[The Smurf Collector]

Hi Everyone

I recently purchased this guide that included smurfs for sale in Australia back in 1982. From my understanding the magazine was available free at BP service stations at the time it was released. Back then brand new smurfs were only 99 cents !!!

One of the interesting things I noticed was that the Prisoner Smurf, 20010 was referred to as Convict and Cake Smurf, 20100 was known as Birthday Cake.

I have also started collecting any information on the history of the Smurfs being released in Australia. So if anyone can think of something, please let me know.

Best Regards
Kath

[Lia]

I think,André wrote a lot about BP, but I can`t remember in which thread

That is a fantastic guide!!

Lia

[André]

Hi Kath and Lia

First I would like to wish you and all other smurfcollectors a Happy New Year.

I love that guide/catalogue. Never seen it before. Just like you I would love to know more about the history of the smurfs in Australia. I have a pretty good idea about how it was then, but all items that you can find would be great to see. And I am not sure exactly when they started and stopped. I was lucky to get a few items like the very rare BP-playset still in the box from a station owner in Australia. I still have emailcontact with her. Her name is Maureen Livingstone. Her husbands name is Bruce Livingstone. Bruce served the MTA-ACT as President and as Executive Director, also becoming the President of AACC, the national body from which the MTAA developed. In 1986 the AACC changed the brand to MTA. AACC stands for Australian Automobile chamber of commerce. MTA stands for Motor Trade Association. Bruce past away about 2 years ago.

She told me about the smurf-era in Australia, but they did not remember that much since for them it was just toys they should sell, and if you are not a collector I assume you forget most of it?? However I got a few BP-posters from 79, 80 and 81. There you can see for example the Smurfee-ice-lolly-smurf and the VFL australian rugby smurf. I also got a display with the last smurfs they sold before taking it down and stored it. Luckily they thought their grandchildren would like them and saved them until Maureen cleaned up all the things after her husband past away and found them. For me it was good that none of her children and grandchildren where interested in them and therefore she put them out for sale on ebay.
The good thing with the display is that the smurfs are glued on it and then we can see which smurfs were sold at the end. For example just like in your guide: tennis smurfette. Among the last ones as you see on the display is mermaid and she was first sold in 1982. That also goes well with all other facts. So I would guess the BP promotion came to Australia in late 1979 or early 1980 after the success in UK in 1978/79. The smurftrademark for Australia is from 1979 so they definatly started planning then, but I am not sure if they were sold in 1979?

Just like in the UK, BP had the trademarkrights for the word smurf until 1982/83 so my guess is that stopped at the same time in both countries. In UK coronet sold the smurfs after National stopped, but it still says that National( BP) have the rights for them in my coronet-booklet from 1981/82.

Here are some of the items I got.

My guess regarding the BP-playset is that it was only sold in Australia, because when it was made BP already had stopped with their promotions in UK, Holland etc. That is also why no collectors in Europe remember seeing that playset. I know it was for sale in Australia since it still has its pricetag.

I will post some more pictures later.

[André]

Here you have the BP-playset. As far as I know it was only sold in Australia??

[André]

Here is a poster from 1980 with the smurfs sold then. Under the picture they list all the smurfs they had then. the poster was made for Christmas so it must had been made for Christmas 1980.

[André]

Dyar has these 2 pictures on his site. The ad with the smurfs is the same picture as my large poster I got. It is from July 1981.

the other more interesting picture is the one welcoming the smurfs to Australia. It is from october 1979. So that I assume means they started selling them around that time in Australia.

Both these pictures are Dyars, but I think it is OK to show them here.

[André]

Basicly all smurfs sold in Australia were made in Hongkong. But if there were no Hongkong-variations they used yellow dot smurfs. Also made for BP, but used in UK for the Nationalstations.

I think they started marking the Hongkongsmurfs W Berrie when the Hongkongfactory only made smurfs for the US market after BP stopped in around 1982??

[The Smurf Collector]

Wow this information is amazing.

I recently won on eBay a BP display sign with a couple of smurfs though I am still waiting for it to arrive. I will be curious to see if it has any markings or dates on it. I will post a photo once it arrives.

In regards to the Signbearer smurf with the sign - Let's go smurfing I received this one in a collection of smurfs and my smurfland display stand. The seller informed me that they were from a guy whose father owned a BP service station. So I wonder if this smurf was used as a promo at the counter as you never see it in any catalogues.

The Australia Rules football one always appears to be wearing the navy top which is the Victorian colours. This is seen regularly in posters and catalogues. I wonder if this was created before the red top version around 1981. The red top was also made by W.B Co around 1982. There are no actual markings on the smurf just their base which is a little odd.

My brain is buzzing with information. So I will begin to investigate. Thanks Andre your knowledge is amazing.

Cheers
Kath

[The Smurf Collector]

After reading Andre's information I recalled that I had waterproof bath book called In Smurf Town. On the back cover it has the markings
(c) Peyo SEPP BP Australia 83 All rights reserved

I was given this as a child and my mother cannot recall where it was purchased from. I know that there was a BP service station near my Grandma's place which we sometimes brought icecreams from. So it may have come from there.

This makes me think Smurfs in Australia were under the trademark BP Australia until 1983 or after the Hong Kong factory closed.

Cheers
Kath

[bradley]

wow! that is great Kath! Never seen that guide book before. Nice find. And interesting they called Prisoner Smurf as Convict Smurf.

Some great information Andre on the Aussie Smurf history! Thanks for sharing. The BP petrol playset - I honestly have never come across one here in Australia. If they were short supply or not sold here, I wouldn't have thought they were sold here. With the pvcs, supers, houses and playsets, what they released was very limited to what the full range available in other countries including all variation colours etc. We got a basic range and then it stopped.

Most of my older smurf items are all BP Australia. But thinking about it, I only own one piece that displays the BP logo and this is an advertisement on the back of a paper comic book. Same image that you showed of the full poster from 1980. But the image is cropped to one section of the image so it is great to finally see the full BP display! I'll attach a photo. This comic is 1980.

[bradley]

oh! Actually I think I have a Discover Australia colour book with an advertisement for BP in. I will go find that as well.

[bradley]

Smurfs Discover Australia book from 1979. Inside the front and back cover are pictures of what would have been the very first lot of smurfs ever sold at BP in Australia.

[bradley]

Just a quick search and found someones photos on flickr from a BP service station grand opening in 1981 at Surrey Downs here in South Australia.

Smurf Characters for the opening


And the ultimate photo I've always wanted to see of a BP station with Smurfs. I was born 85 so never saw Smurfs in BP. wow! You can see below the counter super smurfs and sockels. There must be a smurf house on the bottom as you can just see the chimney. And on the left there are colour in books.

[SmurfeeJo]

Hi Kath, Brad & André,

Wow. This is a fantastic journey down memory lane.

All my childhood smurfs came from my local BP service station. I am now going to have to examine them all carefully for the markings and dates and I will let you know if I find anything interesting.

I cringe when I see the posters and the coloring books. I had all of these as a kid, used and enjoyed them and they are now long gone. The poster with the smurfs in squares, I had 3 of these and cut one up and backed it with cardboard and used them as swap cards.

I have fond memories of going into the BP with my Dad to select my weekly smurf. My smurfhouse was also purchased from the BP for my 8th birthday. The guy at the BP used to save me a smurf if he was getting low on stock. This is how I got Smurfee and the blue VFL smurf. We also used to buy the smurf ice creams here too.

Never seen the BP playset for sale, but I remember seeing it setup on the shelf at the BP. If only .......

[The Smurf Collector]

Thanks guys for sharing pictures and memories of smurfs in Australia. I never heard of the playset Andre mentioned earlier. My guess it was a promo otherwise you would see more of them.

I also believe flexi smurfs were sold by BP. Though they have no BP markings on them.

I am searching through my stuff that I had as a kid and will try to get more info from some of the companies involved. With all this info so far it has really inspired me to find out more.

Best Regards
Kath

[André]

So nice to see all those old pictures!! Thanks for posting Brad!

Also nice to see the counter with all the smurfy items sold then.

The one you call colour in books on the photo is actually activity pads. Have no idea what that means though?? It is exactly the same as the ones shown on my BP poster. Sold in fall 1980 for 1 dollar. I will take pictures of the other smurfitems sold by BP later.

I just love old "real" pictures like that. And with all the Schleichsmurfs.

[André]

Another thing with the picture from the BP station is the supersmurfboxes shown. As I wrote in my boxhistory-pages about 10-12 supersmurfboxes made in Hongkong can be found without W Berrie-markings. The first ones. Many times these contained germanmade smurfs in the beginning, like with the gardener and sledge, which were never made in Hongkong, but still sold by W Berrie in the US.

I think the ones pictured are in order from left to right.

Hurdler, basketball, fisherman, skiing, ???, boxer and smurf in cage.

Have any of you collectors from Australia bought a supersmurf-box of the sport ones without W Berrie??

In fall the supersmurfs costed 1,65 dollars.

[André]

Wow this information is amazing.

I recently won on eBay a BP display sign with a couple of smurfs though I am still waiting for it to arrive. I will be curious to see if it has any markings or dates on it. I will post a photo once it arrives.

In regards to the Signbearer smurf with the sign - Let's go smurfing I received this one in a collection of smurfs and my smurfland display stand. The seller informed me that they were from a guy whose father owned a BP service station. So I wonder if this smurf was used as a promo at the counter as you never see it in any catalogues.


My brain is buzzing with information. So I will begin to investigate. Thanks Andre your knowledge is amazing.

Cheers
Kath

Hi Kath,

the signbearer, or Party as it is called on the box, was sold in Australia as a normal supersmurf, so no promo unfortunatly. I have it on a poster from 1981.

Lets go smurfing is just one out of four possible signs you could add. They were sold with the boxes. Also the german boxes contained 4 different signs. And then off course you could make your own ones, just writing whatever you wanted.

[André]

The marking on the HK signbearer has been changed. I don´t know what was the original marking, but to me it looks like a very large PEYO 1979 under the blocked marking???

Do anyone have one without the blocked marking??

Also regading the long handle on the sign which was sold in Germany. I think it was only used in the beginning and then they made it shorter because it fits very bad in the boxes?? The english boxes never got that sign I think.

[André]

Wow this information is amazing.

I recently won on eBay a BP display sign with a couple of smurfs though I am still waiting for it to arrive. I will be curious to see if it has any markings or dates on it. I will post a photo once it arrives.


The Australia Rules football one always appears to be wearing the navy top which is the Victorian colours. This is seen regularly in posters and catalogues. I wonder if this was created before the red top version around 1981. The red top was also made by W.B Co around 1982. There are no actual markings on the smurf just their base which is a little odd.

My brain is buzzing with information. So I will begin to investigate. Thanks Andre your knowledge is amazing.

Cheers
Kath

regarding your second question Kath about the australian rugby smurf

You are correct

It was sold first in Australia in 1981 with the blue colours. Actually many smurfs were sold first in Australia or at least the same time as in US.

In US the australian rugby was sold the first time in 1982, then with changed colours.

The reason for the blue colours are that the AFL before 1990 was called VFL and had this logo. You should not have any W Berrie markings on the base on the VFL-promo as I call it.