THE THREE AMIGOS...

Back around 1970 or '71, I saw a WADE YOGI BEAR

in the window of a shop called STANLEY'S STORES.  It still

had a pre-decimal price on it of 1/11d, so it's always possible it

was 1969, but what's a year or two over a 45 year period?  Any-

way, long story short, I bought it, and that's the very one you

see in the above photo.  Yup, still got it after all this time.

In fact, I've now got three Yogis, as I bought another two

on eBay a couple of years or so apart.  It's usually listed as

'rare', but there's always loads of them on sale anytime I look, so

I'd take that with a pinch of salt.  Apparently, its catalogue price

is around £80 (unboxed), but I got my second one for £25.

The third one I did pay £80  for, but it had the box.

A few years ago, I decided I wanted the other two in the

set - HUCK and Mr. JINKS - so I acquired them at a very

nice price.  I'm so chuffed with them, I thought I'd share them

with you here.  I've shown Yogi on his own before, but this is the

first time with his two pals.  These figures first came out in 1962

or '63, so regard any other year of origin you read as widely

inaccurate.  (Some sellers date them from the '50s.)

I had my original box for a couple of years after buying

the item, but the corners had split and I'd repaired them with

sellotape.  Huge mistake. The tape gradually yellowed and then

shrank, and when I tried to remove it, I damaged the box and so

discarded it.  I recall it from the last year in my old house and the

first year in my new one, which is strange for my memories of

something to be equally divided between homes.  You can

imagine how happy I was to eventually replace it.

Anyway, too much verbosity for two photos, so I'll

shut up now.  Enjoy the view of Yogi and his chums.

Posted in: Cartoons