And now for something a little different…
Awhile ago I bought what I thought might be a “Strit” figure by Hans Bølling, but I wondered about a few minor details that didn’t seem quite right. It was hard to find any information about these online, partly because the name Strit doesn’t seem to be well known.
Some Zooline (Japan) figures have two buttons instead of a single bellybutton—maybe something they did to keep the design from being nearly identical?
Obviously the bottom half of the torso on the Zooline figure is light oak compared to wenge (?) on the Strit, but I’ve seen some marked Strits with lighter lower torsos. The real Strit’s torso has a more elegant egg shape vs. the slightly longer torso on the other, which is also broader at the top end.
(The hair on both these is newly replaced shearling wool. Some Zooline figures have bright red hair, which I’ve never seen on a real Strit. Real Strits have either dark brown or this medium brown.)
The hands are thicker on the real one.
You can see the difference in the ears here. Zooline’s are the same thickness from outer edge to base while Strit’s are thinner at the outer edge.
Real Strit’s ears are also squarish, while Zooline’s are round.
The shape of the top end of the torsos is more obvious here. Also, real Strit’s head can sink lower than Zooline’s head.
The difference in the bellybutton pegs is not significant. This peg is what holds the top half to the bottom half, an ingenious way to permit the figure to swivel at the waist. Sometimes it was tapped in flush and other times it was left protruding a bit.
Most Strits have incised marks on the bottom of one foot but obviously not all of them do. Zoolines usually came with a paper or foil label and many of these have fallen off over the years. (My Zooline guy was missing his feet altogether!)
They’re fun to pose!
