Blue Cavern

Could this be that Minimodels and Hering are related ???
Because they both have the strange painting !!!!

Tintin

we must find out,but there are 2 factories,right? one in Brazil and one in Argentina,so.......

Great pictures Frank and Lia!!

Now I have a lot more info!!

Just have to remember it all, to much for an old man??

By the way Lia,

the surferboard: is it marked Hering? And do you think there is a board with erased markings?

it`s marked Hering and no,I can`t imagine one erased André,
(but there aren`t many around, so I really don`t know?)

the board is marked with Hering
The size of the board is between the other two board lengths

surfboard

Hi Andre

Here a picture of 3 Hering surfers.
First one has Hering on his board and arm.
Second erased on board but still Hering on arm.
And the last erased on board and arm.

Tintin

Thanks for all the pictures!!

It is great that so many answers in this thread and I got you all "going". I am new with these southamerican smurfs but I find them very intresting. Maybe not the best quality, but very nice to have!

regarding the quality I almost think the softer herings from Brazil have the nicest material?? Worst material have the ones with erased heringmarkings from Argentina almost like fakes in shape and painting?? But that is among the ones I have so maybe you have different opinion??

Frank,

the board with erased markings and removed Hering on arm: Would you say that is an argentinian smurf? Minimodels? Harder material?

Andre,
I went thru my Herings and finally saw what you meant about the different material. My candle Hering with erased markings is made of very hard PVC (much like the Minimodels), however, when I compared the paint used on it with the paint used on the marked Herings and Minimodels, it looks to me that the candle smurf was painted with the same paint and color shading as the marked Herings and not as the Minimodels.

It's an interesting question really, but I still say the three stripes are all Herings out of Brazil and not Herings made by Minimodel once Hering lost the license. I am glad to be corrected of course, but so far the smurfs with three stripes look more like Herings to me than Minimodels (going by paint and not the PVC).

It is obvious that both companies worked together at some time...it will be interesting to find out more about it.

Maureen,

I think Lia or Frank are the experts on this and can answer, but for me it is like this regarding the ones I have.

I have one Heringmarked candle I got from Brazil and one with erased markings I got from Argentina.

All the ones I got from Brazil have kind of matte blue paint and the material is softer. Actually not that bad!!

The one I got from Argentina with blocked stripes are very hard and the paint are more shiny and looks more like the minimodels I got.

Both the candle smurfs I have are actually not that bad, though!

Maybe Lia knows this better.

I never heard or saw a minimodels candle.
I only know the Hering candles, these can be different ( hard and soft) material, but never the less, all are Herings imo!
this is the one with markings made in brazil


Lia

Andre, I don't think you can say a Brazil with erased markings is from Minimodel because you got it from Argentinia...I got a lot of my Brazil Herings from a seller in Argentinia (the others I got from Lia) who sold them to me as Brazil Herings and not Minimodels...and as Lia said, for me these are Brazil Herings and not Minimodels. Both countries are close together, so I can see a lot of trading going on between collectors of both countries

OK,

so all smurfs with Hering markings, traces of these or blocked markings are from Brazil.

I was just thinking of Joaquins opinion and his opinion was that some of these were Minimodels. But maybe I understood him wrong.

So Lia,

according to you there are no minimodel tailor?

Are there more like this? Did minimodels make a telephone with no markings or minimodels markings?

No tailor minimodels ,for sure!!

and the telephone minimodels is afaik always unmarked

@ tintin, your champion with coloured berries is super lovely

Lia

Thanks Lia,

I think I will drop this subject for now.

Many thanks for the great info from all and I will try to find more southamerican smurfs and probably get back with more questions later??

I was just thinking of Joaquins opinion and his opinion was that some of these were Minimodels. But maybe I understood him wrong.

Yes I think you misunderstood me. English, francais and spanis...My head is a real "caos"

I have many brazil and rgentinian but I have not too much info about them. I know many fakes were made at Argentina after minimodels stopped the production od smurfs, but really don´t know the relation between hering and minimodels factories. Some of erased markings smurfs were sold at Argentina, maybe (or sure after reading your opinions), but I don´t consider them as minimodels of course

Hi to you all.

Sorry for my late reaction.

Yes Andre, there is a phone with the stripes......... picture later.

About the surfboard, i bought it in a lot full of Hering, but the colour blue is more like the minimodels, so it could be that it is an Argentina.

And ............ me expert ???? That's a joke right ???

Thanks Lia, but you have put on some lovely ones to

Tintin

Frank, you have the biggest collection of minimodels I ever saw!!

My Hering phones are all marked Hering and my minimodels phone is unmarked, but here is a perfect example how they painted a Hering phone ( the right one) as a minimodel

Frank, you have the biggest collection of minimodels I ever saw!!

My Hering phones are all marked Hering and my minimodels phone is unmarked, but here is a perfect example how they painted a Hering phone ( the right one) as a minimodel

That is great Lia and Frank!

The question is if they painted it like this in Argentina??? I am not saying it is a minimodels, but the paint and material is very different from the ones from Brazil. Why would someone in Brazil paint them like the minimodels????

Or is it painted like this somewhere else??? Joaquin says he got a lot of these with blocked Heringmarkings from Argentina and Marcelo told us that Brazil was a very "closed" country( then maybe not likely to be made in Brazil and exported??) so maybe some of the Hering molds were used in Argentina after they lost the license and these smurfs were made in Argentina??? Kind of fakes???

Off course I only have a few so I can´t compare that much.

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)