Lucretia

I am a smurf collector from the 70's and 80's. As a young girl, I obsessively bought smurfs from a local gift shop, often calling them daily to inquire about new ones! I still have all of them, and even though I love them, I think I am willing to sell some. I kept all of the boxes (even for the windmill and the houses) but I cannot decide if I should sell them or not. Has anyone out there evr sold any, and then regretted it? There are some items I could not part with, but I figure the rest are just sitting in boxes. It was soooo cool to see that lots of other people love smurfs too. I'm glad I found this place!

pvcblue

HI Lucretia - Welcome!!

Yes selling can be hard, and I did sell a peice I loved once and have totally regretted it ever since..... think carefully before you do if you decide to sell. Gary

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schleich

lucretia, first get your collection together. catagorize them, find out their names, photograph them, find out their worth through various books, and on line groups, and mushroomvillage.com for info. You may be sitting on a gold mine if you have 'originals' from the begining of your collection. Then again if any are "unique" ...and original in A1 condition the SMURF collector world will knock on your door Read up un the SMURFS that you have to determine value, if you can someone willing to pay your price. SMURFS are only as valuable as the person is willing to pay foe them. good luck, and ask the shroom room crowd, we're probably your best bet when selling, or we can tell you where to go for the best prices....let US know what you have, we are probably your best bet to start...good luck

SCHLEICH

Lucretia

Thanks to everyone that has been so helpful! you all are so friendly! I have been obsessively looking through the ID guide on this site, and I have discovered that some of my little blue pals are worth a lot! I have a smurfette baseball player in mint condition that was listed for over $200- believe me, I was amazed. I have 81 mint condition smurfs (I still held back my faves- I'm not ready to go there yet!) to sell and a windmill and mushrooms, super smurfs, and playsets in the original packaging as well. It is all very overwhelming! I think I have gotten past any regret I might originally have been feeling- once I tallied up all that my old collection is worth. I don't have a digital camera, so I am unsure how to proceed. I am very new to the internet also, so I often get overwhelmed by all of the technology. I even have letters from the company in Germany from 1982. they probably wrote to me because I was a crazed fan that wrote to them weekly. i look back, and I must have been an odd child! My poor mother! Well, anyway, thanks, Schleich and PVC blue, for the info. I'll be popping in soon, I'm sure! Thanks, Lucretia

schleich

lucretia...One thing i forgot to mention that someone told me long ago about packing for a cruise (or land vacation), that may apply to you about you selling your SMURFS. Put all the clothes you want to take with you on our bed...then put half of them back in the closet because you didn't really need them in the first place. The SMURFS are the same way. You set them out, pick the favorites, the expensive ones, the ones you know are worth something, and then decide to sell the rest. Of course as you look at each one you plan to sell in the eye and say " i'm giving you away for your own good ", you will feel......? that's up to you, but i couldn't do it. Good luck, and let us know what you actually have to sell. We may be interested. By the way my last name is really SCHLEICH, and the SMURF mfg. in germany is related......very distantly. But i like to keep them in business by buying SMURFS>

Aussiesmurf

packing....

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Meagan

Aussiesmurf

Whoops....double post....bugger....hate that....

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Meagan

Lucretia

Thanks for the packing analogy, Schleich! I went on my first cruise 2 years ago, and I wish someone had given me that tip then! It's neat about your name and being a distant relative and all. I am of German descent as well, although we had Americanized our last name upon arrival in the US. I bet our last name was nothing as cool as being smurf related! I guess the smurfs I'm willing to sell first are the "sporty" ones. I have no idea why I had bought so many football and baseball smurfs when I was a kid, I'm a girly girl and never even played sports of any kind. Maybe I was living vicariously through my smurfs! I have the baseball smurfette, the pitcher, an Australian football player with a red shirt, and a quarterback with a #3 on his shirt. I have a lot of others, but I don't even like these! Imagine my surprise when I found out that my least favorites were so popular! Any-who, I am going to browse through this cool shroom room forum now and maybe hear some other neat things about smurfs. By the way, where do you buy your smurfs from now? I never see any out here, not ever! Do you find them at flea markets, antique shops, or somewhere retail? I might rekindle my obsession if they are available in a real store somewhere! Bye for now!

schleich

hi again lucretia...to answer your question, i find most of my SMURFS in antique shops. at this one particular shop two ladies have been cleaning out their garages and finding all sorts of SMURFS. every week it seems they find more. one lady is selling SMURFS, and other things also, to help finance her daughter's college education. she outgrew the SMURFS and has no interest in them, lucky me ! i hit a gold mine in central florida a few weeks ago at a large flea market (the largest in the southeast), where in one booth the old gentleman had a small basket of mostly 'old' SMURFS for sale. won't tell ya what i bought but the price was fantastic !!!! going back this weekend to get some more.

check flea markets, antique shops, friends and family. i got a few SMURFS from family members who didn't even know i collected SMURFS.
haven't seen any for sale in any 'regular' store. good luck !

misszell

i was a childhood freak fan of the smurfs as well.......i kept most of my stuff but after i had my own daughter my dad gave her all of my smurf stuff to play with!!! i didn't mind because i didn't think of them as "collectable".....now i CRY because of the things i remembered her ruining in her swimming pool ....somehow i found my way back and would give anything to have the items i lost back .....i would just wait before selling any of them.....check out a few smurf sites.....maybe watch a smurf cartoon or two..and be sure that you want to part w/ them