Topic: 1980 whitefriars paperweights

[flying free]

beautiful.  Thanks for the extra information.  I think they missed a trick there then.  Imagine how collectable all twelve days would have been.  Mind you imagine making them...doesn't bear thinking about the intricacy of that lol.  Actually they could have used picture canes I suppose.  Has any maker done twelve days of Christmas?
And wow 9000+rods amazing!!
m

[Wuff]

Has any maker done twelve days of Christmas?

Selkirk has - it's engraved weights, though. Partridge in a Pear tree for comaprison (Courtesy Selman)

[pooleandpaperweights]

Or all 12......

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r267/pooleandpaperweights/SANY0006.jpg

All numbered the same, have the certs and boxes.

[chopin-liszt]

Hi Tony, thanks for replying. 
I'm still completely bemused as to why anybody would want anything christmassy or religious or with anniversaries on - or company logos. Normally, this does reduce a value considerably.
 
I suppose it takes allsorts - even liquorice ones! 

[flying free]

Thanks for posting the engraved set   it's pretty.
m

[mjr]

Hi Sue(M),
                 I'm not sure what you mean by undesirable features in themed weights. The Christmas weights from Whitefriars were all based on Christmas topics (some religious, some not). The last two, of the Partridge in a Pear Tree and the Christmas Bell, were viewed as excellent technical examples and desirable in their own right as well as being scarce. This boosts their market value as does the fact that many collectors would buy the others and then want to have the complete set, thereby increasing the scramble for the scarcer ones.

Cheers,

The christmas bell is not viewed as an excellent example.  The tale is that the 1980 was supposed to be shepherds and sheep, and there are sheep canes in existence, but it was not successfully prototyped and in the end, the bell was done as a simple cane setting so that a 1980 xmas weight could be produced.   Of course 1980 was when the factory closed and the number issued was low.  This means that the 1980 is the most expensive of the xmas weights because it is rare and there are not enough to complete all the sets that collectors (like me) have. 

Note also, over the last couple of weeks there have been a number of very complex garland and star settings on ebay. The stars particularly went for enormous sums (£500). Again, this is because of rarity.

That is really the determinant of the values of the weights. Not theme/design, but how rare/unusual they are and so how many collectors are missing them from their collections.

[Lustrousstone]

and in reality themes are a different game to anniversaries (limited market) and logos (usually giveaways)

[Tony G]

Hi,
      the only point I would add to Martin's comments on rarity is that completing a theme is almost as important as pure rarity. Far more Christmas Bells were made (258) than most of the USA series ( some USA weights were as low as 69 sold). However many collectors began a set of the Christmas weights ( early issues were released in largish numbers e.g.1000) and therefore needed a 1980 Bell or their "sets" were not complete. A recent example sold for £700. As the USA series weights are rarer, one could imagine that they commanded higher prices than the Christmas Bell. This is not generally so. This is possibly because fewer collections were started ( small numbers, export only or too tight a release period etc.) or the series is not seen as such an obvious "theme"and therefore there is a lower demand despite their rarity. The most I have seen paid for a USA weight is circa £400.

[flying free]

ah, well, way out of my league so perhaps I won't start a Christmassy collection theme then 
Thanks so much for sharing this information.  I don't collect weights and sometimes see the prices paid for various weights and so wonder what the desirability reason is behind them.  It's interesting to understand why.
m

[chopin-liszt]

In other areas of glass, rarity does not seem to be so important - an ugly lump is always an ugly lump, no matter how rare. 
I don't go in for "completing sets" of things myself.