This question is almost impossible to answer as new characters keep turning up all the time.
One of the most intriguing points was that if a customer asked Bob Pelham for a special puppet he would almost always make them one, special puppets were being made all the time. The company also made many special puppets for use by professional puppeteers.In the production range not counting "specials" there are well over 500 known characters.
One other point to remember was that in many cases characters changed over the years, new moulds were made all the time. When the factory had a serious fire in October 1961 many of the original puppets and moulds were lost so a large new range was produced which went on sale in 1963.

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No one truly knows, but it is estimated to be over 7 million.
In 1947 production was about 80 per week, priced at 27/6d they were very expensive, about the same as a weeks wages in the UK. Over 220 thousand were produced in 1963 but in the real heydays of the late 1970's this figure rose to an estimated 5 to 6 thousand every week. To keep up with demand at this time they needed to produce 1000 Pinocchio's alone every week.
This was a mammoth task when you think that each puppet was hand painted and hand finished. Later figures were not so high and in one copy of Pelpup News from 1987 the company tells that its production was running at 700 puppets every week.
Many of the puppets were also exported all over the world, for instance in 1961 almost 50 percent of the total years production went to America.

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Almost anything Bob Pelham could get his hands on that was cheap or free.
The round wood ball heads were made from beech, sycamore or withy. In the very early days head were turned by hand and each head would be a slightly different shape. After a visit to the Marlborough Mop fair in 1948, the ball heads were made by a company called Hoopers in Stroud, Gloucester who made the balls used to throw on the Mop fair coconut shy. The bodies were made from parana pine, the early ones being partitions from World War II ammunition boxes.
Many of the more attractive puppets were molded from a mixture of pumice and glue now called Pelham Compound, which when poured into an ice cold mould would form the shapes.
Early Hands were wood, then lead, then compound and later plastic.
Legs could be bamboo, wood, compound or plastic, the early 24" display puppets legs were made from the rubber tubing from old World War II gas masks.
Early costumes were made from brightly dyed parachute material or material collected from Jumble sales. Later roll end, off cuts and anything that could be had for next to nothing was used.
Bob Pelham has often been quoted as saying "The old wool gloves, bits of carpet, door knobs, clothes pegs ... nothing was safe!" Many people think that if its plastic it must be an 80's puppet but plastic was used from the 50's, however much more plastic was used later on.

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There are many ways to tell the age of Pelham Puppets but none seem to be completely accurate to the exact year. You should normally be able to get within a year or two.

To age your puppet by its box Click Here
To age your puppet by its hands Click Here
To age your puppet by its Knees Click Here
To find out what type your puppet is Click Here

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This is the how long is a piece of string question, but one way is to take a look at the Puppets in our classified ads section to see whats on offer and the prices wanted for them. If the puppets stay available for a long time they maybe a bit overpriced, however the early puppets are always more expensive than the later ones.

Values are very much governed by condition, age and rarity. A perfect condition 1950 Alice in Wonderland character or an original 1963 Animal character could fetch a very high price in an auction if two avid collectors both wanted them, but on the other hand if you were lucky you could pick them up for a few pounds at a car boot or garage sale.

It's only a few years ago that Pelhams could not give some characters away let alone sell them. Today some of these "give aways" are very sort after and when they come up for sale some buyers will pay highly for the privilege of owning one.

There is one thing for sure prices are going up and up all the time with many more collectors building their collections from a smaller and smaller number available. Articles in "Millers" and "The Times" may also have pushed prices up by overstating prices but within a few years the prices paid today will be nothing to what will have to be paid as prices rise.

The Internet Auctions such as Ebay are another place to go to see how much your puppet is worth. Here you may find the exact puppet you are trying to sell and what it makes can give you a good idea.

Prices are all to do with "Supply and Demand" and at present "Demand" seems to be getting ever higher and "Supply" less and less.

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Yes, it was called the Pelpup Club. The first "Pelpup Club News" was produced in September 1950 starting with a letter from Bob Pelham signed "Pelpop".
Every puppet box had an invitation to join and the club had members with ages ranging from seven months to seventy years, the club had members that came from all over the world. In the early days numbers grew slowly. In 1955 membership stood at 2500 only growing by 500 over the next four years.
All this changed during the 1970's when membership grew to over 40 thousand..

Take a look at the company history to what happened and when.

In spring 1996 an new club was formed called the Pelham Puppet Collectors Club which produces 4 information packed magazines each year. Joining this club is a must for anyone interested in Pelham Puppets

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The company was in family ownership from 1947 until 1986 when it was sold. It finally stopped production after going bankrupt in 1993.

For more details on the company follow this link for the history of pelham puppets.

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