Swarovski collection or retirement fund?

Some years ago I went through a phase of collecting Swarovski Crystals. Back in those days the crystal pieces were mainly clear crystal objects, such as animals, flowers, and some random objects which are lovely to display at home. Nowadays, Swarovski seems to have changed their approach and they focus on jewelry and franchise pieces such as Disney, Harry Potter, Batman etc. Personally, I prefer the previous approach.

Recently I dug out my Swarovski collection and was hoping to sell some off. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be much of a second hand market for them. Their resale value are very low compared to the original price and there seems to be abundance supply even for the so called 'limited edition' pieces. In the end, I couldn't be bothered to list them at all, and put a few pieces out on display at home instead. I'm going to show some of the pieces and their prices I found on the internet to give you an idea of how much they're worth.

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The Piano is probably my favourite piece even though I don't play the piano. It's a very elegant piece that comes with its own stool. It's displayed with the lid open showing the grandeur of the king of instrument. The white keys on the keyboard are highlighted in frosted crystal and the black ones in clear crystal. This image doesn't really do it justice as it's very difficult to take a good photograph of crystal but hopefully you can get a gist of how beautiful the crystal piano is. This item cost USD360 today new, but I saw a few of these on ebay and they range from USD50 to USD180 ☹️ They wide price range depends on the quality of the item, whether there are any scratches,chips or broken bits and whether it comes with the original boxes.

Accompanying the piano is the Harp, another instrument which I find very elegant. The middle section is solid and it has groves to accentuate the strings. I think it's perfect for Snowpea, maybe I will get her some harp lessons soon. The Harp is retired now meaning you can't buy a new one. The are going for about USD110 on the internet, cheaper than the piano.

This beautiful piece is called Rose Pink and is part of the Happy Flower series which includes different types of flowers and sizes. I think it may have been one of the last pieces I bought because by now Swarorski had started to produce more color crstyal items.

You can see the colour of the flower and leave is more vibrant when I place it against a black background. The swirl in the centre of the flower is the end of the stalk wire. From the stalk, it goes around the edge of the flower which is 2cm thick and then curled in the centre to make the wire part of the flower design. I think that a very clever way to deal with the end of the wire. This one is selling for about USD140 on the internet.

Swarovski does a membership scheme. Back in the days when I joined, members could buy annual limited edition pieces that were not sold to the general public. I think I have about 9 of those limited edition pieces, which I shall show you in another post as they are all boxed up still. In addition to the limited edition, members get a free gift if they renew their membership each year. In 2002 to 2004 the free gift was these Tulips, a different colour each year. The first year comes with a free stand which is a a bit of an incentive renew the next two years otherwise the single tulip looks rather sad on its on. These single tulip sell for around USD50 each.

One thing that Swarovski used to do a lot was animals. I mean who doesn't love animals? The ones I've put out on display includes an Elephant, a little mouse, and a Squirrel. Funny enough, I can't find Elephant on the internet anywhere. If I recall correctly, it was one of the small fun items, I reckon they're worth around USD20 to USD30 now.

The little Mouse has a leather tail, you can just about see it sticking out at the back. It's been in the box for too long and the packaging has started to disintgrate and stuck onto the metal whiskers. It needs a bit of TLC. This little one is listed around USD48 now.

The Squirrel is an 10th anniversary edition to for the Swarorski membership thing I mentioned early on. I reckon, it's really another excuse to release a limited edition piece. That said, the second hand market price is going quite well, USD110!!!

The Three Tiny Chicks in the front forms a set and each of them are different, and very cute. They came out in 1988 and are now retired. I saw them listed for around USD62 on the internet. The Yellow Duck at the back is part of the Happy Duck collection. It was first released in 2011 and was one of my last purchases. I bought is as soon as I saw it because at that time I was collecting yellow rubber ducks - they were a lot cheaper than the Swarovski one. This one cost about USD50 now!!

The last piece I want to show you today is the Love Budgies. Earlier this month I went to a wedding. In traditional Chinese style I gave the couple money as a gift - actually I hear this is becoming more popular in the western world as well nowadays as it's much more practical for the newlyweds. Anyway, as I was going through my Swarovski collection, I saw this Love Budgies and thought it would be perfect as a wedding gift. It wasn't as if I was flogging unwanted items off to people as this was a close relative, and the Love Budgies is worth between USD110 to USD180 on the internet! I did make a point to mention on the wedding card that it's from my personal collection 😊 I hope the newlyweds like it.

Based on what I've seen on the second hand market on internet, I don't think my Swarovski collection is going to help with my retirement all. But who knows, maybe people will become interested in them in ten years time?

By the way, if anyone is interested to purchase any of these pieces, drop me a message 😀