It's time to light 50 candles on a birthday cake again. This time it's The Smurfs that celebrate their 50th birthday.
The Smurfs first appeared in the French Johan and Peewit comic on 23 October 1958. Their creator was Pierre Culliford, who used the name Peyo on his creative work.
The comic has been translated into over 25 languages. However, The Smurfs are probably best known for their television series made by Hanna Barbera. The show, which began in the 1980s and has a total of 272 episodes, is still shown in many countries all over the world.
Few can forget, as hard as some might try, the recordings of "techno" and "house" music released in the mid-1990s.
There have been over 3000 different products based upon the little blue creatures. Naturally, it's the toys that interest me the most and best of all is undoubtedly Schleich's collection of figures which are still being produced. Some of the rarer figurines, to the most avid collectors, are worth a considerably large sum for such a small lump of moulded vinyl.
The photographs are of some of my own figurines housed at The Toy Detective Agency's office; these were collected during the 1980s.
Happy Smurfday Smurfs and many Smurfy returns.