Propstore to Offer Rare Original Thunderbirds Puppets in Winter Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction
Original Brains and Tin-Tin Kyrano puppets from the landmark Thunderbirds productions headline a three-day London auction in December
London, UK — September 2026 — Propstore, one of the world’s leading entertainment memorabilia auction houses, has revealed two original puppets from Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s Thunderbirds productions that will headline its upcoming Winter Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction. The three-day sale takes place December 4-6, 2026, in London, with the full catalog going live and bidding opening on November 5, 2026.
An original Brains puppet, used across the landmark science-fiction television series Thunderbirds, the 1966 feature film Thunderbirds Are Go!, and Thunderbird 6 (1968), is estimated at £100,000-£200,000. Screen-matched to Thunderbird 6, the puppet 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. The puppet was later revamped for Thunderbird 6, receiving a darker skin tone and a 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. 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. In the film, Tin-Tin accompanies Alan Tracy, Lady Penelope, and Parker aboard the maiden flight of Brains’ Skyship One, which becomes the centre of the dramatic hijacking plot.
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 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.
Stephen Lane, Propstore Founder and CEO, said: “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.”
Additional highlights for the Winter Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction will be announced in the coming weeks. For registration and bidding information, visit Propstore.
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