Tintin Forums

I have just come across someone on ebay selling a figure that they describe as being the first Tintin figure ever made. The seller doesn't know its origins but has dated it to the 1940's (not sure how he came to that conclusion). To me this figures looks badly made and looks to have come out of a cracker.

Does anybody know any Tintin figure/ figurine history?

This '1940's' figure is about 7cms in height and is of Tintin walking with a scowl on his face and hand in air and beside him there is Snowy who is so badly modelled he looks like a deformed sheep.

It does look a bit dodgey but the seller seems quite reputable, 100% positive feedback, I'm not too used to ebay but i know that's good if you're looking to buy

This is the figure in question.

I haven't seen one of those before. I'm not sure about the age, or whether it was the first mass-produced Tintin figure, but it wasn't the very first model.

There's a photo of Hergé with what looks like a wooden Tintin from 1938, although that's most likely a one-off model. And I haven't the books to hand, but the Chronologie series documents a few early attempts at Tintin merchandising, including a series of plush dolls which were quite sweet, from the early 1940s. Can't remember if they were just prototypes, though.

It looks to me as if it has a loop in the side of Tintin's head, next to his quiff, which might make it some sort of Christmas tree ornament?

In terms of how good or bad a rendition of the characters it is, it doesn't rate too badly next to some of the awful lumpy Pixi figures... ;-)

Hello everyone. Thanks for the replies.
#2 I have bought from this seller before and he's ok. He told me that he was told it was from the 1940s by the person he bought it from and he said this person was quite an expert.

#3 I think Hergé had a few models made for him. The Rocket is the main one that springs to mind. In the past I have seen some really old figures but nothing like the one I mentioned in my original post.

It looks like some child has made it as part of a school project. It's very crude and badly painted. I checked with the seller and he said it was made of plastic. I know plastic has been around since the begining of the last Century but imagined figures of that period to be made of metal, like the lead soldiers.

It hasn't got a date stamp so I'm not sure how anybody can date it to the 1940s. I haven't found any info on the internet about early Tintin figures so that is why I tried here. Appreciate the replies.

#4 Yes I did wonder about that hoop. Thought maybe it was just a bit of extra plastic that curled inself round and set.

I haven't seen a Pixi figure in the flesh but I have seen pictures of the Asterix pixi figures and they look awful. Surprisingly they cost the earth!

The other thing that made me wonder if it was from the 40s was that I had a quick look at the Unicorn Book and Tintin doesn't roll up the sleeves of his blue jumper. That probably means nothing at all.