Those in the know call them The Sisters. Their surname, they say, is “irrelevant”, and their exact address is not something they share lightly. Together, they own more than 12,000 Smurf figurines and many rare collector’s items, including one of the first prototype Smurfs ever made. They are among the top Smurf collectors in the world.

In an ordinary bedroom in a non-descript house in suburban East Flanders, Veronique, 43, holds out a small plastic jar containing a shrivelled, black Smurf. She carefully unscrews the lid and shakes the little character into her palm. “This is one of the very first Smurfs ever made,” she says, almost whispering in reverence. “The first Smurfs were painted in different colours, to test. It was quickly decided that neither white nor black would be a good choice, as they resemble human skin colour. After painting some blue and others red, the inventor, Belgian comic artist Pierre Culliford, decided that Smurfs should be blue.”

Surrounding us in the airless room, its curtains drawn to keep out prying eyes, are floor-to-ceiling display cabinets filled with Smurfs. “This room contains only Veronique’s collection,” Michelle, 38, says, prodding her sister playfully. “And she still has to unpack more than 30 boxes.”

Every shelf is neatly filled with rows of her favourite blue character. “I’ve arranged them by theme,” smiles Veronique, left in the photo above. “This shelf here contains the sports Smurfs. The one above it contains the Smurfs at the beach; over here we have the cowboy and Indian Smurfs, and these are the Smurfs in space,” she says as she points to a bunch of figurines of all shapes and sizes in space suits.

The Sisters began collecting in their early 20s. “Like all kids, we had Smurfs at home,” Veronique explains. “My favourite was Swimmer Smurf. But I certainly wasn’t besotted yet. That came later, in my early 20s when I bought a few Smurfs as a birthday present for a friend’s kid. They stood on my mantelpiece for a couple of days waiting to be gift-wrapped, and I remember thinking how cute they were. When later my sister went to a second-hand market I told her: ‘If you see any Smurfs, won’t you buy them?’”

Over the years, their collection has grown to be admired by fellow collectors across the globe. “And we don’t even have the most important collection in the world,” Veronique laughs. “That honour also belongs to a Belgian woman, but she prefers to remain anonymous.” They smile at each other, conspiringly. “Let’s just say that she really doesn’t need to worry about money. We’ve seen her collection. If she wants a specific Smurf, she’ll pay whatever it takes.”

The Sisters are also renowned far and wide for their annual Smurf fair. Each year in October, collectors from as far afield as Canada and Australia come to Belgium to attend Blue Paradise, their one-day fair that attracts the world’s most fervent Smurf collectors and traders.

“The Spaniards are clever about it,” laughs Michelle. “They arrive a day early to rummage through all our boxes.” By the time the fair starts on Sunday, they already know what's on offer.

The fair, just outside of Ghent, attracts some 600 international Smurf collectors every year. Many of the pieces fetch €500 or more. The Sisters show me two sculptures, each hand-crafted collector’s items that, should they wish to sell them, could fetch thousands of euros each. “But we don’t do it for the money,” Veronique says. “We do it because we love it. The sentimental value of this collection is unfathomable. But there are Smurf collectors who go well beyond collecting just the figurines, like we do. Some also collect sketches and paintings, many of them originals, that often go for thousands of euros.”

Michelle concedes that even they, sometimes, have enough. “It may sound hard to believe,” she says, “but at the end of the fair we suffer from a Smurf overdose. Then I become Madame Gratuit,” she smiles. “We fill up boxes with all the Smurfs we don’t want anymore – usually those we already have – and we give them away.”

Looking around at her collection, Veronique concludes: “I could spend all day in here looking at the Smurfs. They’re such peaceful people. They never fight, they’re never at war, they’re never angry. Even Grouchy Smurf, whose favourite sentence always begins with ‘I hate’, only pretends to be angry. They’re such a happy crowd,” she adds as she carefully replaces Papa Smurf, Gargamel and Smurfette back in the display cabinet. “Just looking at them brings a sense of peace and calm.”

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