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Regular smurfs 20068-20121 Bullymolds
All the smurfs Schleich gave the articlenumbers between 20068 and 20121 are molds
Bully made between 1974 and 1980. The founder of Bully, also called Mr Bully, is
Klaus Volkmar. He worked for Schleich until 1973 and was Friedrich Schleich son-in-
law. After a family row he left the company and started his own company in his garage
at home. Some of his old collegues at Schleich started working for him and he
managed to get the rights to produce the smurfs by Peyo. So Schleich were not allowed
to make smurfs after 1975. In the beginning these smurfs did not have any Bully- or
Peyomarking. The early ones were also very soft material. In 1977 Bully started a
factory in Ronsberg and got better machines. But for some reason Peyo was not
satisfied with Bully and started a lawsuit against him in 1977. Peyo lost the first battle
and Bully could still produce the smurfs and had the rights for them in Germany,
Canada and Scandinavia. Bully lost the rights for the smurfs in 1979 and was not
allowed to make any smurfs after 31 december 1979. He also had to give all the
molds to Schleich. From 1980 Schleich were they sole worldwide manufacturer and
seller of these figurines.During the years 1974 to 1980 Bully never made any smurfs outside Germany. But when
Schleich got all the Bullymolds from Bully they did not change the marking. Probably this
was some kind of deal between Bully and Schleich. Bully was not allowed to keep the
molds( courtorder) and had no use for them, but they were still not available for anyone
to use if they did not make a deal with the company which made them?
Or maybe Peyo decided this since he is kind of the owner of all smurf-molds! :)So between 1980 and 1984 Schleich produced the Bullymolds, still using the
Bullymarking. These however were never made by Bully, only that Bully still had the
rights for these molds in a way. :)So when finding a smurf marked Bully Hongkong it was actually made by Schleich in
Hongkong. :)
