[André]

I think I have a year for when the BP promotion in Holland started. And I am also pretty sure which company made the smurfs.

I get back later and explain what, when and why.

[Lia]

at least, they did some smurfpromotion in 1969, according to this letter, right? ( but they probably started earlier)

[André]

Yes,

that is true Lia!!

they started in 1965. But that is not the promotion I mean.

I forgot to say I mean when they started with the PVC smurfs again in the 70s. We know then that the National promotion started because of the success in Holland.

But which smurfs were used in that promotion and which company made them???

A funny thing with the early promotion is that Frank Zappa tells about the promotion Smurf mee, Smurf BP on one of his records. They say they saw that in around 1970 in Holland. But I am not sure they used PVC smurfs during that year??

[Lia]

I remember having seen this sheet, it`s not Dutch, but it mentions 1970

[André]

That is a fantastic picture Lia and could be the ones with only peyo markings??? I mean the ones never marked Schleich??

At least this was before Bully started. And notice also the Papa with hand held high!! Which was a early papa variation made by Schleich. And should not be mixed with the unmarked papa of the later issue which not is among the early ones!!

[Tintin]

Hi Andre

Still curious about the news.
I know my dad went to the BP stations instead of the Shell because of the smurfs.
It must have been in the seventies ..............

Tintin

[smurfer]

Awesome pictures Lia

[André]

The picture Lia showed is really great.

This means we got the facts from Schleich and BP that the first smurfs were made for BP in 1965. Also that BP used the papamold made in 1969 in early 1970. So I think the theory about that the first smurfs made until 1969, which we can find unmarked or with only peyo marking, were used in that promotion, could still be the correct one??

Now to the later promotion Frank.

This is my theory about that one.

But first for our comic lovers, a picture from "the black smurfs".

This is interesting because of the name BP in Holland used for this smurf!! Gnapsmurf!!

[André]

As you know I want as much facts as possible from the time things happened. In this case we don´t have much so far.

But we have these shelves. Shown in SCCI letter 39 and also we have seen other pictures of them.

[André]

The only facts we have on these are the names.

In this case it is a few things that I think is interesting.

First the order these smurfs are placed in:

All the first 21 smurfs are Schleichmolds. On the coloured picture 2 of them are wrong. But the picture from the SCCI-letter got the first smurfs right.

After these 21 smurfs, you get 9 Bullysmurfs. In this case the coloured picture is correct, since it is the Bully trumpet they mean. The Schleich-trumpet was not made then this shelf was made!! So in that case the SCCI-letter picture is wrong.

The interesting thing with the 9 Bullysmurfs is that they are exactly the 9 first smurfs Bully made.

[André]

So lets check the names.

It is exactly the same names used by Bully in 1975, except for the Gnapsmurf. But is dutch???

Same with Shelf 1 it seems but I have not any good picture of that one.

So it seems like this??

In the 1975 Bully catalogue only 40 smurfs existed. 4 shelves with 10 smurfs on each shelf. Bully were making all of them. Only smurfs existing in that catalogue also exists on these shelves. Bully had them also in this order. Schleich and Bully seperate.

BUT I only think 3 shelves were made in the beginning with names. It seems gold and spy was not in this promotion. Is actually not on the 1970 picture either?? Anyway I think only 21 of the old Schleichmolds were used when these shelves were made. And then you have the first 9 Bullysmurfs.

So what I am almost sure of is that Bully made all smurfs when BP started this promotion in Holland. Probably when the movie was shown. The one made by Belvision and shown in Belgium, Holland and France. The movie was made 1975, but I don´t think it was shown until 1976.

[André]

So my guess is that all these smurfs were made by Bully. And actually one reason that Bully got the Schleichmolds could have been that Peyo also wanted those smurfs in the promotion?? During the time these shelves were made Schleich was not allowed to manufacture smurfs.

But I think these could have been the smurfs Stuart R Ross saw when he was on holiday in Europe in 1976.

And the fact that he wanted smurfs being made for US and that BP also wanted smurfs for their National promotion, could have been the reason Peyo asked Schleich to start with smurfs again.

BUT I think when the BP promotion in Holland started ONLY Bully-smurfs were used???

This is only my theory though, and could be wrong. But I am hoping for more information in the future??

What do you think??

[Lia]

I`ve found another useful picture!

It`s an advertisement from 1977 and it shows exactly the correct smurfs!

it says that you can buy a smurf for FL.1,20 ( would be 50 eurocent now) and that you can buy the 4 shelves at the petrolstation!

I myself only have the 4th shelf,but I hope to have a close picture from the first shelf tomorrow!
In the meantime,I think, this picture helps!

Lia

[André]

Thanks Lia,

That is a great picture Lia!!

In 1977 Bully had made a few more smurfs like Jester!

[Smurfysmurf]

Oh wow...those shelves were sold as part of the series...could this have been a promotion like the Albert Heijn promotion a few years ago where you got the smurfs individually and also were able to get the shelves to have a place to put them in?

This would mean, that BP considered them collectibles and not simply toys, like Schleich did or at least now does

How long did this promotion run and was it only in the Netherlands until National Garage started with it in the UK, Australia and South Africa?

Does anybody know if more smurfs were added to the promotion (since Bully produced new molds each year) or were those the only ones for this particular promotion by BP.

And lastly....where can I get those shelves? Are those hard to find or are they fairly easily found in the Netherlands? How big are they (thinking of shipping now..but I really want them )

[Lia]

Maureen....untill recently I had never heard of or seen these shelves.
I only saw them once, so I suppose, they were for sale only for a very short time during 1977?
Finding them is almost a mission impossible.
They are about 40 cm x 10 cm.

Lia

[André]

It seems BP did as they did when they started National and a new smurf from, maybe, monthly??? And I think they saw them as collectibles since many children wanted the latest smurfs, like later in the UK, Australia etc.. Regarding the shelves? Do we know if the ones you can see in UK for the National-smurfs, also were possible to buy?? In that case just like with these I think they were made by another company.

I am still pretty sure Bully made the smurfs for this promotion initially. It also goes well with the 4 added last, which don´t have their names on the shelves. Intresting also to see that almost only the waldbaursmurfs were the ones missing of the ones Bully made. Could be that those were used for Waldbaur then??? And was not added because of that??

But we know that the year 1977 was the year Schleich started making smurfs again.

The most interesting thing with the picture, except the fact that BP sold the shelves for the smurfs. It looks like the walking trumpeter, right???

That one is still a riddle, since it has moldyear 1974. And nothing before this would tell us Bully manufacture that one. And I still don´t think that.

I have to check those again!!

I would guess they used these smurfs for a couple of years like in the other countries. My guess is that it, just like today at the stations, started with the movie in 1976??? Then they maybe used them in Belgium also??? But not necessarily.

[André]

Lia,

have you noticed that the Bullysmurfs on that picture seems to be the older molds, like the king and soccer. I would guess the picture must have been taken in 1977 and that picture was used in this ad. Do you have a date on the ad?? I mean like a month??

Just like today they could use older pictures in ads also. But in this case 2 of the 3 smurfs sold by Bully in 1977 are on the picture, so it must be a pretty new picture??

Bully only made 7 new smurfs in 1976 and 1977 so not many new smurfs to ad??

[André]

Also the new astro and smurfette from Bully were pictured on the shelves in 1977.

[Lia]

I don`t know which month
And as you can see, they tell us that you can buy the new spy, so there must have been more smurfs for sale then only the ones on the shelves.
I guess, these shelves were only made for the Dutch market.

Lia