City Watch 2

Captain Samuel Vimes DW54

This piece was the first to feature Vimes and depicts him holding the gonne from Men at Arms.  The quote is from Men at arms. “He brought the gonne around, not aware of thinking, and let the trigger pull his finger again.  A large area of the door frame became a splinter bordered hole.  Vimes kicked the rest of it away and followed the gonne.”.

This was another piece sculpted by Leigh.  It was introduced in Autumn 1995 and retired in August 2000.  The RRP remained at £29.95.  It has sold for in excess of £85 very recently.  1453 of these were sold.  

Corporal Nobbs DW60

Corporal Cecil Wormsborough St John Nobbs!  Excluded from the human race for shoving and forced to carry a piece of paper confirming his species Nobby is Colons partner in crime.  Much is made of Nobbys odd looks and peculiar personal habits.  One of my favourite Watch books is Night Watch where Nobby makes an appearance as an urchin.  Frankly, given his upbringing its amazing he didn’t turn out worse!!  He has a streak of low level criminality which is generally kept under control and a burning interest in weapons, which isn’t.  In Hogfather he receives a Burleigh and Stronginthearm Crossbow which renders him unable to say anything other than ‘Nk you’.  This only makes him more appealing.  The quote is from Men at Arms (where Nobby gets to raid the armoury and comes out bristling with weaponry!).  “I’ve got an iron ball with spikes on Nobby volunteered.”.

This piece was sculpted by Leigh and shows Nobby clutching his ‘iron ball with spikes on’.  It was introduced in 1996 and retired on closure.  I have no numbers sold.

Angua DW66

I do not have this piece as it has never appealed to me.  It just doesn’t get near my version of Angua in my head!  The quote is from Men at Arms.  “Angua turned and ran.  The moon’s halo was already visible over the rooftops of Unseen University.”.This was sculpted by Leigh and was introduced in May 1996.  It was retired in August 2000.  There were 1059 sold overall.  The RRP was £29.99 and it has made up to £111 although she more usually makes about £60-£80.  As ever though, sometimes any piece can go for a lot less than expected!

Captain Carrot DW100 

Captain Carrot was introduced in February 1999 along with Angua as a Wolf DW102.  Angua was the collectors Edition for that year but Carrot was a normal piece.  For 5 months all was well until someone realised that the badge number shown on both Carrots and Anguas badges was in fact Vimes number.  Mistakenly thinking it was a precinct number Clarecraft had used 177 on both pieces.  This was swiftly changed, Carrot to 191 and Angua to 247 and the pieces with the wrong badge numbers were offered to members of the Collectors Guild.  The original RRP was £29.99.  Sculpted by Joe. With the wrong badge number he has made about £60.

The quote is from Men at Arms.  “Carrot marched in and stood to attention.  As usual, the room subtly became a mere background to him.”.  I do prefer this depiction of him to the original one for some reason, although my original one is intact while my DW100 is in 2 pieces!!

Angua as a Wolf DW102 - covered in Collectors Editions

Detritus in Armour DW105

This is another lovely big chunky piece and shows Detritus in his guise as a Watchman complete in adapted elephant armour.  He can be seen wearing his cooling helmet that was made for him by Cuddy involving a clockwork mechanism and a small cooling fan.  Troll brains work better at lower temperatures so it stands to reason that keeping his brain cool makes Detritus a bit brighter.  This revelation comes about after Detritus and Cuddy get locked in a freezing cold pork futures warehouse.  Detritus (who generally has trouble mastering how to salute without knocking himself out) becomes a mathematical genius but sadly this only lasts until he is rescued.  The optimal temperature for a troll brain is also, unfortunately, extremely close to the temperature at which a troll freezes to death!  The quote is from Men at Arms.  “‘Acting Constable Detritus?’, ‘Sir?’, ‘What’s that you’ve got on your head?’Dink.  ‘Acting Constable Cuddy made it for me, sir.  Special clockwork thinking helmet’”.  There was a typo on this card too, meaning Dink was written as Drink!

I love the way these two end up respecting each other, even though they are traditionally meant to despise each other simply because of their different species.  Terry often has a lot to say about our world mirrored through the Disc and this is one of those times.  They each save the others life and by the end species doesn’t matter, they defend each other against all comers.  Detritus in Armour was sculpted by Joe, he was introduced in 1999 and retired on closure.  I don’t know numbers sold.  His RRP of £33.95 made him an absolute bargain given the size of the piece (another lovely big tactile troll piece!!).

Cuddy DW106 

Cuddy is introduced in Men at Arms (and unfortunately makes it no further).  Terry recently said that he is often asked is it not about time that he kill off a major character but he says that he is put off doing so by the reaction he got when he killed Cuddy off.  

The quote is from Men at Arms (and it's a lovely one!).  “If there’s a heaven for Watchmen and gods I hope there is, then Acting Constable Cuddy is there right now, drunk as a bloody monkey, with a rat in one hand and a pint of Bearhugger’s in the other” said Carrot.”.  The piece matches the quote with Cuddy shown happily clutching his tankard and his rat!!

I love Cuddy and Detritus interaction in this book, this is one of the original books that got me hooked on Discworld and can still make me snort with laughter now!  According the book he has an intelligent expression and one glass eye, which makes for a lovely image!  I can’t recall too many of the dwarf characters who have been made into pieces.  Cuddy, Glod Glodsson and the infamous Cheery Littlebottom are all that spring to mind at the moment (and of these only 2 of them are generally available).  Cuddy is a really lovely piece and is designed to be in scale with DW105 Detritus.  

Cuddy meets a sad end when he is pushed off the stairs at the top of the Tower of Art by Edward D’eath.  Detritus brings him into the Great Hall and lays him carefully down.  He goes and sits in a corner and takes his cooling helmet off and sits and stares at it.  Although the Discworld books are humorous they are so much more.  In my minds eye I can see Detritus sat there, thoughtfully staring at his cooling helmet, thinking about the friend who made it for him.  It’s a truly poignant image (although I am a big softy!).  Cuddy was sculpted by Joe and introduced in 1999.  He was retired at closure, I have no numbers sold.  He had an RRP of £22.50. He has sold recently for £56.

City Watch Part 1

As can probably be gleaned from my nom de plume, I am a fan of the City Watch, in particular Sir Samuel Vimes.  I decided to tackle the City Watch next.  This presented it’s own difficulties however.  With the Death set I had the extra characters but it was quite clear they belonged with Death and didn’t have any particular business being on their own.  However along with the City Watch there are several other characters whose fates seem to be linked to that of Vimes, such as the Patrician.  A key character in his own right, yes but undoubtedly strongly related to Vimes and the Watch.  There are numerous other characters who are related to the Watch by virtue of their relationship with the City.  Even Terry himself has noted that he can’t write a book about the city without it becoming a City Watch book as the Watch are always required somewhere.  I have decided to try and keep this as pure as I can then.  I am simply adding in pieces with a strong relationship to the Watch and then I will do a ‘City’ set another time, containing all those characters linked to Ankh-Morpork.  eg CMOT, Vetinari, the beggars etc.

As with other sections I will go through the figurines according to their number order.  This may mean that characters who have more than one figurine will be split up but I think numerical is the way to go!!

The City Watch series began with Guards! Guards! and introduced a motley crew of members of the Night Watch of Ankh Morpork.  As the books progressed so did the Watch.  The City Watch series is my favourite series of books and after listening to Terry last night it would appear that Sam Vimes has a special place in his heart too.  When Clarecraft first closed down I remember reading Going Postal with such a feeling of sadness as I realised that most of these characters would never be made into figurines.  There have been many additions to the Watch since the first book but I still have that same feeling of sadness that I will never see some of these characters made into figurines.

When I did display most of my collection I tended to group them together.  The group that I was proudest of was my City Watch group.  I had them all together with some of the buildings behind them to make a little tableux.  Very creative (for me, anyway).  When Clarecraft retired I bought some of those pieces that I had always meant to get but never got round to.  This included Nobby and Colon.  I bought several of the newer figurines such as the Monstrous Regiment trio but ignored others in favour of these much more common figurines.  My rule for only buying what I like not what would be an ‘investment’ kicked in.  To my shame though, on looking through my collection I have realised that the only Angua piece I have is Angua as a wolf (which I have twice!).  I have no other Angua piece.  The other Angua pieces just never appealed to me unfortunately, although I must admit it would be nice to one day have a complete city watch set!

Carrot  DW09

Carrot Ironfoundersson, the 6’6 Watchman brought up as a dwarf and then further up as a human, uncomplicated but by no means stupid and possessing large amounts of ‘krisma’.  The quote is from Guards! Guards!  “The young man is called Carrot.  This is not because of his hair, which his father has always clipped short for reasons of Hygiene.  It is because of his shape.  It is the kind of tapering shape a boy gets through clean living, healthy eating, and good mountain air in huge lungfulls.”.

This is the original Carrot which was sculpted by John Goadby and Leigh.  This was introduced in October 1990 and retired in February 1996.  Clarecraft retired several early figures without ceremony at around this time (including Lady Sybil and Magrat), due to the fact that they didn’t seem popular.  The figures were retired quietly as Clarecraft didn’t think anyone would be interested.  They soon learnt the error of their ways and some of these early figurines remain the most sought after.  

Carrot went through several major changes and a few more minor ones while he was in production.  I only have the total number of pieces sold though and have no idea about the number of each major variation out there, however, the very first version was only sold for a couple of months so it is likely that there are less of these about.

Carrot Mark 1 - produced during late 1990.  Soon after he was introduced it was clear that Carrot was causing painting and production problems.  This version is easy to spot as he has no back armour.  I will post a picture of my Mark 1 Carrot but I have no other version to compare it to, however the back plate is fairly obvious.  There is also a gap between the sword and Carrots back.  This versions also has a noticeable gap between his calves and a long sword hilt.  This version will have an early trademark of some sort.

Carrot Mark 2 - During 1991 the second version included the back plate.  The gap between the calves was closed.  This version also has a long sword hilt.  This version will also have an early trademark.

Carrot, Mark 3 - From March 1993 the Mark 2 Carrot was produced but with the new Discworld Logo.

Carrot Mark 4 - finally, in March 1995 the sword hilt was totally redesigned to make it less prone to breakages.  In this version the sword hilt is well below the top level of the breastplate and it cannot be seen from the front of the piece as in the other versions.In all, 958 Carrots were sold at an original RRP of £25.25 and a retiring RRP of £27.50.  These have made up to £450 for a mint Mark 1.

Mark 1 Carrot, Sword hilt can clearly be seen over shoulder

No back plate, gap between calves and long sword hilt

Lady Ramkin DW10

Lady Ramkin is not in the City Watch herself so is not strictly a Watch character however as she became the wife of our (my!) hero and has been in the series from the start we will include her here.

The quote is from Guards! Guards!.  “Vimes knew that the barbarian hublander folk had legend about great chain mailed armour-bra’d, carthorse-riding maidens who swooped down on battlefields and carried off dead warriors on their cropper to a glorious roistering afterlife...”.

This was sculpted by Leigh and introduced in December 1990 with an RRP of £25.25.  She was retired in February 1996 at an RRP of £27.50.  The figure depicts Lady Ramkin stood in her stout protective leather apron with a padded jacket underneath (she was wearing hers before they were fashionable outside the country set!).  She has a swamp dragon on her shoulder and a water bucket in her hand.  A particularly nice touch is the string of pearls around her neck.   When I began collecting I had a little mental list of pieces that I really, really wanted.  Over time I have managed to get most of these, the cloakless Vetinari, the arch point of sale but there are a couple that despite my efforts continue to elude me.  As previously mentioned, one of these is the Lancre Bookends but the other one is Lady Ramkin.  I have a soft spot for Sybil anyway but the figure itself is such a lovely one that I have always wanted one.  They do come up on eBay but the time never seems to be right!  They have made as much as £350 but generally make in the region of £200.  There were 645 sold in total.There were no major changes to this figure so no variations as such but a very small number (around 3 or 4) were painted with little fish in the bucket of water Sybil is carrying.  These were put in by Rosie, a Clarecrraft painter who used to enjoy adding little accents to the pieces. This just adds to the charm of the piece and I have not seen a goldfish one come up on eBay.


Since I originally published this some months ago I have finally got my hands on a Lady Ramkin!! I have been collecting since 1998 and I have always wanted a Sybil to add to my collection. I have added a picture of my new acquisition!

Detritus the Troll DW22

Detritus did not start off as a Guard, he began life as a ‘Splatter’ (a sort of troll bouncer).  He later developed into a major member of the Watch so as such I have placed him here.The quote is from Moving Pictures.  “He recognised, a few feet away, the big rangy shape of Detiruts, an ancient troll well known to the students as someone who found employment anywhere people need to be thrown very hard out of places for money.”.  He later joins the Watch to gain respectability and make something of himself at the prodding of his beloved Ruby.

This is a lovely big chunky piece (I do like the tactile pieces!!) showing Detritus stood, wearing nothing but a loin cloth gazing ahead in what looks like rapt concentration with his knuckles gently resting on the ground!!This was sculpted by Leigh and was introduced in early 1991 (that’s as specific as it gets folks!) at an RRP of £20.45.  He was retired in August 2000 at an RRP of £21.99 and Clarecraft offered no numbers sold.  There were no changes to this piece.  This was one of the pieces that was produced in bronze and pewter finishes.  As I mentioned at the beginning of this blog, Clarecraft offered many of their early figures in a plain pewter effect or bronze effect finish.  This was meant to make them more affordable for people, however, people preferred to pay the extra as very few of the alternative finishes were sold.  A pewter finish Detritus was produced and had an RRP of £10.80.  Detritus was also offered in the bronze finish but there are no recorded sales of him in this finish.  So if you have one then you have a rare piece indeed (and questions may be asked about how you acquired it!!).

I did have a Detritus but unfortunately he came a cropper and bounced down my stairs, this cost him his head.  I miss him, he is one of the pieces I do intend to replace when I get chance! (I have just recently replaced my Detritus bookend so he is probably next).

Sergeant Frederick Colon of The Night Watch DW30

Colon is one of the central original Night Watch members.  The City Watch was originally made up of the Night Watch and Day Watch.  These were eventually combined into one.  Colon, Nobbs and Vimes were the original unholy trinity who were joined by Carrot.  One little nugget about Colon I always loved was that he had a small toy pig when he was little who was called Mr Dreadful!  This quote is from Guards! Guards!.  “You could describe Sergeant Colon like this: he was the sort of man who, if he took up a military career, would automatically gravitate to the post of sergeant.  You couldn’t imagine him ever being a corporal.”.

Colon is also described in the book as a man with a round red face, the kind of man who would make a good sausage butcher.  The piece accurately reflects this.  Sculpted by Leigh and introduced in 1993 he was retired on closure.  On checking my own Colon figurine I found an interesting combination of trademarks.  I bought the piece when Clarecraft retired so expected him to have to pewter trademark (as my Nobby, bought at the same time did).  My figurine has a painters mark plate on it, indicating it was produced after 1997 however it not only has the early (1992) Discworld trademark it also has a second Clarecraft trademark from 1993.  This makes it a bit of a mystery and I would love to know how this one figurine ended up with all these marks on it!!!

Errol DW36

Errol played a pivotal role in helping the Watch out of a tight spot in Guards! Guards! so has earned his place here.  His quote is from Guards! Guards!.  “Errol lay in the wreckage of the fourth fruit box Nobby had scrounged for him.  The rest had all been eaten or dissolved.”.

Actually named Goodboy Bindle Featherstone of Quirm, bred by Lady Sybil, he was named Errol by Nobby who stated that Errol resembled his brother.  Errol appeared to be a badly designed swamp dragon but he in fact turned out to be a perfectly designed jet engine.  Errol was referred to as a ‘whittle’, which in the book is a slang term for a runt, this of course is a nod to Frank Whittle, inventor of the jet engine.This piece is another appealing piece sculpted by Leigh.  He was introduced in September 1993 and retired in February 2002.  His RRP went from £25.50 to £27.50.  The top price paid is £92.

Point of Sale Pieces

Point of sale pieces (POS) are those items which are made for stores stocking items by a manufacturer to display and tempt potential customers.  There are several Discworld POS pieces by Clarecraft.  Most of these they made available to the public to buy due to demand from Collectors.  Designed to catch customers eyes these are usually beautifully made pieces so it’s not surprising people wanted to own them!

Discworld POS Arch

I loved this piece and for a long time it was the one piece I was desperate to get my hands on.  I love the design of it and it takes pride of place on one of my living room shelves!!  This piece was a genuine POS piece that could only be obtained from Clarecraft by a stockist.  These were never released on general sale and so dont have an issue number.  It is generally just referred to as the Discworld Arch.  It is a small archway, marked with bricks.  It has the original Double C logo at the top and ‘Terry Pratchetts Discworld’ written on it.  It is lovely, I really, really like this piece!!
This piece does come up on eBay occasionally although not often.  At one point a few seemed to come up together but I havent seen one for a while.  They mainly seem to get between £50-£80 so not rocket money but it is one of the pieces I will probably never part with.  There is no Discworld trademark stamp, painters mark or sculpters mark on this piece consistant with the fact that it was never intended for general realease.  This was produced in 1991-1992 and it is not recorded how many were made.

From Out of the Page DW95P

From out of the page is a detailed, colourful piece.  It shows an open book with the Clarecraft Discworld logo surrounded by characters from the books.  It is a particularly lovely piece.  This piece was given an edition number and was made available for general sale, both from Clarecraft directly and from most stockists.  I got mine from a local stockist on a layaway scheme.  I really loved the piece but with an RRP of £64.99 I couldn’t pay for it in one go.  I was so pleased when I finally got hold of it!

This was sculpted by Leigh and was introduced in February 1995.  It was still available on closure.  I have no numbers sold.  They generally make around £60-£100 but one recently sold for more than £200.  I think that is more a case of someone really wanting it than any reflection on its regular price paid.  

POS Picture Frame  DW98P

This was another POS item that ended up being made for general release.  It is a grey and black picture frame. It has Great A’Tuin at the top and shelves of books and lifetimers down the sides.  This is a lovely piece but the support on the back is the same as a normal picture frame one, unfortunately as the frame is quite heavy but at the same time fragile the stand doesn’t seem enough to support it.  

This piece was designed to be displayed in shops with cards inside indicating which pieces were due to retire soon.  This was designed by Joe Pattison and introduced in September 1998.  The piece was released on general sale but due to an oversight it was omitted from price lists up until 2003, this meant that few people up until that point knew about it.  The piece was available until closure and there are no numbers sold.  The RRP for the piece was £34.99.  I have 2 of these and I can't quite remember how I managed that! I don't tend to buy duplicates so can only suppose I got one as a gift!

Cardboard Surround

This is a cardboard stand.  It is dark blue with a picture of Terry on the front and then pictures of the Death and Rincewind bookends on the sides.  This is obviously not a figurine but I feel it should fit in here as it is Clarecraft promotional material for their Discworld range.  These usually go for a few pounds on eBay and come up fairly regularly.  I don’t have any other details on these.

Point of Sale for Discworld Candles

This is not strictly Clarecraft.  It is a POS for Discworld Candles.  Made by Bernard who also was the founder of Clarecraft, there were 12 candles produced altogether (I think).  I have a couple of the candles that I have picked up very cheaply on eBay but they are not something I collect.  At one of the Clarecraft events I went to, I was browsing the stalls when I found a small wax POS.  It was labelled Discworld and on the back it has ‘Discworld Candles by Waxworks, Bernard and Isobel Pearson’.  I picked this up for a few pounds as I quite like tactile things and this is very nice to hold and touch (although it isn't the most attractive colour!).  I have not seen another one since so have no idea how many were made or how much they should sell for!

Death, the final chapter!!!!

I finished this entry whilst I was on the train travelling down to London (first class no less!!) to go and see Terry at the Theatre Royal tomorrow night. The Wifi on the train was rubbish though so I've had to wait to post this!!

Death and Granny Weatherwax Limited Edition DW90



This piece was a Limited Edition of 2500, sculpted by Joe Pattison. It was released in November 1998 and by November 2003 there were 82 left. It sold out by February 2005. As with all Limited Edition pieces made by Clarecraft, this piece comes with a Certificate of Authenticity with the Edition Number of the piece. The Edition Number is also written on the piece in silver ink. This piece cost £135.00 and one has sold very recently for £205. It shows Death and Granny playing cards. There is a small candle on the table and Death has his hood pushed back. Death is reaching out across the table. I like this piece and think that it was one of those where the scene in the book just suggested it. When you read the quote you visualise exactly the piece. It’s a pretty perfect depiction (to what goes on in my mind anyway!!).



The quote is from Maskerade “Granny picked up the pack of cards and shuffled it, not looking at her hands and smiling at Death all the time. She dealt five cards each and reached down... A bony hand grasped hers. ‘BUT FIRST, MISTRESS WEATHERWAX, WE WILL EXCHANGE CARDS.’”.

Death Duelling DW93



This piece shows Death standing on a black and white floor hold his scythe. It is inspired by the duel with Mort in Mort. Mort Duelling is the companion piece to this one and comes next as it is so closely linked to this piece. I do not have this piece, unusually for a Death piece. It just never particularly appealed. This was introduced in 1998/1999 and was available until closure. Again as with most Death pieces, earlier ones will have the original resin scythe while later ones will have pewter scythes. I have not seen many of these come up on eBay, they don’t seem to be common although I have no clue of numbers sold. It was sculpted by Joe Pattison They retailed at £34.95 and I do not have a top price paid.





Mort Duelling DW92



This piece is the companion piece to Death Duelling and shows Mort on the same black and white floor clutching a sword. The quote is from Mort. “Mort rolled and came up swinging the sword double handed over his head, feeling the twang of dark exhilaration as Death darted backwards across the checkered tiles.”.

I do not have a proper version of this piece. I have a PYO version from one of the events. I have been brave and posted a picture of it. Its not great as I'm no creative genius but you get the picture!!

This piece was introduced at the same time as DW93 and was scultped by Joe Pattison. Again, earlier ones have a resin sword whilst later ones have a removable pewter sword. The original RRP was £29.95 and I do not have top price sold for this item.

Death and the Swan DW111



This again is a piece full of comedic value. It shows Death crouching at the side of a pond in front of a swan. This piece comes from Maskerade when Death turns up to collect the swans soul. The swan however has other ideas! This was sculpted by Joe Pattison. The swan was sculpted separately to the rest of the piece and attached later. The water in the piece is a lovely translucent resin, there are even reeds under the water. It is a lovely piece.

I bought this one month when I had the mad idea that I would be able to buy one piece a month completely guilt free. Apparently I am good at living with guilt as that particular ambition lasted one month!!

This piece was released in February 2000 with an RRP of £39.95. This piece was available until closure, so I have no numbers sold. It has recently sold for £62.00 and has reached more.

The quote is from Maskerade

"Death sat down on the bak.

'NOW LOOK', he said, 'I KNOW HOW IT IS SUPPOSED TO GO. SWANS SING JUST ONCE, BEAUTIFULLY, BEFORE THEY DIE. THAT'S WHERE THE WORD 'SWANSONG' ORIGINATES. IT IS VERY MOVING. NOW, LET US TRY THIS AGAIN...'"

Death and Miss Flitworth DW139



Another piece from Reaper Man, that book in particular seemed to present a lot of fodder for the sculptors imaginations!! This is another piece from Joe and shows Death and Miss Flitworth doing the tango. Miss Flitworth is the elderly lady who employs ‘Bill Door’ to work on her farm. This piece was released in February 2002.

The piece originally had a large gap between the hem of Miss Flitworths dress and the floor. This presented problems for the painters. The decision was made to increase the length of the dress so it reached the base of the piece thus making it easier to paint. Only one batch of 19 figurines was made with a short dress before it was lengthened. In order to give every fan a chance of finding one of these oddities, the batch of 19 were put into different consignments so they ended up all round the country. The RRP was £59.99 and a short skirt version of this piece has sold for hundreds of pounds. The short skirts don’t appear for sale very often and the top price sold represents this. This piece was retired upon closure so I have no idea of overall numbers sold. However the (very) general rule of thumb is the higher the original RRP the fewer were sold.

Extras



Susan holding the Death of Rats Shop Edition DWE18 - covered in Shop Open Day Pieces



Susan Collectors Edition DW77 - covered in Collectors Edition Section



Quoth and the Death of Rats DW115 - covered in Collectors Edition Section









Death of Rats DW33



The quote is another one from Reaper Man, “It was about six inches high. It wore a black robe. it held a small scythe in one skeletal paw. A bone white nose with brittle grey whiskers protruded from the shadowy hood.

This was (and still is) a lovely affordable little piece with an original RRP of £9.99. The piece is small and simply shows the Death of Rats standing on a little base. Sculpted by Leigh the top price is likely to remain modest as the numbers sold will be relatively high.

Mort DW43



The quote for this piece comes (unsurprisingly) from Mort. “He paused in front of a shelf of glasses, glanced at the paper again, ran his hand along the row and suddenly snatched up a glass. The top bulb was almost empty”.This depicts Mort stood with some lifetimers.

This piece was introduced in December 1994 and was retired in August 2001. In total 2016 were sold. The RRP of the piece was £31.73 and top price paid varies.

This piece is charming in that it is in scale with DW05, Death at a Party, although this piece was made later.



There is a variation with this piece. This piece was retired in the first year of the pewter hallmarks being used. 67 of those sold have pewter hallmarks with a dash above the first letter indicating they were produced in 2001. However there are 2 pieces out there which have a pewter hallmark with the notch over the second letter indicating that these were produced in 2002. As the piece was retired in 2001 it would appear impossible. What probably happened was that the 2 pieces were possibly shop returns. At the end of each year all remaining hallmarks were melted down so these pieces must have missed the deadline and so were given a 2002 hallmark. A little rarity worth checking for if you have one of these!!









Quoth on Skull DW49



Quoth again, is a character close to my heart and I love this piece. Very simple, it shows Quoth sitting on a skull. The quote is from Soul Music. “The raven flew back to the wizards house, skimmed in through the open window and took up his roost on the skull”. This piece does exactly what it says on the tent card!! This piece was sculpted by Leigh and was introduced in February 1995 and retired in February 2002. 2865 were sold. The original RRP was £19.99 and it has sold for £65. There were no variations to this piece.

Cyril DW59



Cyril the dyslexic cockerel is yet another product of Reaper Man. “It was another dawn. Cyril the cockerel stirred on his perch. The chalked words glowed in the half light. He concentrated. He took a deep breath. Dock-a-loodle-fod!”.

Cyril cannot get his cock-a-doodle-do right and gives all sort of variants. Finally he is given a prompt board. This was sculpted by Leigh and was in traduced in February 1996. It was retired in August 2001. There were 1437 sold at an RRP of £24.99. This piece has very recently made £51.

It is another lovely fun little piece. Reaper Man inspired many pieces and it also inspired the 1997 Clarecraft Discworld Event (CCDE). Someone took the idea a bit too far and decided to bring some ‘Cyrils’ along to join in the fun. These Cyrils appeared to have no problems getting their words out however and woke everyone up at dawn lock-a-doodle-fodding!!!

Death of Rats and the Death of Fleas DW73



This is another affordable, appealing little piece and it is once again from Reaper Man!! When Death forgoes his duties, other ‘Deaths’ are generated. This is how the Death of Rats came to be, it would seem though, that where you have rats, you have fleas!. “The Death of Rats opened a tiny skeletal hand. The tiny Death of Fleas stood up, looking embarrassed but hopeful.”.

Another of Leighs pieces, this was introduced in July 1997 and was retired in November 2003. 4140 were sold at an RRP of just £9.99.

Quoth and eyeballs DW91



This is another Quoth piece, I am not keen on this one, have never been able to put my finger on why. It shows Quoth sat next to a clayware pot which almost certainly doesn’t contain eyeballs. Quoth lives in hope of finding eyeballs laid out as bar snacks. Unfortunately, this time, he got olives!! I do not have much information about this piece. The original RRP was £19.95.









Death of Rats Riding DW127



This piece shows the Death of Rats, riding a West Highland Terrier. I do not have this piece as I was never inspired to buy it, although it is an attractive little piece.



There is a variation of this piece. It was spotted by a visitor to the factory that the original Death of Rats had pink tails, like little pink sausages!!. Clearly the skeletal Death of Rats would have a white tail. The figure was subsequently changed (in 2002) and the pink tail versions have fetched high prices. The prototype of the piece also had a little blue flower on the grassy base, this was removed for reasons of economy.












Artwork and Sundries



Reaper Man by Paul Kidby



In addition to the Clarecraft figurines outlined about, I have some other Death itemsI have the Limited Edition Reaper Man print by Paul Kidby. I love this piece of artwork. I have several Limited Edition prints. When I very first started collecting and getting into Discworld, I discovered Paul Kidbys site. At the time he was selling LimIted Edition prints of Reaper Man and Rincewind. I have never been much of a fan of Rincewind but my partner at the time loved him. I could only afford one print despite the very affordable price of £14.95 I believe. At the time I decided to get the Rincewind print for my partner and forgo the Reaper Man one. This was possibly the very first thing I bought over the internet and so was quite a Big Deal. It duly arrived rolled up in a tube, signed by Paul Kidby. The Rincewind print is actually a lovely picture and I am pleased I have it now (got rid of said partner but wouldn’t give up Rincewind), but I had always wanted the Death one.



Several years later I attended CCDE and there for sale were several prints. I promptly bought the Reaper Man one (for the same reasonable price). This was the first event I had attended and it never occurred to me to bring anything for Terry to sign. I noticed other people had piles and piles of books. So when I bought 2 prints I had a brainwave. I’d get Terry to sign those instead. I have the colour Lancre print and the black and white Reaper Man print signed by Paul Kidby, Terry Pratchett and Stephen Briggs (it would have been rude not to as he was sat next to Terry at the time!). I since got all 3 prints framed and the Reaper Man and Rincewind prints make a handsome pair.



I may have already mentioned that I am not lucky. Twice I have bought the pieces that I long for more than any other, the Lancre Bridge Bookends. And twice for different reasons they have had to be returned. This carries over into all parts of my life, not just collecting. I am walking proof of the Law of the Sod! However. Once, I was very lucky, very very lucky! When I began to check out Paul Kidbys site I found that there was a black and white print of the Librarian. This piece had sold out long before I started collecting. It was a really lovely print and I longed for one. Unfortunately when these prints do get sold on sometimes the condition isn’t good and most of the time the price is just too high as these are fairly sought after pieces. I was perusing eBay one day when I came across an item that had literally just been listed. This piece was the Librarian print I had longed for. What’s more it was framed, in a matching frame to the ones I had had my Rincewind and Death prints framed in. What is even more, this piece was on offer for Buy it Now at £14.99!!! To say I acted fast would probably be an understatement. I snapped it up despite the fact that it was collection only and the seller lived halfway down the country. I gave no thought to how I would get it, I just knew I would. I made arrangements but my very thoughtful partner got worried that the seller would want it taken sooner rather than later and he went down himself (telling me that he was going somewhere else) and brought it back as a surprise for me. This piece now sits between my Death and Rincewind prints in pride of place in the centre of the wall. I have had a few other little bargains here and there but this is my fondest purchase.

Graham Higgins Canvas



I also have a large canvas print featuring Death and Mort. This piece is black, against a white canvas and is very large. It is a piece by Graham Higgins and I was given it as a gift. It took some getting used to but eventually I came to enjoy it. Unfortunately it is so big that due to my penchant for prints (Discworld and otherwise) the tiny walls in my tiny house are groaning and I no longer have the space to hang it.

Deaths Clock, By Mark Ayling

I am also the proud owner of Deaths Clock, by Mark Ayling. At the second CCDE I attended, I had been struck on the first day by this attractive working clock, based on the clock in Deaths Domain. I didn’t initially have the money for it, it was £74.95 but I really liked it. I spent the whole weekend walking past it and talking to Mark about it but felt I couldn’t justify the purchase as it would have had to have gone on a credit card. In the end I figured I liked it so much I may as well go for it. I did, I put it on my credit card with a firm resolution to pay for it out of next months pay packet. I brought it home and it has pride of place on one of my living room shelves. I have never ever missed the money but I guarantee I would have regretted not buying the clock!!

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