[Smurfysmurf]

Does anybody know how long Brazil Hering was producing the smurfs? This should answer a lot of questions.

It does make sense to me that the markings were blocked after they lost the license (which obviously they did before Minimodel did)..however, it doesn't make sense to me that Minimodel sold those (with the blocked markings) without putting their marking on it...especially since they have such a distinct marking

Somehow Schleich got with Brazil Hering, even though Brazil was a closed country back then, so chances are that Minimodels also worked with them

Maybe Minimodel took over the factory after Hering lost the license and after using up the old paint, they started using theirs and continued selling them in Brazil...and then in Argentinia? Not sure if that would make them Minimodels..and which of them would remain Brazil Herings and which would turn into Minimodels

[André]

I personally think, that lots of Herings with blocked markings were sold in South America, especially to Argentina and someone over there painted them as minimodels.
The special gold color is typical for minimodels, this was certainly not done in Brazil, but the markings were blocked in Brazil ( at least, that`s what I think)

I agree with you regarding that the markings were blocked in Brazil. And probaly also made with blocked markings in Brazil also.

But later maybe they found their way to Argentina.

If they were repainted in Argentina there would be traces of the old paint under the new, right?? Or do you think they removed the paint before or got raws from Brazil and painted them in Argentina?? And the material is very different??? What do you think about the material Lia?

[André]

Does anybody know how long Brazil Hering was producing the smurfs? This should answer a lot of questions.

It does make sense to me that the markings were blocked after they lost the license (which obviously they did before Minimodel did)..however, it doesn't make sense to me that Minimodel sold those (with the blocked markings) without putting their marking on it...especially since they have such a distinct marking

Somehow Schleich got with Brazil Hering, even though Brazil was a closed country back then, so chances are that Minimodels also worked with them

Maybe Minimodel took over the factory after Hering lost the license and after using up the old paint, they started using theirs and continued selling them in Brazil...and then in Argentinia? Not sure if that would make them Minimodels..and which of them would remain Brazil Herings and which would turn into Minimodels

Maureen,

personally I think both companies lost the license with only a few years difference. And some of the ones with blocked markings were made in Argentina after Minimodels lost the license and therefore if minimodels or another company made them they would never put their names on them, right??

[Lia]

that`s exactly right André!!
Also therefore they never could put minimodels markings on them, but they could repaint them.
No idea if there is Heringpaint underneath, because I just had this picture and not that particular smurf. but I believe that someone said that all these smurfs are from hard material

[André]

THis is what i think we talked about earlier:

"Only figurines that have the Minimodels stamp are true minimodels Smurfs. There are, though, many Argentinian Smurf figurines that are made from the exact same mold as the minimodels - they just don't have the minimodel stamp. Quality-wise, these un-marked "MiniModels" are identical to real Minimodels figures. This is because Minimodels Industria Argentina lost their license to produce Smurfs in the 1980s - but apprently the owner of the molds, Edgardo Broschi, kept on manufacturing them unlicensed, without the Minimodels logo printed on the figurine."

Maybe this owner through his contacts regarding Schleichmolds also got hold of some of the Heringmolds used in Brazil???

[André]

And this also:
Maybe old reading??

" Are there fake minimodels?

Kind of. After Minimodels Industria Argentina went out of business, the molds were passed on to third parties, who continued making unlicensed Smurfs. These Smurfs are made out of a softer material and look a lot cruder than Smurfs made in the Minimodels Industria Argentina factory (whether licensed or not), although they have some interesting and collectable painting and color variations."

So the harder material seems more close to Minimodels??

[Smurfysmurf]

So, in effect both of you are saying there are two different ones with the blocked markings

- some of the blocked markings were made by Brazil Herings even after the markings were blocked (i.e. the gift and flower smurf) as they have the same material, paint, and therefore look like the marked Brazil Herings. These markings very removed in Brazil as well...and probably sold there. These clearly are Brazil Herings

- some of the blocked markings were Brazil Hering molds but the markings were removed by Argentinia Minimodels and produced and painted by them after both Brazil Hering and Argentinia Minimodels lost the license. Those are the ones that are made of the harder PVC (like the Minimodels) and that were painted as a Minimodel. On these the markings were removed in Argentinia probably around the time that Minimodel lost the license (after Hering already had lost it). On these, the question is...would we consider them Brazil Herings...or Argentinia Minimodels?

[André]

Not exactly Maureen,

Lia and Frank are correct!!

the ones with no markingsmade by minimodels are not the same as the Hering ones.

So Lias list is correct!!

[André]

I don´t think Minimodels erased any markings on any Heringmolds.

I am just giving you some theories.

One of them is that some of the Heringmolds with blocked markings could have been made in the minimodels factory after they lost the licence. But again this is just thoughts and I try to think with an open mind!!

But I am almost certain that minimodels never made any changes in any of the Heringmolds if they ever used any of them!

[André]

So this list from Lia are the ones I believe is correct regarding the molds.

20033 clown
20042 cook
20051 bowling
20058 with wreath
20062 with phone
20122 cowboy


Of these Schleich sent molds to both Hering and Minimodels.

The others Hering smurfs are just molds used by Minimodels??

[Lia]

( apart from the toothbrush) yes, perfect

[André]

( apart from the toothbrush) yes, perfect

So there is one Heringmold that is different but still licensed, spy.

And one Minimodels mold that is different but still licensed, toothbrush.

Is that what you mean Lia??

[Lia]

yes André ( of course, I`ll accept another opinion when it`s a better one)

[André]

Not sure Lia,

Spy is clearly different. The face is completly different.

But minimodels toothbrush??? If you mean the different shape of the tube, my guess is that the mold is just damaged??? If you compare with the HK mold it is very much the same. I can´t imaging that they did this part on the side of the tube intentionally!! Why???

Another thing.

Have you noticed that some of the Herings have cavitynumbers, but do you have any minimodels with cavitynumber? I mean that maybe they only had one mold and still used it eventhough it was slightly damaged??

Do you have any different cavitynumbers on the same Herings????

[Lia]

I`ll check tomorrow André!

( I need some relax this evening, after a hectic day, in which lots of members of my family got stuck for 36 hours at Schiphol airport and returned home because the flights were cancelled, or got trouble with a mess on the roads because of the snow, an empty battery in the car because of the cold weather and a chaos with wrong delivered mail or missing mail because of the postal strikes...tomorrow will surely be a better day!)

[Pitufo]

When broschi lost the license, they went on selling smurfs. And later the vidow of Mr Broschi was who decide to stop the production and go on making only little cars, what thay had done always (THIS WAS TOLD ME TO ME FOR AN ARGENTINIAN WOMAN). It can be truth!!!

I haven´t more info but I would like to add something: I think there is a great confusion about minimodels and it is the same that happens for cnt: NO all the spanih smurfs are CNTs and NO all the argentinian smurfs are MINIMODELS. It seems an obviousness but it can be the origin of the confusion


And another thing I want to add: what I love the most about this AMAZING forum is that I can learn everyday: I am a spanish guy who lives actually at France and read a forum in english where american, dutch, german, belgian, british and swedish collectors share info!!!Isn´t it amazing what internet have done for us????

[Lia]

All very true Joaquin!

André, it`s funny, but I never thought of a damaged mold with the toothbrush. I like it very very much, but I agree, there is no other expaination for the strange shape.

All the same Heringsmurfs have always the same cavitynumber, apart from one of my telephones with unique markingvariation ( must be an error, but a very nice error)
But I have these Hering hikers, same cavitynumber (1), that seem to have a different mold and different looks.

I haven`t found any cavitynumbers on the Minimodels, perhaps there is one exception ( or possibly an error?) , but may be Frank can check his minimodels ?

Lia

[Tintin]

Hi Lia

I will try, but that's going to take some time !!

Tintin

[Lia]

just check the cookie Frank if you have a moment

[André]

Maybe they just got one mold of each and if it got damaged they still had to use it, and that is the reason for the toothbrush-shape.

Compared to the other big manufacturer with Schleichmolds: if one mold with a certain cavity were damaged in some way, they stopped using that one, right! Or repaired it, off course.

I assume they could ask Schleich to send them a new one, but maybe they thought the damage in the mold was not big enough, and that they still could use it.