Type SL Matador with his partner Type SL Spanish Gypsy. These two are rare puppets from 1950's. The head mould for the Matador is not one that is seen on any other characters. Prince Charming has a different head mould as do other Historical characters. A reference to the Matador is made in a magazine for collectors of Pelham Puppets, as shown below.
The Matador and Gypsy are being sold as a pair next week.

Type SL Matador & SL Spanish Girl

​This pair of puppets have been together for a long time and have come to the shop from the original owner who loved them as a child.
It took some time to research the origin and I was able to find reference to a Matador puppet in one of the Collector's Magazines. The Spanish Gypsy with him I have no reference point for.
Type SL Matador has a head mould not seen before, it is not the same mould as the Gil Leeper Prince Charming or any other male characters I have seen. He has a beautiful costume, highly decorated with sequins. He wears a little tie sewn at the base to his shirt. The red cape over his shoulder, this is attached to the jacket in two places, it has a damp stain as shown.
The clothes are in good used condition, the trousers have some damp marks to the back. He has an amazing face with dark brown painted eyes, never have I seen this paintwork.
He has a small chip from above his lip as shown. There is a small paint rub on the end of his nose and chin. 
He has a head of hair which is made from a moulding compound material. The hat is fantastic with two side pom poms of fur and braid around the top, it is made of felt. It is loose to the front of his head and therefore can lift up slightly above his hairline.
He has stick like legs painted black, a good choice for this character.
As can be see, one of the hands has broken. This could be quite easily fixed, the hands aren't terribly difficult to find on a common puppet from the 50's.
The box is his original box and has the name handwritten one end.


The Spanish Gypsy has a lovely costume with original lace and features. She has a lovely face and dark painted eyes to match her partner. She even has dark eyelashes painted. Her cheeks are rosy.
​She has a long ponytail to one side, tied with a mauve ribbon, I don't imagine this is original, but it may be?
She has a good moulded Leeper type head.
The costume is a little tatty but has some amazing details.The silk type skirt is good, it looks as if the skirt had stitches at intervals to hold it down to the underskirt, some of these are undone.
The trim on the underskirt is the same as the trim on the shorts underneath and matches the bodice and sleeve trim.
She wears an intricate red felt flower in her hair which is in good condition.
The box is her original box and has the name handwritten one end.

Both boxes are shelf worn and aged.

I have added two images taken from the Collectors Magazine where a collector had written about this character. There are obvious differences and the author has made some mistakes concerning the head mould etc but it makes interesting reading to know another existed.

​Type SL Frog Butler, one of the most sought after and least often seen characters from the Alice in Wonderland series.
He is in used condition with some obvious flaws, but in general is a super puppet for any collection.
The clothes are generally dusty/dirty and could do with a clean. The coat has the orange ric rac braid all intact. The coat is grubby and has a few very small holes from ageing. There is a larger hole to one side of the coat.
The waistcoat is good with a small hole to one side unseen on display. The large bow tie is good.
He has an amazing painted face with loads of yellow spots around the lower cheeks and under his chin!
There is quite significant paint loss to his bulbous eyes.
He has a dirty original ribbon around his moulded hair.
The shoes are painted with white and have a black bow painted on the top which I think was original from the painter at the factory.
He is strung on black thread on 1950's control with rusted screw eyes. The screw eyes on the puppet are also rusted.
Box is stamped Type SL Frog, which is a great addition to the puppet, often these characters have the name hand written by the factory or are unmarked.
Please see images and zoom around to see condition specifics.

Type SL Alice from the Alice in Wonderland series of sought after puppets.
Alice is the most commonly found of the series and can be found in several different coloured dresses. This is the classic blue with white apron. The blue dress has puffed sleeves and it is in good condition. The white apron has some ageing holes as seen.
The face paint is very good. She wears her Alice band in her blond hair which is a little scruffy.
Under her dress are white bloomers with a couple of wear holes at the back, not in the front, due to wear against the wooden lower body part.
The original box is stamped correctly and is good with a set of instructions included.

Type SM Pop Singer was one of two puppets that came to the shop from the family of an employee of the Pelham Puppet factory in 1959-1964. The other puppet was the Type SL Bank Manager which was a prototype for the moulded head type. 
Pop Singer has a suit just like any other first type Pop Singer with pinstripe suit, white shirt and black tie. This one, has the Horror Boy head though, instead of the SL Type heads with no opening mouth. 
It is a guess to assume this may have been a prototype which never went into production, the opening mouth puppets were costly to make and the Pop Group were all made with closed mouths.  The guitar is not like the normal guitars but has strings and a plastic strap.
He has splayed out composition hands.

Condition is very good. There is no damage or wear to the costume.
The side of the left opening mouth does have some wear as seen. He has the freckles and face of the Type SM Horror Boy, but this puppet is full puppet size, the same as the Pop Singers.

The yellow box is very good and has Type SM Pop handwritten over a handwritten Mermaid. It is in the same handwriting that is on the box for the Bank Manager.

Babies will be sold individually.  Left to Right: Baby 1,2,3

​ “100 Cards for Rosemarie” - An Invitation from Pelham Puppets and Vintage Pelham Puppets
​
On the 20th May 1947 Captain Robert Henry Pelham started his Company, Wonky Toys Ltd., later to become Pelham Puppets and soon recruited his first four employees, Frank Clements, Sidney Hiscock, Laura Ray and Rosemarie Gibaud.
 
Rosemarie Gibaud will be 100 years old on August 8th 2020 and to celebrate her birthday,  David Leech (Pelham Puppets) and Imogen Parfitt (Vintage Pelham Puppet Shop) are inviting anyone who loves Pelham Puppets to make and send a birthday card for Rosemarie on her special day and to thank her for her work with Wonky Toys and Pelham Puppets in those formative years.
 
If you would like to buy or preferably make a special birthday card for Rosemarie along with some comments about why you love Pelham Puppets, then all you have to do is to send your card, to the address below, by July 18th.
 
Please keep the size of your card to B4 Size that is 25cm x 17.6cm or less.
 
All the cards received will be delivered to Rosemarie in advance of her birthday on 8th August.
 
We will aim to get some photographs taken of Rosemarie on the day and afterwards we will share the photographs and comments of her special day on our respective Face Book pages and on our websites too.
 
Whether you are a collector, a puppeteer or simply admire Pelham Puppets, we hope you will support our endeavours to convey our thanks and best wishes to Rosemarie on her 100th birthday.
 
With sincere thanks,
Yours puppetually,
 
David Leech and Imogen Parfitt
 
 
Please send your card to David Leech Pelham Puppets PO Box 3668 Stone Staffordshire England ST15 9ER by July 18th 2020
 

A couple of weeks ago we had a delivery sent to us from the family of a former employee of The Pelham Puppet factory who worked there from 1959.
One of the most interesting items to offer to you for sale, is the original prototype Bank Manager created at the factory and used for the publicity photographs. These images are widely recognised as they were used as postcards. We also have the magazine where he is featured, Pelpup News Winter 1965 No 10 which will accompany the puppet.
He is standing with the Horror Boy, Mitzi and the Old Lady in the photo shoot.
He has a solid moulded very heavy head, larger than the later type which became hollow moulded. He has a dark woollen suit, later types in production often had a pinstripe suit. The puppet also has lead wraps around his lower legs which were used to weight him down for easier manipulation. 
It's always fun to find exciting items with provenance from the past, we think this puppet can be matched to the original photograph. 
​See images and description here TYPE SL BANK MANAGER