tdubel
Major
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2007
- Messages
- 6,499
As a Russian collector and long time collector, I am amazed at some of the items that sell on ebay. As an example (And I am not linking items here, this is more of a theoretical comment), I just saw a Napoleonic Hussar (Arsenyev copy) sold for $200. It is a copy and not even well painted. I have an original from Arsenyev, it is worth IMO $300 - $400. I guess as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but to pay $200 for an obvious drop cast copy is just insane. Please do not interpret this post as a dig at any Studio who I may not buy from, it is not (this is not directed in that direction). This is not from a named Studio. More the point to this post is I believe there are a lot of uninformed buyers of Russian miniatures out there and I feel bad for what some are buying. When you buy a drop cast item, no matter how well painted, you are being ripped off in my opinion and the original sculpter, producer, modeller is being ripped off too. Not only that, you are paying a premium for a model that from a valuation standpoint, is worthless. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but that only goes so far. I just hate to see it. Again, this is not Attica before any barbs are thrown here.
Point is, do your research before you buy. Russia is and always has been the wild west. There is a lot more backstory to these works of arts, do your homework.
Tom
Point is, do your research before you buy. Russia is and always has been the wild west. There is a lot more backstory to these works of arts, do your homework.
Tom