Vintage Rare Pelham Skeleton Puppet String Marionette in Box ~ Made in England.

While not very rare, this puppet was a very elaborate (and pricey) Pelham Puppet. The skeleton was designed to evolve from a pile of bones into a moving skeleton with ingenious and quite simple hand control. This skeleton was part of my family’s collection that my siblings and I used as kids growing up in the 1950’s through 1960’s. Our grandparents used to send puppets from the UK as gifts.

I have untangled him, but he has two broken, or disconnected strings in the head and shoulders. Since I am not sure of correct re-stringing, I am leaving the damage be. The rest of the strings are original and seem pretty sturdy.

Overall the puppet is in fair/good condition given it’s age and history of family use. It retains its original box which is somewhat deformed and battered but largely whole. I no longer have the instructions.

For some reason the limbs are a different base color than the body and head. The head and thorax are a lighter white than the limbs. To be honest this isn’t very noticeable when the puppet is being used. The paint is in pretty good shape with minor scuffs and scrapes.