From 'Big' to tiny - Pewter Miniatures! (and the Clarecraft Discworld Chess Sets)

I was intending to make the next entry about the Collectors Editions but I got sidetracked so this is the result. I am halfway through the Collectors Editions post though so it should be the next one!
One of the perks of being a member of the Collectors Guild was that when you first joined you got a pewter miniature.  Practically every piece in the Discworld range had a matching pewter miniature.  Towards the end Clarecraft were even making pewter miniatures of the large pieces such as Great A' Tuin and Ninereeds (see the large pieces post!).  These obviously sold for considerably more than the usual miniatures.  Miniatures can be identified by the fact that their numbers start DM or DMP.  The miniatures came in polished and unpolished versions.  Frequently the only type available from retailers were the polished versions as these frankly looked more attractive.  The unpolished ones were mainly sold via Clarecraft themselves and are apparently easier to paint if that is your bag (I have recently been given some of the new Micro Art Studios miniatures, if anyone has any tips for putting together and painting these little blighters an email would be much appreciated because I haven’t got a scooby, despite having a couple of friends in school who were heavily into Warhammer!!!).  

It never occurred to me to actually collect the pewter miniatures, I really preferred to save my limited funds for the standard figurines although I must admit, if my collection was in miniature I would be able to display them all!  I got my original one when I joined the Guild (Granny Weatherwax if anyone is interested!) and then I didn't bother.  They are however cheap and easy gifts for the type of person who latches on to the fact that you like Discworld and uses it to avoid having any imagination in relation to presents! (This is also the reason that I have at least 3 copies of every calendar!)  I jest of course (although not about the calendars!!).  I acquired some pewters when a very kind person decided to go mental on eBay and pick up as many as they could!  I have a fair collection (pictured) and every so often if I see one that takes my fancy and it stays at the right price I pick them up.  Its nice to be able to treat myself to something completely guilt free.,  A kind of adult pocket money purchase if you will. The pictures are of my pewters, one is of the polished ones and one of the unpolished.

The standard sized miniatures retailed at £3.50.  Lias Bluestone came with drums so retailed for £7.00 and the large ones such as Ninereeds sold for £19.99.  In terms of resale value it really varies and depends upon how much someone wants it on the day.  As with all the other pieces some pewters were more popular than others and this can also effect value.

Unpolished

Polished (apologies for how to hold a crocodile, I forgot it was there!)

Clarecraft eventually produced a pewter chess set (DWCP).  This featured polished and unpolished miniatures with Death and Granny Weatherwax as King and Queen, Magrat and Nanny Ogg as Bishops, Rincewind and Rincewind Running as Knights, Greebo standing and Greebo on his haunches as the Rooks and the Luggage as Pawns.  This could be bought as a set but was obviously fairly expensive or it could be bought on a piece by piece basis.  Clarecraft had previously produced a chess set in resin (DWC).  Cream resin and brown resin with the same figures as the pewter version.  To complement the two sets, two chess boards were also produced.  A brown one to complement the resin set (DWCB01) and a blue one for the pewter set (DWCB01W).  They were octagonal in shape. The original resin chess set retailed for £149.99 and the pewter £199.99. Neither of these come up very often but usually attain slightly more than retail, again depending on how much people want them! The boards also don’t come up very often. They retailed for £59.99 each.

 I did manage to obtain a resin set relatively cheaply in a closing down sale (the box was pretty buggered though!) but I always coveted a pewter chess set.  Sadly I never managed to get one before Clarecraft closed and I have discovered that there is a very small period of time between being young enough to have extra to spend on frivolities and being so old that you have much more important things to spend money on!!!  Still, I live in hope. 

 My chess set is currently set up on the top shelf of a cupboard behind lots of other figurines so I’m afraid that is where it is going to stay!  I have got pictures of both sets with the relevant boards however.  I said at the start that I wouldn’t trawl the net for pictures and I haven’t, these pictures are taken from merchandising material that I have collected over the years.  It is a very crude way of doing it but not all of my own pieces are easily accessible due to living in the worlds smallest house.  Wherever possible I will take pictures of my own pieces but I think the chess sets are quite interesting and don’t tend to come up very often (especially the boards).

As an aside on chess pieces, the resin chess set was not the first time that a chess set had been proposed.  Very early on in the Clarecraft/Discworld story a chess set had been discussed and Leigh Pamment had actually begun work on some trial pieces.  Unfortunately Leigh passed away and the resin chess set that was eventually produced was a combination of his work and that of Joe Pattison.  Those were the days when moulds were made of all trial pieces and old moulds ended up in the bunker (where other treasures have also been located).  In 2003 the bunker was cleared out and in addition to a large piece by Leigh (more on that when we get to Collectors Editions) there were 2 tiny chess pieces.  One piece was a beautifully detailed little house which although lovely paled in comparison to the other which was a tiny Librarian.  The piece was chess piece sized so it was difficult to come up with ideas about how it could reasonably be used.  It is a lovely little piece, the expression on the Librarians face and the fact he is sat clutching a book just seem to bring him alive.  Its such a shame he didn’t make it into the original chess set.  He was produced and once painted was a truly special little piece.  He was available for a short period of time directly from Clarecraft.  It has always been a big regret that I didn’t manage to get hold of one but it was always one of those things that I just kept putting off!  I haven’t seen any of these come up yet.  This is an amazing little piece that really shows how good Clarecraft and their designers were.  I have taken a picture of both the Librarian piece and the house piece cast in brown resin and not painted.  These pictures were taken from the May 2003 Discworld Collectors Guild Newsletter.  I have also got a picture of the painted piece and the bronze finish piece that could be ordered, these pictures came from the August 2004 Newsletter.  The price is not listed but as I recall it was around the £15 mark.  I have included the pictures as it’s possible many people do not know about these pieces and pictures of them will be a little harder to find than most of the stuff I generally waffle on about!
Oct 2018 update. I finally possess a little librarian.

The original resin cast

The little house

The pieces ready for sale

I have made all the pictures a lot bigger than normal so that the detail can clearly be seen, it would be a shame to put up pictures that were too small to see properly!

Cor, this has turned out to be a bit of a monster one too!  I decided to tackle the miniatures as it’s late at night and I was having trouble finishing the Collectors Editions section!!!!

Oct 2018 update
I finally have photos of my resin chess set. I know not everyone will have seen one close up but the pieces are so beautifully detailed. 

'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!

Massive delay in posts

My laptop broke a few months ago and I have only just got it fixed.  As much as I enjoy writing this blog I refuse to attempt it on a smartphone.  There lies the route to madness!!!!!!

I am currently checking out where I was up to and I will put up a proper post soon

Renewal Shields

Apologies for the delay in getting this entry posted but my shields are hung on the wall and being a bit on the short side Ive had a bit of a job getting them down to photograph them!!!





DW94C - The Assassins Guild Coat of Arms
This was introduced in 1994 and 696 were sold. The RRP was £9.99. For some time the Shields were extremely popular and consequently sold for high prices, the top price for this one was £260 however more recently it has sold for £40-£70. The motto is ‘Nil Mortifi, Sine Lucre’. ‘No Death, Without Payment’. This is one of my favourite shields, I love the black and silver scheme and the cloak and dagger emblem,

DW95C - The Beggars Guild COA
This was made in 1995 and 505 were sold. The RRP was £11.00 and top price recorded is £64. The mottoe is ‘Moneta Supervacanea, Magister’ or ‘Have You Any Spare Cash Guvnor’. The shield features dragons which may at first seem odd but this it he beggars guild after all, this is simply a patched up, recycled shield.

DW96C - The Alchemists Guild COA
Produced in 1996, 789 were sold. The RRP was £11.00 and it has sold for around £50. The motto is ‘Omnis Quis Coruscat Est Or’ or ‘All That Glitters is Gold’. The Guildhouse is regularly blown up so is always new (the Gamblers Guild is situated opposite, a precarious position which people have questioned. When questioned however the Gamblers simply reply ‘Did you read the name above the door when you came in’, Good point!!)

DW97C - The Thieves Guild COA
Produced in 1997 818 of these were sold with an RRP of £13.45 and a top price of £50. It has a stripy background with a cut purse. The motto ‘Acutus Id Verberat’ means ‘Whip it Quick’.












DW98C - The Seamstresses’ Guild COA
Produced in 1998, 1215 of these were produced. there is a typo in the Collectors Guide suggesting that 215 of these were made but logically this doesn't make sense. An RRP of £14.99 may have put some people off. It has sold for in excess of £100 but more usually makes around £30. The Seamstress motto mimics the Assassins Guild Motto. ‘Nil Volupti Sine Lucre’ or ‘No ‘Love’ Without Money’. Although they are referred to as Seamstresses the ladies of the Guild are not noted for their talent with thread. A survey of the AM docks revealed 987 women who gave their profession as ‘seamstress’, and 2 needles!!







DW99C - The Fools Guild COA
1999 brought the Fools Guild and the first year that the Shields were sent free of charge to renewing member of the guild. 1443 of these were produced and the top price has reached £80. This is a very simple piece which works well as a shield. The motto is ‘Dico Dico Dico’, what else but ‘I Say I Say I Say‘!! The Guild is a cheerless place which contrasts sharply with the bright and cheery Assassins Guild building next door.










DW00C - The Musicians Guild COA
Produced in 2000, 1854 were made and have reached a top price of £28. The motto is ‘Id Murmuratis, Id Ludamus’ or ‘If You Hum it, I’ll Play It’. This Guild is very mercenary and its main interest lies in collecting high fees from its members.

DW01C - The Unseen University COA
In 2001, 2038 of these were produced. Top price has stayed relatively low, around £20. The motto is ‘Nunc Id Vides, Nunc Ne Vides’, ‘Now You See It, Now You Don’t’.

















DW02C - The Plumbers and Dunnikin Divers Guild COA
1600 of these were made in 2002. Top prices again have remained around the £20 mark. The motto is ‘Non Ante Septem Dies Proxima’ or ‘Not Before Next Week, Squire’.














DW03C - The Conjurors Guild COA
There are no numbers available for this or subsequent Shields due to the closure of Clarecraft. Motto is ‘Nvunc Ille Est Magicus’, ‘Now That’s Magic’.













DW04C - The Embalmers Guild COA
Another simple image which lends itself well to the shields. The motto is ‘Farcimini’ or ‘Stuff It’.












DWO5C - The Ramkin COA
This COA was the last renewal gift produced before Clarecraft closed. Clarecraft announced its closure is August 2005. This meant that some members did not receive their renewal shield. Again numbers produced are unknown but it became a sought after piece for people looking to complete their collection of shields and briefly sold for high prices. Motto ‘Non Sumet Nullus Pro Responso’ or ‘She Won’t Take No For an Answer’.








In addition to the shield of the Gamblers Guild there were 2 further shields produced that were not renewal gifts but were for sale. The first of these was for sale only for collectors and was in fact the COA of the Collectors Guild. DWCG02. In 1999 it was decided that the Guild needed a shield and a competition was held for members to design it. Terry judged to contest and 2 collectors separately came up with similar ideas so these were combined to produce ‘The Ultimate Collector’ (’Collictor Ultima‘). For posterity the 2 members were Ian Treasure and Graham Bate. The RRP was £14.99 and there are no numbers sold. This has reached slightly higher prices than some of the others.

The final COA (didn’t realise there were so many before I started!!!, this piece has turned into a bit of an epic!) is the CMOT Dibbler Shield.
This shows a cut throat razor and there is no motto as such, just the legend ‘Dibbler Enterprises Est’. This has recently reached £200, probably due to the fact that these were available on general sale only so numbers would be low.











Whoo!!! Obviously there are some pictures missing, shields I dont have. I dont feel its right for me to trawl the web for pictures that other people have taken of their pieces so if I dont have it, there wont be a piccie of it. If anyone wants to send me a piccie of shields Ive missed for inclusion just get in touch.

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