy in my experience. Also the smurf figure itself tends to be too good than if it has been torched by the sun.

The one I have I can buy as being faded and I have no doubt that this colour, like the gold emperor and the gold smurf can fade in the sun. However I very much doubt that the brolly red/orange will fade to a "perfect" yellow all over the mushroom.

I don't follow the science of a red mold fading to a perfect yellow mold and not really leaving any trace of it being sun induced.

Also in the SCCI letters the gang mention the yellow brolly as being a genuine variation.

I think it is.

Answers on a postcard please...

Martin

[Guest]

Hi Martin !

Definately an interesting subject !

I do believe there is a genuine version, but because some fade, its these ones that the sellers are passing on as the real thing !

But yes, i do believe there are genuine ones out there

[Smurfysmurf]

Hi Martin,

I admit I am really not sure what to believe anymore...I believe that the "yellow" mushrooms we see on ebay are not real..they are either painted or faded.

There are some experiments going on now to see how easy or difficult it is to fade one and I can't wait for the outcome of that one..

Going by some of the joggers I have I must say that it is pretty difficult to tell if they are faded or not. I have one that is clearly faded as he is orange/yellow on one side and the backside is dark orange.. I do also have one that is pretty solid yellow/orange and I believed it to be real until I looked at it in more detail and found one little place (I think under the arms) that was darker. From the looks of the blue, the shoes or the green base, either jogger didnt' seem to be faded at all so I am not sure we can take these colors as proof that the yellow mushroom (or jogger) really exists.

However, there are a few collectors that I classify as experts, and that look at rare variations very carefully who swear the yellow mushroom exists, so this gets me really to think that there are a few...but if the genuine exists, I'd say it is as rare as a genuine soft mold praying smurf or smurfette, or even the other rare Christmas smurfs

[Guest]

AFAIk both are exisiting in this yellow color....
But at the mushroom the material itself is yellow and at the yellow jogger the paint is yellow...

The markings on my one are W.Berrie, Hong Kong and the yellow is really a lurid (I hope that's the right word....) yellow...
It is one of my favorites smurfs so I was really hunting a very long time to get a real one.... There are so many fakes outside

It is also existing a yellow-orange mushroom with W.Germany markings but I only know that from the pics and it is more a "dirty yellow" and maybe faded out from the sun... I don't know...

[bundleofkent]

Thanks for the replies guys and girls.

I have the orange/yellow W germany variation which may well be faded

The one you have Tine looks 100% genuine and "lurid" is a perfect description!!!

I too have searched a long time for this guy(over 6 years) and still don't have one.....

[Rachel]

Hmmmmm.........

I have to admit I am one of the undecided on this one.

Mine has a very yellow top and slightly darker underneath and has the following markings:

Made In Hong Kong, W Berrie & Co, Schleich, 1979, Peyo.

As far as I know, all the yellow tops have the HK markings so I am interested to hear about yours Martin.

[Syd Smurf]

I could be wrong but I was under the impression the bright yellow Umbrella that Cheesy posted was a recently made fake Umbrella that is NOT painted but actually made this way as a very bright yellow PVC that even looks brand new and not like an old figure as it should be. I have seen these in the flesh and I would say it's a fake if I was asked for an honest opinion.

As for fading orange ones to make yellow ones.......well after what I have seen, I sure believe it ....at least most of the ones I have seen. I think Stace is gonna post some pics on here when she gets a spare minute that she has previoulsy sent to me that supports the theory.

Dyar

[Guest]

Hi Syd, maybe in the future you should visit me at home and have a look to all my smurfs and sorting out the fakes ....

and that special case it was a (imho) was a very reliable seller but your argument with remold.... it is nearly not checkable for anybody.

I really love this smurf.... that's the most important thing

[Syd Smurf]

I really love this smurf.... that's the most important thing

That's what really matters Cheesy and I do realise that. I collect authentic & fakes so if I see something interesting, something worth a closer look or just something I like then I like to have them in my collection too.

I hope you do not think I am having a personal attack when I state an opinion on whether anything is genuine or not. I am just stating things for discussion which is what makes this forum so cool. I clearly do not know everything and I usually say I could be wrong too.....but so could anybody. I am prepared to be made a fool of - if it helps us all to learn then so be it cos I can handle that. If people like me less for merely stating an opinion on a smurf then I think some new hobbies should be on the agenda because as much as we love these little blue guys they are just smurfs.

I think people should find out for themselves so having a debate for each side on any smurf is a very healthy practice for this hobby considering there is so much we do not know and so much that others do not want us to know.

Would you be willing to name the reliable seller publicly?

Dyar in da doghouse

[Smurfysmurf]

which shouldn't be a surprise to anybody

There may be disagreements about certain smurfs whether or not they really exist or are genuine...but at least we can post our opinions openly and honestly

[Guest]

Hi Dyar, there is no problem for me personally if you write my smurf is a fake... I was looking again closely to my smurf and IMO it is not a fake...
But I saw something different...I noticed on some mushroooms they are huge molding numbers.... but I only saw molding numbers 1 and 2 or no molding number.... anybody noticed it before

[Syd Smurf]

Good to hear there are no hard feelings Tine....and I respect your right to believe the yellow umbrella is genuine. The truth is I don't really know but I have seen no proof that a genuine one ever existed. I just believe all of the ones I have seen were either faded or the bright yellow ones were recently made like several other smurf accessories that have been produced in recent years and appeared out of nowhere.

I am after the bright yellow one as i would like to research it further but the one I have seen in the flesh just looked so new it couldn't be 20 or so years old and it seems the few I have seen since are also perfectly new looking just as if they were made in the last few years.

I guess the only way anyone can prove they are authentic would be to find one in some official Schleich documentation or promotional poster......but I think it would be very hard to find evidence of this. I also had not seen or heard of any bright yellow mushroom until about a year or 2 ago so it seems to of come out of nowhere and like I said above, so many new accessories in different colours have been recently produce. I think some of these newly made items look amazingly convincing at least in the pics I have seen.

I hope one day we find evidence one way or the other

Dyar

[Guest]

about fakes... what I'm quite sure nowadays is the fact that someone has done some Telethon replicas...
There are popping up to many and they are differing in some detail and for such a rare promo would not expect three different versions

Look at this pics
http://forum.bluecavern.com/viewtopic.php?t=8139

[bundleofkent]

I didn't see the previous Telethon link Tine-I will have a look at mine later on

Martin

[eggie smurf]

I was debating whether to post my findings on this thread but like everyone here, I have heard lots of rumors about the yellow umbrella from many collectors. So I thought I would try to experiment to see if the Hong Kong orange umbrella could actually fade to yellow.

I also wanted to add the disclaimer that I am not stating there are no real yellow umbrellas out there or that the ones out there are fake or faded because quite frankly, I would not know this. I only wanted to prove scientifically that the fading effect could be achieved. I also wanted to add that the photo of Cheesy's yellow umbrella is not a faded one because the color of hers is definitely yellow. As you will see from my faded umbrellas that the color is more an orangey yellow color. The color in person is more yellow than what is appearing on the photos below.

Enjoy looking It has been a cool experiment actually. If I have left anything out or you have questions, feel free to ask as well.

Original orange HK won on ebay. This is the umbrella on the right in pics below.


4 weeks into the experiment for umbrella on the left. 1 week into experiment for umbrella on the right.


8 weeks into experiment for umbrella on the left. One in middle is for comparison only - a HK orange umbrella. 5 weeks into experiment on umbrella on right.


8 weeks into experiment for umbrella on the left. 5 weeks into experiment on umbrella on right.

[bundleofkent]

Hi Stacie

that's what my W Germany brolly looks like. Is the underneath also yellow?

Thanks

Martin

PS Tine my Telethon is the one you have...

[eggie smurf]

Is the underneath also yellow?

Hi Martin,
I am currently fading underneath now on the left umbrella and it is fading too. That umbrella I have removed from the stem so it will fade evenly like the top of the umbrella

[Syd Smurf]

Good to see your experiment Stace

To me these look pretty damn close to the "original" yellow umbrellas being sold on ebay. It also explains why some have orange underneath and some have yellow....depending on whether they took the time to fade the underneath as well. From memory, the one in the DSK looks very much like the faded yellow one in the pics which could mean that this variation did not originally exist but has been faded. It would explain the rarity and why some are orange underneath and some are not. The colour looks very even especially on the one being out in the sun for longer.

GOOD JOB FISHY

Dyar

[Guest]

Great work Stace !

I definately think that some on e-bay lately are the fake type, like these faded ones ! It just shows what can be done, and if the wrong people find out, they can make a fortune from innocent people

I wonder who was the first person back in the 80's to realise their smurf had faded and how long it took a seller to realise he had a gem of an idea ?

I have potentially saved myself a lot of money buying something i thought was a genuine smurf which i can now do myself just by listening to you guys on here, so thanks for doing the experiment Stace and other people for their views ! However if a real example turns up, i would pay for it no worries

[Syd Smurf]

I will also state that I don't know for sure if a real one exists either but the ones I used to think were real all looked like this i thought.

Has anyone seen a bright yellow umbrella before the last 2 years? I know I haven't and therefore that (along with the new pristine condition of them) makes me think they are newly made.

Dyar