Pete

OK, I'll get us started here!!

I am not a hard-core Smurfer from back in the day, but like just about any normal kid in the '80s, I had to catch my Smurfs on Saturday morning!

I have always been big into fantasy, so the Smurfs with their wizards and Warlocks, pixies and dragons were right up my alley! I was always a big collector, but not into collecting Smurf PVC's...yet!

When I met my wife Hope in 1991, she showed me the Smurf collection she had saved from childhood. Well, she showed them to the wrong guy! I started keeping my eyes open for Smurfs and added many to her collection. I also joined the Smurf Collectors Club International (SCCI)

In 1997, I found out that a company called "Party Pigs" was going to begin importing Smurfs, and was looking for distributors. I decided I would order 5 of every Smurf available at the time - 1 for Hope, and trade/sell the rest. I was immediately overwhelmed by Smurf collectors who wanted this one or that one. I started a Yahoo! club for Smurf collectors, and I was up and running.

Next I made a proposal to Suzanne Lipschitz, President and Founder of the SCCI. I suggested an "I'll-scratch-your-back, you-scratch-mine" deal to promote one another's Smurfy enterprises. She invited me over and after much guidance, MushroomVillage.com was born. (Actually, it was eSmurfs.com first, but that's another story!)

It was soon after this time that I learned the terrible news - Suzanne had been diagnosed with brain cancer, and needed to find a devoted Smurf collector to carry on her work. I worked hard to convince her that I was her guy!

Suzanne had amassed an encyclopedic knowledge of the Smurfs in the 15 years she ran her club. She taught me so much about Smurfs and Smurfs collecting, but sadly she passed away April 7, 2004. She put the SCCI collection and archives in my hands to carry on her work.

Today I continue to collect and disseminate Smurfs and Smurfy info to the ex-SCCI membership, and many hundreds of new collectors, through MushroomVillage.com

I am in the midst of taking an accounting of my Smurfs, but it is slow going, as I am documenting markings and performing other research as I go.

I would guesstimate that the ex-SCCI/MushroomVillage.com collection numbers in the neighborhood of several thousand figurines. This does not include my wife's Smurfs - the two collections are kept separate, and it is comical how my collection eventually overwhelmed and dwarfed my wife's collection!

At this point, I do have the complete "basic" set (one of each mold) and many, many hundreds and hundreds of color, mold and marking variations, promos, raws, musters, paint samples, and other oddities. I also collect all the Super Smurfs. I have a good number of playsets and buildings, but lack of space keeps me from aggressively going after every variation on those.

The things I am most after are anything marked "Dupuis" (an early licensor of Smurf merchandise), any variation Super Smurf or Figurine that I lack, Smurf figurals (items in the form of a Smurf) that catch my eye (statues, shampoo bottles, etc.) and anything that documents Smurf history.

With respect to the last, I have binders and binders full of "ephemera" (short-lived items, mostly paper, which tell a piece of the Smurf story) - all of the SCCI newsletters and publications, "Smurfy Times" newsletters (A NJ-based US club), "Smurfun" newsletters (The Official Wallace Berrie Smurf Club), print articles and advertising, old catalogs featuring Smurf items, Smurf product labels, old Schleich, Bully, Wallace Berrie and other distributor catalogs and price sheets, and much, much more. This material was at the heart of Suzanne's research, and thanks to her careful collecting and cataloging, I can continue her work today!

Enough about me! How do Smurfs touch your life? Please tell us, we want to know!

__________________
-Pete, Owner/Operator

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Calvin: You know what I've noticed, Hobbes? Things don't bug you much if you don't think about them. So from now on, I simply won't think about anything I don't like, and I'll be happy all the time!

Hobbes: Don't you think that's a pretty silly and irresponsible way to live?

Calvin: What a pretty afternoon...

bluenosesmurf

I am just curious, does anyone else collect anything in addition to smurfs?

Pete

Good question, it should be it's own thread...

I've collected many things over the years - coins, stamps, postcards, bird's eggs, bottle caps, rocks & minerals, fossils, seashells, butterflies, and more...

My most recent obsessions have been a focus on just cowries (a type of seashell), marbles and mostly Smurfs. I really enjoy the marbles too, but have in addition to collecting Smurfs, I have became very interested in collecting, preserving and sharing their history, compliments of Suzanne of the SCCI, she really got me interested in the trivial details only a collector can appreciate - the things that make others look at us serious collectors funny, lol

__________________
-Pete, Owner/Operator

Visit https://mushroomvillage.com and sign up to get the FREE Smurfy News!

Calvin: You know what I've noticed, Hobbes? Things don't bug you much if you don't think about them. So from now on, I simply won't think about anything I don't like, and I'll be happy all the time!

Hobbes: Don't you think that's a pretty silly and irresponsible way to live?

Calvin: What a pretty afternoon...

matbot

same pete :)
specially bottle caps
i have thousands...

__________________

bluenosesmurf

That explains " Land of Marbles"
I am surprised nobody collects any other toy-like things???

Syd Smurf

It's just smurfs and music CDs for me......what else is there?

Dyar

Melissa

I have lots and LOTS of dolls :)

__________________
-Melissa
Customer Service

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