THE VINTAGE PELHAM PUPPET SHOP - NEWS

Type SS Wonky Chinese Girl

29/7/2024

Available this Week! (Please ask for preview link)

Type SS Wonky Chinese Girl.
This is a rare to see Chinese Girl from the Wonky era of Pelham Puppets.
She has all the characteristics of the SS Wonky puppets with toggle arms and legs as seen in images.
She has wooden paddle hands.
The silk material blouse is excellent with no damage.
The trousers have some dark marks as shown, also a couple of pin prick holes.
Paintwork is very good with no damage.
The black painted hair still has the nails for the two side decorations of felt flowers which have disintegrated over time. A tiny piece showing the colours that had been used can be seen, this was in the box. If a new flower of thick antique felt can be made she would look perfect again.
Red label box is in good used condition.

Restored or Original and does it matter?

17/6/2024

Above: New felt hat, hair and face paint hiding the wear and tear of the original aged puppet shown in it's auction lot.

Above: Same puppet but with a new top and restored face paint.
Better before or restored? This little puppet had sold twice before by sellers with the original top, but was replaced for the latest sale as it had moth damage on the reverse.

When does the restoration take the puppet from Pelham to redressed Pelham?

When a new jacket is made from fabric that was never Pelham material, the puppet starts to move away from original Pelham brand even further. When does it become a problem?
How far from the original puppet does it have to be to become a problem for the collector?

Is it the new felt tongue? Probably not.

Is it the new felt hat? Maybe.

Is it a new felt hat, new sheepskin fur beards and sideburns plus a new jacket? Surely.

So, we thought we'd give a few pointers to help you decide if the puppet you are looking at has been repainted and redressed and whether it actually matters is your decision.

You may be happy with the item you have bought and are not thinking of selling at any time, but it's worth having the knowledge so you can decide if you want to spend more on an item that actually isn't as original as you had thought.

Do we consider an altered puppet to still be a Pelham Puppet? It started life at the Pelham factory and was painted by Pelham artists. Once it has been altered, sometimes to such an extent that the item has mixed parts from different puppets, it isn't authentic any longer and loses its value as an original item of the period.

Some ageing and patina is inevitable and should be considered as normal. Buying an item that may be 70 years old, it isn't going to look new and if it does, take a look at it in detail.

To help you to look out for this, we have a check list of very normal ageing signs.

Moth damage to felt parts and fabrics. This may be very minor or more excessive.
Rusting marks especially at shoulder joints.
Fabric ageing, fading, holes, foxing.
Bamboo limbs generally have paint loss due to the paint not adhering well to the surface.
Wooden shoes sometimes have a little wear at the edges.
Paint loss to the metal pin nose is expected over the years. The bulbous eyes of Mr Turnip, Big ears and Noddy for example are prone to paint loss.

And finally...

Is the cut of the costume right? This needs a trained eye. It is quite easy to buy vintage fabrics nowadays and with a sewing machine a new costume can be quickly made with little effort. To the untrained eye it may not immediately be obvious that, for example, a Prince Charming jacket has been made from a new fabric not of the period. Colours are often a give away.

Being as informed as you can be about the originality of your puppet will give you the confidence to know what you have in your collection.

The puppet below sold a year or so ago in it's original yellow box and is now being offered for sale in a brown box. We are happy for boxes to be changed if there is a good reason.

Below are two redressed Pelham Puppets, cleverly imagined and beautifully executed. These puppets sell well and will hold their value as the items they are.The seller here always sells as redressed and they are a treasure for the future.

Whatever your thoughts on restoration, being aware of the amount of work done on the puppet will help you decide if you would rather wait for a very good condition all original Pelham Puppet.
We are in a privileged position to be able to compare the before and after images of many of the puppets being sold which is how we are 100% sure of the claims we make. An example of an Ugly Sister sold at auction with her face damaged and nose off, the puppet soon came on ebay fully restored and repainted with no disclosure of the work done. Sometimes collectors are quite disturbed by the deceit some sellers will try for a sale and have asked me to write this little piece to warn other buyers who may not have been so aware.

So, please do enjoy your purchases and expect some wear and tear, they can't be mint or new looking as they have been stored and will always have some ageing.

Golo the Giant from 1953 Lili Film

2/4/2024

Golo the Giant from the Lili film of 1953.
He is very rare!
This one is in super condition with no significant flaws or faults.
The mustard colour suit is very good.
White boots are good.
He wears a pointed hat, also in very good condition.
He still has a red felt tongue.
Eye mechanism and mouth mechanism works. They are connected to a small wooden dowel and is easy to manipluate the eyes or jaw.
Both large composition hands are good.
He still has his own stamped and labelled box. It has a split.
Please make contact if not in UK but wish to buy with a postage quote as it is outside the Royal Mail allowed size.
(Golo came to the shop from the daughter of the original owner who was a fan of the Lili film. This was her only puppet)

Buying Pelham Puppets from Ebay sellers

27/3/2024

The long list of over 1000 puppets available on Ebay fall in to different categories of sellers.

The casual sellers who have a puppet to sell, they may not know much about it, so they take a photo or two and sell. These sellers often have no idea what they are selling and are honestly selling their item to the best of their ability. For these puppets, you should always ask extra questions, more images if necessary. If in doubt, leave it out.

Then there are the dealers who are registered sellers, their address and business details are visible. These dealers may not have specific knowledge of puppets but will usually answer questions and will try to hold on to their seller score. I don't know of any dealers who are trying to deceive in their listings.

Then we have the repetitive sellers. They buy from ebay, auction or privately to sell, so are actually dealers but don't disclose this. One seller in particular, buys poor condition puppets from ebay itself or auction, then gets to work making them look like new! The seller repaints the noses, parts of the face, bamboo limbs etc. New sheepskin fur will be used and costumes changed and new items added. There is no mention of these new additions or restoration work in the descriptions, in fact, they often lie in their descriptions.
The seller who bought and sold the puppet below, with a month between, is the most prolific seller of Pelham Puppets on ebay who restores entire puppets, often the puppets were very different when sold at the original auction.
There are a couple of other sellers on ebay who do a similar thing, they have several ebay i'd's and use that to their advantage.

I think a buyer should be told if the item has been altered specifically for the sale.
Obviously we don't always know the full history of our puppets, but we learn to tell what has been done to them, if anything.
The facebook groups are a good source of friendly chatter about your hobby.

Type SM Old Man available next week

22/2/2024

Type SM Old Man 1950's era.
He has a lovely thick wool suit, it's quite oversized especially in the arms!
There are a few small holes in the fabric.
He wears a small black tie under but it doesn't show due to the neckline of the collar.
He has a felt hat which is unattached and has some thinning and minor holes.
The hair is good but he would have had eyebrows over the painted ones, there is evidence of glue marks. He also has considerable marks on his chin where a beard would have been.
Facepaint is good with a tiny fleck of loss on left eye.
Shoes show wear.
He is strung to his original control.
No box.

I can provide a small piece of matched original fur from deceased puppets, if required. (We leave deceptive selling of restored puppets to the prolific ebay seller that all collectors are familiar with, but I am happy to add a small piece to the parcel for you to do your own restoration of face hair)

He came from an M.S charity where he had been donated by original owner along with an SS Pinocchio for sale next week.

Type SM Villain for sale next week

21/2/2024

Type SM Villain, a rarely seen early SM puppet from the early/mid 1950's.

He is in dusty condition with some age related defects.
The suit is made from the parachute type of material and has no holes but is dirty, the dust was apparent all over it.
The waistcoat underneath has no holes but is aged and dirty.
Little black tie is faded, white shirt collar is yellowed.
The felt hat is aged but no holes, just thinned and dusty from storage and age.
The facepaint has some minor loss on the left eye. No felt tongue. There is a hairline crack to the left of his nose, the nose is stable. The pin still attached to his forhead where the felt hat is usually secured.
The flock hair is dusty and faded. He has no side burns and there is evidence at both sides that they have fallen off.
He has a painted moustache.
He has large composition hands with rusted screw eyes at the wrists and some minor paint loss.
Shoes have some paint loss.

I was going to sell him unstrung so those are the first images, I then thought he would look better and show how he will look once restored a little, if he was strung. So he is quickly strung just to show him alive!

No box.

Ladybird Books & The Big Garden Birdwatch

26/1/2024

This weekend is the annual Big Garden Birdwatch, so we thought we'd offer three wonderful vintage books to celebrate our garden birds!
Ladybird series 536 all are in superb clean condition. All have dust covers unclipped with no inscriptions.
We have a large lot of ladybird books covering all subjects, all with dj's and most first editions and with no insriptions.
See our pages with drop down menu to choose your title. We're adding to the titles every day.
See how many birds you can spot and take part in the Birdwatch this weekend!
www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happening/big-garden-birdwatch/submission

Ladybird Book Choice of Titles Series 536

Type SL March Hare

3/12/2023

A rare puppet to find is the March Hare from the Alice in Wonderland series of a collection of 12 characters. He will be online for sale week beginning 11/12/23.
Preview photos and description here.

Type SL March Hare, from the Alice in Wonderland series.
This is the later version with black shoes.
The March Hare is a sought after character for collectors and this one has grey/taupe colour thick felt ears on a greyish painted head.
This one has green painted eyes, he is also found with orange painted eyes.
Puppet is in aged and worn original condition.
The puppet has come from the original owners daughter.
Clothes have some ageing, I will describe but please see close up images.
The jacket has some discolouration marks on the sleeves and a few small pin prick type holes.
The waistcoat is good with no damage with good red bow tie and shirt.
Stripey material trousers have some age related wear, the top of the wooden body piece has rubbed, and a hole and some marks on the left leg.
The head paintwork is good with a small fleck of paint lifting near the mouth.
The box is shelf worn with some damage and is not original to the puppet.

See close ups and all images for full details.

Lili Film Characters

11/9/2023

Lili Film
The four Lili film characters are rarely seen.
Carrot Top the brash red haired boy puppet in the film, is the most common of the set.
The other characters are the vain ballerina Marguerite, the sly fox Reynardo and the cowardly giant Golo.
We are very lucky to have three of these puppets in the shop. They will be available individually in the shop from Monday 18th Sept.

As there are no sold records of Marguerite & Golo available to me, being so rarely found, prices will be set high as we have keen interest. If we are wrong with values, when we have another 'Make me an Offer Week' they will then find their price.

Marguerite

Marguerite, she is the vain ballerina in the Lili film 1953.
Marguerite is in lovely condition with minimal age related wear and tear. The images show her condition better than words.
The dress has several layers and the net is slightly stained and damaged in places. She has very good feet with high heeled ballet shoes and hands with nails painted!
Her face paint is good, she even retains her felt eyelashes. The eyes open and shut, the mouth also opens, both open with the ring pull mechanism. She doesn't have a felt tongue.
Her blond hair is well styles and still has the hair decoration, she also wears an earring and bracelet.
She has come to the shop from a previous collector of these puppets who had it in their possession for many years.

Golo

Golo the Giant from the Lili film of 1953.
He is super rare! Also, he is in really lovely condition with only very minimal age related wear which I will describe.
The clothes are good, the costume he wears has some minor moth damage over the top and trousers as shown in images.
Fur is good.
Hair is good with a little missing from one side.
He has very good paintwork.
A felt tongue is missing.
White boots are in super condition.
Hat is good with minor wear in the same material as the outfit.
Eye mechanism and mouth mechanism works.
The mechanism to pull will probably need some adjusting but both open and shut as they should do.
Both hands are good, one has a fleck of paint loss.
He is unboxed, the box is for staging and belongs to Carrot Top.

Carrot Top

'Carrot Top' is rarely seen for sale.
This one has come from the home of a collector who bought it from auction many years ago. It came with faults and flaws.
He is missing his jacket and trousers, the under trousers are present but not the actual trousers.
He does have his tweed wool cap which is quite good.
The red hair has come unstuck a little at the sides.
The black boots are good, these can be seen in brown or black, both are correct.
The hands are good.
The head has been repaired at some time in his past, not by the last owner.
You can see a crude repair to the neck where the wooden holder is attached.
The mechanism on these types of puppet is simply a string pull tied at the correct place on the head to opn eyes and to open the mouth, there should be two black strings with brass rings at the ends, these are simply pulled to open the mouth or close the eyes! So, this will need to be sorted.
He looks to have a hairline in the paint on his right side, the original pinkier colour is still seen under the collar of the tee shirt. These puppets seem to be quite roughly painted and constructed but it looks as if the pink wash colour which is over some parts has faded in other areas.
Anyway, clear images are shown to make up your mind. He would certainly be useful for spare parts or for restoration.
Eyes and mouth work but need the mechanism correctly attached with black strings and brass rings which are all missing.
There are the original replaced clothes with him in his box, these would have been clothes a previous owner made for him, so are not original in any way.
He comes in a damaged large Pelham box, it has old tape holding it together, stamped Carrot Top.
Carrot Top measures approx 18".

Make me an Offer Week

1/9/2023

As it's coming to the end of the summer and we have lots of stock, I thought we'd have a 'Make me an Offer' Week! So, starting on Monday 4th until Friday 8th you can make an offer on any items marked with asterix next to the titles. Make your offer via the form on the home page. www.pelhampuppets.com

Any offers are considered, don't be coy!

At the end of the week, you'll be told if your offer is successful and you can buy the item(s). 30 puppets are available for offers at the moment.

Don't be shy, these puppets all need new homes now!