Large Papa Smurf statue with red hat, red trousers and white beard, arms outstretched
Statue, not a collectible figurePapa Smurf, with his red hat and white beard, as a statue in Brussels.Photo: Miguel Discart · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons

A Papa Smurf figurine has been in production for longer than any other Smurf character figure: Schleich cast the village leader in PVC in 1969, and the same standing pose was still being poured three decades later. That long run is why two Papas that look identical on a shelf can be years apart in age and value. After a short, checked profile of the red-capped elder comes the part the wikis leave out: each Papa Smurf release by decade, from the first blue-PVC Schleich through Bully, Hong Kong, Super Smurfs, the movie lines and Funko. Figures we have photographed and matched to their stamps appear in the checklist further down the page.

Tall Papa Smurf statue with red hat and white beard
Statue, not a collectible figurePapa Smurf statue at Comics Station Antwerp.Photo: Trifonneke · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
French name
Le Grand Schtroumpf, the Great Smurf
Debut
1958, in Peyo's Johan and Peewit story La Flûte à six trous, the Smurfs' first appearance
Age in the lore
546 according to the comics as summarized on Wikipedia; a 2002 New York Times profile said 542, and the 1980s episode The Littlest Giant puts him at 553
Outfit
Red Phrygian cap and red pants, the only Smurf not dressed in white, with a bushy white beard and mustache
Job in the village
Leader and elder; an alchemist who brews elixirs and potions
Spoken by
Don Messick (1981 NBC series), Jonathan Winters (2011 and 2013 films), Mandy Patinkin (2017), Davis Freeman (2021 series, English dub), John Goodman (2025 film)
First PVC figure
Schleich number 20001, issued in 1969; smurfs.com.au records it as a promotional piece for BP Holland
Latest standard Schleich figure
Number 20814, a plain standing Papa dated 2018 in collector catalogs

How many versions of the 1969 Schleich Papa Smurf are there?

Papa Smurf character figure standing in a brightly lit indoor theme park
Theme-park display, not a collectible figurePapa Smurf welcoming visitors at Plopsa Station, an indoor park in Antwerp.Photo: Jérémy-Günther-Heinz Jähnick · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Seven production versions of the standing Papa, number 20001, are described by the collector site smurfs.com.au; Blue Imps adds sixteen marking variants. The 1969 original was molded in blue PVC and painted red, with the right arm held high, a red tail, and either no mark or a small Peyo copyright on the back of the arm. By 1972 Schleich had switched to red PVC, put its emblem and W.Germany under the feet, then remolded the figure with a lowered arm. The W.Germany Peyo version with a blue tail sold from 1977 to 1990 and is, by that author's reckoning, probably the most common Papa of all. Hong Kong casting followed from 1979, a CE mark was added for the 1990 to 1999 run, and the pose returned in 2011 decade boxes and on a 2013 Toys R Us blister card. Blue Imps also lists a white-PVC example marked Dupuis Union.

Which other Papa Smurf poses did Schleich release in the 1970s and 1980s?

Elaborate sand sculpture of a castle dotted with small Smurfs
Sand sculpture, not a collectibleA Smurf sand castle, with tiny Smurfs on every level.Photo: Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Three regular poses and two Super Smurfs turn up most often. Conductor Papa, number 20092, waves a baton and is dated 1977 by collectors, though sellers disagree about whether the mold is Schleich or Bully. Laboratory Papa, number 20164, holds a potion bottle and is dated 1983 in the Coleka collector catalog, which records both a green and a red bottle. Papa 20174, from 1982, was a Silan detergent promotion in Germany. The Super Smurfs, larger boxed figures with a prop, include Papa Teacher at 40224 and Papa in a Rocking Chair at 40228, both listed on Blue Imps and dated 1983 and 1984 by Coleka. Stripped of his blackboard or chair, a Super Smurf Papa is routinely mis-sold as a regular figure.

Is there a Bully Papa Smurf, and how is it marked?

Yes. Bullyland was founded in 1974 in Spraitbach, Germany, and its first Smurfs were a Kellogg's promotion. According to smurfs.com.au, Bully held the Papa Smurf manufacturing rights from 1974, removed the Schleich emblem from the mold, but was not allowed to add its own name, which is why a 1974 to 1977 Papa reads only W.Germany and Peyo. Schleich took the rights back in 1977 and kept those markings. Blue Cavern forum members note that Bully's Peyo lettering uses a different letter style from Schleich's, and Bully-made molds reached the United Kingdom in 1981.

Where do the UK National Garages and US Wallace Berrie Papas fit in?

Wide comic mural of Smurfs in a woodland village
Wall mural, not a collectible figureThe Smurfs mural near Brussels-Central station.Photo: Chikorita · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

In Britain, National Benzole piloted Smurfs at seven London service stations from November 1977, declared Smurf Day on 20 May 1978, and sold a first set of ten figures that included Papa, Brainy and Smurfette; the figures were sold at the pumps rather than given away, and Schleich supplied them until Bully molds arrived in 1981. In the United States, Wallace Berrie began distribution in 1979, and its Papas were cast in Hong Kong. Blue Imps photographs those as variants 14 and 15 of the 20001 pose, marked Made in Hong Kong, Schleich, 1969, Peyo and W. Berrie Co. A 1969 date on a Hong Kong foot is the mold date, not proof of a first-run figure.

What came after 1990: re-runs, the movie toys and the 2025 film?

Schleich never dropped Papa. The CE-marked W.Germany Papa covers the 1990s, Coleka lists a 2001 MB Conductor Papa at 20496, and the 2010s brought Papa in tails (20706) and a new standing Papa (20754) in 2012, Jungle Papa (20777) in 2016, and Coach Papa (20804) alongside the current 20814 in 2018. For the 2011 live-action film, Jakks Pacific sold Grab 'Ems mini figures, including a Papa and Clumsy two-pack shipped in July 2011, and a ten-inch Papa plush a month earlier. The Paramount film Smurfs opened in the United States on 18 July 2025 with John Goodman as Papa, and the six new Schleich Smurfs announced for 2025 do not include him, so there is no Schleich movie Papa to hunt for.

Does Papa Smurf have a Funko Pop?

Comic mural of Smurfs painted above a city passage
Wall mural, not a collectible figureSmurfs above a passageway near Brussels-Central station.Photo: Haggis MacHaggis · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons

Two, seven years apart. Papa Smurf number 269 opened Funko's first Smurfs wave in the Pop Animation line in 2017, next to Smurfette 270, Brainy 271, Astro 272, Gargamel with Azrael 273 and GNAP! Smurf 274. The second is number 1525, Papa Smurf with Magic Book, a 2024 release sold only with a San Diego Comic-Con or Summer Convention sticker; the Pops Today database puts those runs at roughly 1,199 and 626 pieces and lists the figure as vaulted. Papa was absent from the retail wave Funko announced in June 2024.

How do you work out which Papa Smurf figurine you have?

Start with the tail, which is Papa's own tell: a red-painted tail belongs to the 1969 to mid-1970s molds, a blue tail to almost everything after. Then look at the base plastic where the paint has rubbed: blue PVC under red paint means a first-version figure, red PVC means a later run, and white PVC points to the Dupuis Union oddity. The right arm sits noticeably higher on pre-1972 molds. Marks progress in a fixed order, from Peyo on the arm, to the Schleich emblem with W.Germany, to W.Germany and Peyo alone, to the Hong Kong and W. Berrie text, to the CE mark, and finally to the back-of-head lettering of 2011 onward. Copies tend to show a red-painted mouth, no marks, a blurry beard and unusually hard plastic.

Which Papa Smurf figurines are worth the most?

Comic mural with Smurfs at work and play
Wall mural, not a collectible figureMore of the Brussels-Central Smurfs mural.Photo: Haggis MacHaggis · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons

This ranking is relative, drawn from how often each version turns up rather than from asking prices; sold ranges for individual pieces appear in the checklist once enough sales are matched, using the method on our price method page. At the top sit the 1969 blue-PVC Papa with Peyo on the arm and the Dupuis Union white-PVC figure. Next come the Super Smurfs with accessories intact, the Silan promotional Papa, and, for American buyers, the Hong Kong W. Berrie pair. The convention-only Funko 1525 is the one modern piece that commands a premium over its retail sibling. Everything marked W.Germany Peyo with a blue tail, and every CE-marked figure, sits in the common tier, because that pose sold for well over twenty years. Our rare Smurfs guide covers the broader tiers and the prototypes that outrank any Papa.

Figure checklist

The photographed checklist is being prepared. Figure identities, foot stamps and sold examples must be verified before entries or prices are published.

Related characters

Brainy Smurf · Smurfette · Grandpa Smurf

Sources

Smurf painting on a museum wall
A Smurf painted on an exhibit at the technical museum in Studenec, Czech Republic.Photo: Roman Mifek · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Editorial draft · Last reviewed 2026-11-04