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Re: Popeye and olive oyl antique marionettes
Popeye has gone through a number of periods of popularity, the original period after his creation, the 1950's cartoons and again in the 1980's with the live action Popeye movie with Robin Williams. Here's alink to Popeye's long history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popeye
Of the marionettes there is very little reference material that I've been able to find, the market for them is very small, and very much a Specialist collector market. I did find some links for you to comparable examples for you sold at auction:
http://www.liveauctioneers.com/search?q=popeye+marionette&&sort=relevance&dtype=gallery&type=complete&rows=20