Hi again,
I bought a few CNT´s from Spain because I only had 2 before. I bought used ones and directly from Spain because I get a bad feeling about the ones you see on ebay germany in mint condition???
Joaquin told us this story which seems correct:
- time ago I contacted with the daughter of one of the biggest distributor of pvc figures at Spain and she told me the story she had always listened at home. A couple of owner of a big store of toys at Barcelona travelled to Germany every year to visit toys fairs. At germany they saw smurfs for their first time (early 80's) and bought them to sell at their store. It was a UNEXPECTED succes and they decided to become manufacturer (comic figuras s.l) and tried to get the license (no luck for them)They built a little factory (it was not hard to get the machines at catalonia, where they lived. It was the spanish region with the biggest number of factories of toys) and the began to make smurfs and others figures without license and even without their own marking at them (CF). They made not only smurfs but other figurines without license. The big problem for them began when Yolanda (who had the rights for distribute schleich smurfs at Spain) brought a lawsuit and won the action. Meanwhile the action, they manufactured about 60 different smurfs (she knows this because his father kept one piece of all the figurines he sold from the factory of comics figuras and she keeps yet the collection (she tried to sell them to me but it was expensive, I only wanted smurfs (ant the collection had more tham 800 pieces) and most of 60 smurfs I had yet at my collection). When Yolanda won the action they stopped with smurfs and looked for other license as Disney. Both Yolanda figures (schleich) and comics figuras s.l (the smurfs called for us cnt) were normally sold at the same stores.
Three/four years ago, I asked to the owner of the store where I usually bought smurfs when I was a child, why they sold smurfs with and without markings. And he was who told me that they bought smurfs from Yolanda (with markings Schleich) and from comics figuras (cnt). That fact explains that I have schleich smurfs and cnt smurfs since I was 8-9 years old and all of them where bought exactly at the same store"
The question for you is.
Among the smurfs I got I found this chef. Hard material and painted like the other CNT-chefs I have seen on websites.
He has this very clear marking. And it is exactly the same as the number 1 cavity which Schleich made. This goes very well with the story Joaquin tells us, that they copied the german figurines.
Are there many with these clear markings?