In 1935, the Stooges imparted their comical likenesses to a beautifully crafted set of Hand Puppets designed by a well-known Italian artist. When the puppets were first made available to the stores, Columbia's publicity department took several promotional stills of the Stooges holding their puppet look-a-likes, and additional stills of the studio's feature film stars playing with the puppets as well. Larry Fine once recalled that the puppets were losing venture for the toy company, since the cost of the item was so outrageously high. A set of puppets like this in this condition brought over $1500 on eBay. This would be one of the earliest Three Stooges promotional toys to exist.