Kitytycavern has some very nice photos I have been looking at many times.
http://www.kittyscavern.com/smurfdistri ... istory.htm
Now when I have learned a lot more about the history, these are even more intresting.
This helps us with the approximatly dating of the dots.
And also it is intresting to see a picture of a NEW venezuelean distributer on a picture from 1982. This tells us that it was during this time Schleich sold smurfs in southamerica.?? So maybe 1983 and 1984 could be correct for Hering?
Regarding dots.
Yellow dots. Probably started 1979, because UK newspaper told us the first smurfs sold in UK was painted in Hongkong ( suspected toxic paint) and therefore they started with the dots then. Portugal factory opened around 1980 according the pictures. I guess in 1979.
So yellow dots were used 1979 to 1985.
Green dots were used for the Tunesia-painted smurfs between 1982 and 1983??
Red dots. Sri Lanka factory opened 1982 according to the picture. My guess is that they from 1983 did not need to paint smurfs in Tunesia and only used Portugal factory and Sri Lanka factory for the smurfs sold in the EC. So red dots between 1983 and 1987.
After 1987/88 I don´t think any of these dots were used!! Only black, white and blue???
This is just thoughts as usual but they seem so faar going very well with the chronological order of the markings and dots we have seen so faar in the threads?? What do you think??