'Big' Pieces

Right, I thought in this section I would tackle ‘big’ pieces.  Those Clarecraft pieces that were very expensive originally and tend to be quite large.  There aren’t that many of these but they do tend to be quite spectacular (and fragile!!! So any piccies I take of mine will be very carefully done)







The most iconic large piece that Clarecraft did (and in my opinion the most beautiful) is the Limited Edition Discworld DW70 (not to be confused with the original, much smaller Discworld, DW15).  This piece was designed by Leigh Pamment and was originally intended to be a Limited Edition of 500.  Leigh died in November 1996 and the piece was finished except for the seas and mountains on the top.  These were completed by Leighs uncle John.  This piece was released as a Limited Edition of 1000 in February 1997 and was sold out by June 1999.  The RRP of this piece was £235 but it has sold for as much as £750.  Mine was a bit of a bargain at £175.  Some stockists local to me were in unlikely locations and struggled to shift some of their pieces.  My edition of this piece was bought for me by my dad and it is the most treasured piece I own.  I have considered selling other pieces but this is one that I will never ever part with and is on display in pride of place.

 

Death on Binky DW24  is another large piece.  This is the earliest of the large pieces.  The quote for the piece comes from The Colour Of Magic "SHALL WE GO asked Death.  He was on a white horse, a horse of flesh and blood but red of eye and fiery of nostril, and he stretched out a bony hand and took his soul out of the air..."  I love the descriptions of how Death came to have Binky.  He had tried skeletal horses and fiery steeds but for various practical reasons they don't work!!  I did have a bunny that I called Binky and was pleasantly surprised to find that binky is the name for the little running hops that bunnies do!  Death is shown holding out his scythe which has led to large numbers of figurines losing the arm!  The arm and scythe are detachable from the figurine so if yours pops out don’t panic, it is designed to do this so it can be transported more safely.  However it is very delicate and can easily be damaged.   It was possible to buy replacement arms and scythes from Clarecraft and I believe these are now available from Mark Ayling or Joe Pattison, both of whom also offer a figurine repair service.  Death on Binky had a retail price of £99.99 back in 2000.  It has made up to around £250 but usually goes for anywhere between £100-£200.  The piccie of Death on Binky was taken at quite a distance, I am too short to reach it and even if I could I am extremely clumsy so would certainly break it!  Not worth the risk when anyone who finds this page will no doubt have seen it before!

Death on a Motorcycle DW44  another piece with a delicate scythe and a bugger to dust!! As its so dark it shows up the dust wonderfully!  Hopefully I will have removed enough of the dust for the piccies!  The detailing on the back of Deaths jacket has ‘Born to Rune’ picked out in little studs.  It was such a nice detail I had to include it and is an example of why I love Clarecraft so much.  This piece had an RRP of £199.75 in 2000.  It is a lovely piece, very big and quite detailed when compared to Death on Binky.  I prefer Death on Binky as I think that the horse is done so beautifully, there is real movement in the piece.  I was surprised to find the price difference between the two.  Death on a Motorcycle comes up a lot less often then Death on Binky however so it is reasonable to assume that less were sold (and more people are keeping hold of them!).  These again do vary wildly but £150 upwards is reasonable.

Ninereeds the dragon is a very large piece, he is depicted with Twoflower and Rincewind on his back.  This piece looked nice in blue and red so instead of choosing, Clarecraft decided to make it in both colours!!  Unfortunately at a price of £250 each it was a little out of reach for most people to be able to get 2.  I could not resist and did end up buying one of each.  These were Limited Edition pieces of 500 each (a relatively small Edition) DW141(R) & DW141(B).  Clarecraft had discovered glitter paints and an iridescent paint and used them to full effect on these pieces.  The chest parts of the dragon are covered in glitter and it is used in smaller amounts elsewhere on the piece.  It makes them quite unusual and they are astonishingly detailed.  From the translucence of the wings to the tiny detail of little houses and trees far below it is just amazing.  These have never really made big prices and generally sell for very close to the original price.

I really do hate mentioning prices on here, especially as my primary source is eBay.  I hate the idea that someone might really love a particular piece but feel disappointed when they see the prices it has reached.  I have not kept track of eBay as much as I used to so I am generally going off old figures.  As I said before, prices paid are no guide to worth.  Its what the figure means to you.  I have some figures that will probably only rarely get near the prices I paid for them.  I also got some real bargains.  But every time, the price I paid was what I felt the piece was worth to me and I’ve never regretted a penny spent!  Prices do fluctuate wildly with pieces going in and out of fashion so please don’t let my putting prices on here ever put you off a figure you love! 

Apologies for the poor layout of these pages.  It seems unnecessarily difficult to try and get the pictures and the words where I want them so in the end I just make do with what I get!