Blue Cavern

Hi all,

I have had smurfs since I was a kid years ago but a few weeks ago decided that I would start to collect them a bit more seriosuly. I have found this site & the forums are a brilliant source of knowledge!!

I have been buying smurfs on e-bay and bought a big lot last week. This arrived today (i was excited), but unfortunately half of them are fake

I was wondering:
i) is it worth relisting them (I would clearly mark them as fake!). I have seen on the forums that some people collect fakes.
ii) Should I leave negative feedback, or is this sort of thing common place - all of his other feedback was positive.

I feel stupid

Also, one of my smurfs (poet) has a marking on the back of his head that I was wondering if someone could identify for me. I am such a novice!!

I have attempted to attach pictures of what I think are fake smurfs, and also the marking on my smurf.

Thanks for your help

Nuts About Smurfing!
The poet mark is a "Jubilee" smurf - these are promo type smurfs and quite a good find There are a lot more folks on here that can give you more info about the Jubilees though.
As for the fake smurfs, was it anywhere in the auction? You may want to contact the seller before leaving any negative feedback only because they may in turn leave you an undeserved negative. If they did not state these were fake, you may have a case for a misleading auction and get your money back. It really depends on if the seller is going to be a jerk about it or not though. Good luck! Any more questions, please post them as everyone here loves answering them and sharing their smurfy knowledge

Hi Nuts about smurfing, welcome aboard.

Firstly great to hear that you are getting back into smurfs and I hope you will find the forums here friendly and helpful.

Nice smurf with the Jubilee.

Sorry to hear that you have been caught with these fakes. I think I can safely say that whoever you bought these from would have known that these are fakes but as Staci mentions, it might be worth you checking the description because some sellers are stating this. If there is no mention and you paid what you consider to be a lot of money I would certainly contact the seller. Having said that, if you got these relatively cheap, I would say put it down to experience and you never know, one day you may even collect the fakes yourself. These fakes have been mentioned quite a lot lately because they are in fact newly produced fakes or "fakes of fakes" and have been flooding the market. I am sure you are not the only one who has been caught out by them, I actually bought a set just to see what they are like.

Let us know if you need any more info on these.

Thanks for your responses Rachel & Staci.

The auction included the words "all smurfs are in different conditions". I took this to mean that some had paint rubs on, were dirty etc.

I decided to write to the seller earlier who has come back to me and said that what he meant by that is that some were "harder" than the others. I am 100% positive that he knew what he was doing. Do you think anyone would want them if I listed them as fake?

I may chalk it up to experience like you say. Right now I feel angry and a bit unsure of bidding on more smurfs, but I am sure that that will pass when I see another friendly blue face!!

Can you tell me any more about the "Jubilee" smurfs. Were they issued as an anniversary of sorts, or is it one a year? I was wondering what the significance of 1972 is

Thanks a lot.

Welcome Nuts About Smurfing!

The fakes are worth keeping just as a future reference and forsomething different. These are not considered very rare or very valuable so I don't think you would get a lot back with selling them so it may be more valuable for you to keep them so you can identify them in future auctions. You will notice the squarish type feet with fakes compared to the authentic ones and also the overall look so it may be money well spent as far as a future reference source goes.

The Jubilee smurf is a nice one to have...I don't have this one yet.

Here's a full list of them:

1. Normal - 1965
2. Spy - 1966
3. Papa Smurf - 1969
4. Mechanic - 1970
5. Judge - 1971
6. Author - 1972
7. Harp - 1973
8. Beer - 1974
9. Axe - 1975
10. Jester - 1976
11. Guitarist - 1977
12. Torchbearer - 1978
13. Champion - 1979
14. Telephone - 1980
15. Police - 1981
16. Jogger - 1982
17. Aerobic Smurfette - 1983
18. Baby w/ Blocks - 1984
19. Sailor - 1985

The year refers to the year that actual smurf was released. They did one per year up to 1985 since that marked the 20th year since the first smurfs were released (Normal & Gold) in this series of PVC smurfs.

Your one seems to be in good condition so congratulations on a nice purchase.

Dyar

That's brilliant thanks Dyar!!!!!!

This smurf was one from my collection when I was a kid, so i guess I should thank my Mum / Dad for buying it for me back then! I'll look out for more in future.

Thanks for your help all.

Mark

Hi Mark, great choice of avatar.

If you are in any doubt about whether something is fake, please feel free to ask on here.

If you are in any doubt about whether something is fake, please feel free to ask on here.

I'll second that...we would always be happy to help in any way we can.

Thanks both. I am sure that I will have many questions along the way

Nuts about smurfing

We're a friendly bunch, I'm sure you enjoy yourself here

Nuts (or should I say NAS)!

Sorry to hear about the fakes, they are a pest.
We have a few big problems with Smurf collecting, one are the new fakes (like you have), another are the Easter fakes (a set of 6 made in Hong Kong (and usually sold from there) which look good at pictures but are fakes of the real Easter Smurfs, and a couple of malevolent Smurf sellers who repaint Smurfs to make them look like rare versions

Apart from those, most collectors / sellers are decent good people, so you can still get a lot of fun and pleasure out of Smurf collecting.

Feel free to ask any questions about Smurfs, collecting, auctions, ... here, and we'll try to answer them to the best of our knowledge

Nuts (or should I say NAS)!

As long as you don't call him NADS

Hi Mark and welcome to the forum!

Sorry to hear you got "caught" by these fakes. I hope you haven't spend too much for them... I agree with that everyone has said: put it down to experience: you probably won't get your money back if you try to sell them on... I do have a set of these as well, to compare: fakes of hard to find fakes! amazing isn't it!!!!! Maybe in 10 years from now they'll so fakes of the fakes of the fakes... of Fake III, the Return!...

I like your Jubilée poet! (I do have the 1972 poet but it's not in very good condition: yours looks much better!)

Cheers,

David

As long as you don't call him NADS

errrrrrrrrrrr. Nuts would be fine thanks!

Sooo many responses. Thanks. Glad my poet has gone down well.

What's NADS anyway????

NAD is a really good make of hi-fi "stuff"... but may not ne of interest to everyone...

What's NADS anyway????

It's used around here as short for gonad.....kind of like....if you don't wear a hector while playing cricket then you may cop one in the nads.......but it's cool, we can call you Nuts instead

Dyar

nads...nuts.....whats the difference??

I say lets just call him Mark!

Welcome aboard Nuts!! This is one of my most favorite places to hang and I think you will enjoy it too!! Great people and the drinks are cheap too!!!

Tam

hi!

also Welcome


and glad to hear you found out about your smurfs..

I personally love collecting fakes , over licenced smurfs

but I can see that the seller was not being honest with you..

they knew these were fakes..as these have been all over EBAY last summer, as someone found a large lump of these fake ones..

but you will see these are in the official katalogs..and are worth saving

for the collector..


I find the fakes humourous!

you sure lucked out on that Jubilee smurf!!

nads...nuts.....whats the difference??

I'd not though of it like that .... Nads aren't the first thing I think of when I think of nuts !! (if that makes sense).

Oh well, I'm easy going, call me whatever you like!!

I have ordered a catalogue so I'll have to spend a day ticking through my collection when it arrives! Maybe I'll get a couple of those cheap drinks in...