Propstore Winter Auction 2026 Reveals Rare Thunderbirds Puppets
To celebrate Thunderbirds Day, Propstore – one of the world’s leading entertainment memorabilia auction houses – has revealed two original Thunderbirds puppets that will be offered as part of its upcoming Winter Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction, taking place from December 4 – 6, 2026 in London.
HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:
Among the first highlights revealed for the auction is an original Brains puppet, used across Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s landmark science-fiction series Thunderbirds, the 1966 feature film Thunderbirds Are Go! and Thunderbird 6 (1968). Estimated at £100,000 – £200,000, the puppet is screen-matched to Thunderbird 6 and retains its original production head, hands, body, legs, internal operating mechanisms and distinctive glasses.
Brains, International Rescue’s resident scientist and engineer, was responsible for designing the organisation’s extraordinary Thunderbird machines and became one of the franchise’s most recognisable characters. The puppet’s head was sculpted by Century 21 staff puppeteer Mary Turner during the final phase of production on the television series before the puppet was later revamped for Thunderbird 6, receiving a darker skin tone and new wig. It remains dressed in the costume seen during the film’s opening sequence, when Brains presents his idea for a revolutionary airship to executives of the New World Aircraft Corporation.
Joining Brains is an original Tin-Tin Kyrano puppet, created specifically for Thunderbird 6 and estimated at £60,000 – £120,000. Tin-Tin accompanies Alan Tracy, Lady Penelope and Parker aboard the maiden flight of Brains’ Skyship One, which becomes the centre of the film’s dramatic hijacking plot.
Sculpted by Christine Glanville, the Tin-Tin puppet retains its original production head, hands, body, legs and internal operating mechanisms. It is dressed in the original red flying suit worn by the character in Thunderbird 6, including during her journey from Tracy Island to Creighton-Ward Manor and her arrival aboard Skyship One.
Complete original Thunderbirds puppets of this quality rarely come to market. Both Brains and Tin-Tin were among five puppets used for promotional appearances during 1968 and 1969 in support of Thunderbird 6. They were later offered at Phillips Salesrooms in April 1980 before entering the extensive Gerry Anderson Memorabilia Archive assembled by collector Kelly Patrick Lannan in 1989.
Over subsequent decades, the puppets have been exhibited extensively, including at The Great Thunderbirds Exhibition in Melbourne in 1998 and the Powerhouse Museum’s On the Box exhibition in Sydney. Both are presented on custom-made display stands and have undergone sympathetic restoration.
The two puppets provide an early look at Propstore’s Winter Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction, with further highlights to be announced in the coming weeks. The full auction catalog will go live, and bidding will open on November 5, 2026, ahead of the three-day live auction taking place December 4 – 6, 2026.
Registration is now available at https://propstore.com/auctionRegistration.action?auctionId=505
Stephen Lane, Propstore Founder & CEO, commented: “Thunderbirds Day is the perfect opportunity to reveal two exceptional pieces from our upcoming Winter Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction. Brains and Tin-Tin are characters instantly recognised by generations of Thunderbirds fans, and complete original puppets with this level of production history and provenance are incredibly rare. We’re delighted to be bringing them to auction at Propstore this December, with many more highlights still to come. “
THE FULL CATALOG FOR PROPSTORE’S WINTER ENTERTAINMENT MEMORABILIA LIVE AUCTION WILL BE AVAILABLE FROM NOVEMBER 5, 2026, WHEN BIDDING WILL ALSO OPEN
THE LIVE AUCTION WILL TAKE PLACE FROM DECEMBER 4–6, 2026
Source/Images: Press Release
