St. Petersburg Questions (1 Viewer)

[Currahee Chris]

Hey guys:

Does St. Petersburg retire their figures like a lot of the other manufacturers?

Where can I find more out about this line of figures? I saw that there were a pair of authors at OTSN who had put out what appeared to be a rather exhaustive tome on the company and their figures- any idea where I might locate that book?

Thanks
CC

 

[wadepat]

Hey guys:

Does St. Petersburg retire their figures like a lot of the other manufacturers?

Where can I find more out about this line of figures? I saw that there were a pair of authors at OTSN who had put out what appeared to be a rather exhaustive tome on the company and their figures- any idea where I might locate that book?

Thanks
CC

Hi CC,

I believe the book you are referencing was published by Aero Art. It is a two volume series that descibes their history, their work, and their products. It includes wonderful pictures of their figures. I believe it can be purchased directly from Aero Art. Check their website for details.

Warmest personal regards,

Pat

 

[damian]

You have expensive tastes if you get into those figures.

 

[damian]

I have just been to their website. I must confess about jumping to conclusions. I think their mounted figures are very expensive but their foot figure retail for about 100 dollars. That is not too bad. They are really amazing figures. I visited a shop in London which had a connosieur figure of Lawrence going for 900 pounds. I suppose that is aimed at the occassional tourist. So Aero-Art seems good value for money
Regards
Damian Clarke

 

[Currahee Chris]

Yeah, I think you are correct- they are a little salty but with the prices a lot of collectors these days are paying for retired pieces from other lines, you could EASILY afford one of their mounted figs. Some of the really REALLY extravagant pieces- like the war elephant from Alexander's time, the chariots, etc, get pretty pricey but for good reason. If you see them, they will blow your socks off.

They have recently started doing a "B" line if you will, one with less color and effort but still head and shoulders above most lines. They retail for about half of the AeroArt figs.

That figure you saw in London- they also do extremely limited runs of some figures like 20-50 or so figures. It may have been one of those pieces you saw. Typically the average mounted figure goes for $275 with prices around $450 for some of the really extravagant mounted standard bearers.

Pat- thank you!! I would have never thought to google AeroArt- I always did St. Petersburg

I usually buy 1 or 2 foot figures a year and, if I can convince the wife, when the tax return comes around, I can get a mounted rider. No mounted rider this year though- she got a 42" LCD flatscreen and I got to pay for it with the return so I am thinking I will be getting something pretty sweet next year.

 

[Currahee Chris]

Yeah Damien- I just went to the site and saw the prices. Those are the Suggested Retail Prices- you can find them for less than that. I know of one dealer who has the Roman tent which they quote for $400 on that website. The dealer has it listed on his website for $330.

I have found several dealers who let the foot soldiers go for $75. One gentleman here in the classifieds was selling some nice figs for $75 each too.

 

[Combat]

I've been collecting the Aeroart figures for about 10 years. They really are the best of the best. But if you go into this you must be able to pay top dollar and have endless patience. They rarely know what they are getting, when they will get it (always in the next shipment) or how many of each item they will get. Quality also varies greatly from individual figure to figure so its best to see them in person if possible. They do most of the east coast shows and even have an annex in VA that you can visit on appointment. Recently prices have increased about 25% with no noticeable increase in quality. Apparently the Russian artists always want more money. The Kolobob dealer in Russia has been posting more new figures than Aeroart. Prices vary widely and it takes about 3 weeks to get them, but they are often worth looking into:

www.aeroartinc.com
tin-soldiers.pl.ru

 

[wadepat]

Yeah, I think you are correct- they are a little salty but with the prices a lot of collectors these days are paying for retired pieces from other lines, you could EASILY afford one of their mounted figs. Some of the really REALLY extravagant pieces- like the war elephant from Alexander's time, the chariots, etc, get pretty pricey but for good reason. If you see them, they will blow your socks off.

They have recently started doing a "B" line if you will, one with less color and effort but still head and shoulders above most lines. They retail for about half of the AeroArt figs.

That figure you saw in London- they also do extremely limited runs of some figures like 20-50 or so figures. It may have been one of those pieces you saw. Typically the average mounted figure goes for $275 with prices around $450 for some of the really extravagant mounted standard bearers.

Pat- thank you!! I would have never thought to google AeroArt- I always did St. Petersburg

I usually buy 1 or 2 foot figures a year and, if I can convince the wife, when the tax return comes around, I can get a mounted rider. No mounted rider this year though- she got a 42" LCD flatscreen and I got to pay for it with the return so I am thinking I will be getting something pretty sweet next year.

Hi Chris,

Did you find the book for which you were looking?

Warmest personal regards,

Pat

 

[Currahee Chris]

Hey Pat-

that is a negative, which is ok. I found a lot of useful information at the aeroart site plus Combat gave some good references below. I do appreciate your link to Aeroart though- it is always fun to roam around a companies website and look at their product.

I noticed that there were some writers- Thor and Tor Johnson (??) posted on the OTSN website signing copies of a book they did on St. Pete. I was just curious as to what the content was. It looks like a beautiful book with lots of full color pics.

Thanks again,
CC

 

[lenswerks]

I recently noticed one of my favorite vendors has just received his first shipment of Aero Art, no photos yet but has 75 items in inventory – That Pakaderm is 1,500$.

 

[CannonFodder1971]

If you are looking for AeroArt then their website is probably the best source, as they actually detail what's in stock and what isn't: many of the other dealers don't actually do so and thus when you order you can find that the piece is on backorder.

Here are a few US dealers, in no particular order of preference:

http://www.monkeydepot.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=322

http://www.lastsquare.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=888&osCsid=9accf8f22bb8cdc5d043f18de3384e4d

http://www.gunnings.com/miniatures_inventory.html

http://www.hobbybunker.com/categorylist.cfm?body=mfg&ID=18

http://www.michtoy.com/MTSCnewSite/figures_kits_folder/historical_miniatures.html

(You'll note that Rick Berry has some of the 'HM Historical Miniatures' in stock. I think this was a grey market venture by Arsenyev Studio to explore other avenues to the US market outside AeroArt. I think it was shut down after a small production run but they figures as just as good as they would've been had they been part of AeroArt St Petersburg Collection).

Of the various Russian suppliers there are too many to mention but Kolobob is probably the best, as they also carry Grenada and other studios.

 

[Currahee Chris]

Wow!! Thanks for all those links!! I ran across Last Square during some shows but for the life of my couldn't recall their name- lost their business cards and all. They give some pretty competitive prices on those high end figs.

Does anyone remember the Strosstruppen set that St. Pete came out with sometime around 99-2002??? They were Strosstruppen correct? I may be off here- I just loved those guys but passed on getting them as I thought they would stick out like a sore thumb in a Britains WW1 dio.

 

[Combat]

Hey Pat-


I noticed that there were some writers- Thor and Tor Johnson (??) posted on the OTSN website signing copies of a book they did on St. Pete. I was just curious as to what the content was. It looks like a beautiful book with lots of full color pics.

Thanks again,
CC

Chris-
I have the book which has some amazing photographs. Thor Johnson and his wife Nikki run the business from Great Falls, VA. Their son Tor takes the photographs that are included in the book. The first volume is the "story" of the Aeroart line with pictures of many of the figures, artist profiles, and some information regarding particular lines and higher end figures. The second soft cover volume contains small photos of all the figures produced up to the publication date including information on the sculpter, year released, numbers produced etc. Makes for a great reference for collectors. I understand they may supplement the book at some point in the future.

Regarding your question on retirement, I don't think there is any formal process. Typically production numbers are very small for each figure to begin with since they are all handpainted - in many cases less than a hundred are produced. A few figures are strictly limited to 100 - each numbered. Others they just stop producing at some point. The Aeroart book notes which figures are still in production.

 

[mk26gmls]

I actually have this book by AeroArt and it is just awesome. I have recently sold the last of my St Petersburg Collection by AeroArt International and I am going to sell the book too. It is just like new. Perfect. I am offering it to forum members for $125. That includes shipping to the United States. People over the "pond" need to add $5 extra for shipping. If anyone is interested, then just send me a private message. The books list for $140 plus $10 shipping on their website/Ebay.

Darrell