Pelham Puppets were the brain child of the late Bob Pelham and produced between 1947 and 1992 . The earliest and arguably most valuable were those made under the name of Wonky Toys, prior to being named Pelham Puppets in 1948. Undoubtedly the beauty of Pelham Puppets lay in their personality as they were all individually hand made and hand painted. This meant that no same two characters looked identical. They were the last hand made, hand painted mass produced and world exported British toy, rightfully earning their place as a part of British toy history and putting 'Marlborough Wilts' firmly on the world map.

From a rocky start in 1947 and due to the pure determination of Bob Pelham and the beliefs in what his puppets had to offer children, the company enjoyed great success until Bobs untimely death in 1980, aged just 61. However, due to the high demand for his puppets, a change in safety standards and production values, and at a time when the electronic and disposable toy era was taking over from more traditional made to keep toys, the company became a victim of its own success. Falling demand and the falling quality of the puppets, coupled with the loss of Bobs enthusiasm and determination to take the company forward into a new era, eventually led to the company being taken over by a business man who had no knowledge of Puppets.

Not surprisingly, the company limped through the 1980's and their last flush of success, as a result of the first re-runs on British television for more than 15 years, was with the [Thunderbirds] range which they produced for Toy's 'r' us in 1990. While they were a great success the puppets were poorly constructed and ill conceived. After a couple more attempts at reviving the past glory's of the company Pelham Puppets finally conceded defeat and ceased trading in 1995. The most recognizable packaging of a Pelham Puppet was the famous yellow box.




The yellow box appeared in its first form in 1956. For the first 9 years of the company, however, the puppets were packaged in brown boxes, if the original puppet is found inside, this easily dates the puppet. Even without the box it is easy to roughly date a puppet depending on the construction and paint work, once you know what to look for.

ROUGHLY DATING A PELHAM PUPPET & WHAT TO LOOK FOR

From 1946 to the 1950's, for the standard 12" marionette range of Pelham Puppets, they used an 8" folding cross control bar with small steel eyelets attached to the bar through which black linen strings( Barbour's no. 18 carpet thread originally) were threaded to control the puppets movements. However the very first controls they used for Wonky toys were especially crude and looked very much 'home made'. In 1954 they introduced the 'anti tangle' device. By adding coloured rubber washers to larger metal eyelets it enabled one to easily remove the strings should a puppet get tangled badly. The strings were colour coded for each of the puppets movements and corresponded to the coloured washers on the control bar. This made the task of un-tangling simple enough for even children to tackle. For a short period of time between the 1950's and 1960's a smaller 6" folding cross control bar appeared as opposed to the more familiar 8" folding cross control. Of course there were other types of puppet that used different controls but the one I mention here was used mainly on the SS, SM and SL standard ranges.

Another good indicator of age are the type of hands. The earliest were wood and then went on to be made in lead, composite and finally plastic.

As a rough guide:

• 1946-48 wood
• 1948- 50's lead,
• 1950's-60's Lead or composite,
• 1960's -70's Composite,
• 1970's - 90's Plastic or composite.

Legs can also help to date your puppet. Up till about 1969 the standard range puppets had legs mostly made of wood with metal strip knee and ankle joints. In the 1970's they had plastic jointed legs fixed with a black cylinder pin at the knee and in the 1980's they use threaded plastic barrel legs. Plastic threaded barrel legs were used on only some puppets from 1960 onwards and were made of Polypropylene plastic, it was wasn't till the 1980's that the standard range had legs that were only threaded made of a harder Polycarbonate plastic. The earliest leg joints, made in the Wonky toy period, were carved as were some elbow joints. On some early moulded head puppets, like Big Ears or 1st edition Pinocchio the legs were wooden with 2 drilled holes top and bottom of each piece, using the waxed linen thread to tie the parts together creating joints at the knee, hip and ankle. These joints were recreated for some of the collectors edition puppets in the 1980's, Daisy Duck and the Thunderbirds range in the 1990's.

The composite material used for Pelham Puppets was originally used in doll making. Made from ground pumice stone (volcanic ash), animal glue and water, poured in to aluminum moulds in its hot liquid form, cooled on ice beds and dried in a wind tunnel over night, the compound became an ideally weighted and robust material. Well suited to making puppets it was moulded in to many puppet parts, namely heads hands and feet. Bob Pelham discovered this technique from a chap who's company made dolls. Bob eventually purchased the method for his own use and the first characters to be made with this material were 'The Alice in Wonderland' range and 'Mr. Turnip' at the beginning of the 1950's.

Although quite robust once dried it had two major faults: 1. The wooden dowel glued into the neck of heads, which took the screw eye and made the joint between the neck and shoulder, would swell and crack the composite if left in a damp environment. 2. Possibly the worst fault was, that if left in severe damp conditions or even immersed in water, the composite would quite literally melt.

WATCH OUT FOR RESTORED PUPPETS

To the untrained eyed of new or even seasoned collectors of Pelham Puppets, one can be easily fooled into thinking that a Pelham Puppet is authentic. Unfortunately from time to time a Pelham Puppet comes along and is not all what it appears to be. The term 'Used' in the description of a Pelham Puppet can be a license for some unorthodox sellers to attempt restoration of some puppets and then say nothing of what they have done, especially if they think the puppet would make more money if it seemed authentic and complete. When buying a 'USED' or 'PLAY WORN' Pelham Puppet or any Pelham Puppet which is rare and likely to command a lot of money, it is strongly advised that you ask the seller if they are aware of any restoration being done ? When buying from an auction site do not take any description at face value, especially if your going to be handing over large sums of money for an item described as 'USED'. Here is what to look for and what questions you should ask before considering purchasing a, potentially expensive Pelham Puppet:

• Are there any signs of any restoration or tampering ?
• Has the puppet been re-strung ?
• Are all the clothes original ? or are there any moth holes, stains or tears?
• Are all the joints and limbs original and in tact/ rust free?
• Is all the paint work original ?
• Any cracks, chips , hairlines ,blemishes or paint loss from anywhere?

Looking for these things and asking these questions can help you to feel more confident about purchasing or bidding, helping you make a more informed choice as to how much you are prepared to pay for the puppet you are interested in. When using an auction site it is worth remembering that private transaction's done outside the auspices of an auction site can lead to bitter disappointment in the event of a dispute. This can happen when you see an item not sell and contact the seller privately. In the event that something should be wrong with the item when you get it, you have no way of resolving a possible dispute if the seller refuses to accept any responsibility, which can leave you feeling extremely disappointed and frustrated, not to mention cheated!

Alternatively you can post a message on the [Surgery Message Board] if you need any help or advice regarding any Pelham Puppet of interest to you.

VALUATION AND SELLING

Pelham Puppets in the last 12 years or so have become incredibly collectible and sought after. Depending on the rarity of the character many can fetch hundreds of pounds/dollars, however, there are an awful lot of Pelham Puppet characters that are common place which people think are rare or very rare, and unfortunately is not the case.
The most common question asked of the Surgery is how much a Pelham Puppet is worth? The most honest and simplest answer is " Whatever someone is prepared to pay for it" If buying from an auction site, and a puppet is sought after by several bidders, is 'rare' or just wanted, then the item can realize quite a sum of money.A word of warning for those people who have a Pelham puppet which they no longer want and would like to sell.
One should also avoid websites which offer forums for swapping or selling Pelham Puppets...Why? You may have a rare or valuable Pelham Puppet without realizing it, and using their pages you could get a lot less than if you were to sell them on an auction site. These transactions are, again, private and as such have no safety net for buyer or seller, should there be a dispute. You will also find there are no links to any other Pelham Puppet sites of any relevance. The best advice would be to do some research before you decide to sell or buy any Pelham puppet, if your unsure of what it is you have for sale or indeed what you may be buying or swapping, once again please use the [Surgery Message Board] for any help and advice you may need.

ON A FINAL NOTE

If you are a collector or want to start collecting then 'must haves' are [David Leech's] books on Pelham Puppets. David worked at the factory, was a friend of Bob Pelham and the family. To celebrate 60 years of Pelham Puppets, David has launched a new range of Pelham Puppets and a new web site which is the official Pelham Puppet web site. For a more detailed history of Pelham Puppets, you can either visit his site or treat yourself to a copy of his latest book from the [Crowood Press]

Today Pelham Puppets have become very sought after and collectable.  It was this fervour for collecting Pelham Puppets and their history that spurred the creation of Books, websites, online clubs, a collectors club and of course The Puppet Surgery.

The people that collect, people behind the sites and clubs are the ones who are helping to keep the magic of Pelham Puppets alive for future generations to come and are all part of Bob Pelham’s legacy and the Pelham Puppet history.

PEOPLE

There are many contributing members of the clubs, collectors and puppeteers around the world, too many to mention here but who are all responsible for  helping to keep a little bit British toy history and the magic of Pelham Puppets alive.

[David Leech], leading authority on Pelham Puppets, ex employee and author of Collecting Pelham puppets. David's web site gives you the most accurate and authentic information regarding the history of Pelham Puppets, often copied and never surpassed. David continues to this day championing the recognition of Bob Pelham's work in his home town of Malborough Wilts.

[Sue and John Valentine], creators of The Pelham Puppet’s collectors club, a magazine based club which ran from 1995 to 2005, and the continuing online yahoo group.

[David Showler], puppet maker, ex employee of Pelham Puppets and collector.

Roger Stevenson, master puppeteer, showman  and collector.