The January date of the NFFC's semi-annual show and sale was a good opportunity to catch up with Bob and Travis since the last West Coast event was back in September 2009.
The big news, of course, is that there's now a release date for the combined Mr. Toad's Wild Ride/Alice in Wonderland piece - Saturday, March 13, 2010 - and the price for the piece is $345. I was hoping there would be a prototype to see, but unfortunately, there were changes that had to be made, so a prototype wasn't available. This is the first time since early in the Disneyland collection where collectors won't have a chance to actually see a piece in person prior to purchasing it. Once Disney officially posts the release date information, there should at least be a couple of pictures accompanying the announcement, but I'm disappointed that we won't be able to see the piece itself until the release date. I'm excited to see all the details of the piece, especially the exterior of the Alice portion. Olszewski Studios will also be releasing a shadow box light display for the inserts at a later date.
The Monsanto House of the Future nostalgia piece is still on track to be released on July 17, 2010. The Snow White attraction piece is also expected to be released in July 2010 and will contain two inserts - 1) from the beginning of the attraction, in the dwarfs' cottage, Snow White is on the stairs while the dwarfs are playing instruments and having fun and 2) the Evil Queen disguised as the old hag/witch is brewing her poison apple. Olszewski Studios will be releasing a shadow box light display for these inserts at a later date as well. For the Pinocchio attraction piece, which is scheduled for November 2010, no decision has been made yet with regard to which scenes will be used as inserts.
The next set of floats for the Main Street Electrical Parade (set #3) is expected to be released in May 2010 and will cost $125.
The shadow box light display for the Peter Pan attraction inserts is now available for purchase through the Olszewski Studios website for $30. The monorail support stanchion/extension kit is expected to be available in February 2010 for purchase only from the Olszewski Studios website at a cost of $50.
Peter Pan shadow box light display for inserts.
Olszewski Studios currently has in stock 2 of the Main Street platforms, at a cost of $445 each. They are out of stock of tree accessory pack #1, and they have 4 of tree accessory pack #2 ($125), and tree accessory pack #3 is expected to be available again in Spring 2010 for $125.
In the Walt Disney World miniatures collection, two releases are expected in Summer 2010 (probably July or August): the back half of the Emporium ($255) and the Market House ($285).
In the Gallery of Light line, there are a number of Disney-related pieces due out in the next six months.
The piece for "The Lion King" depicts a tender moment between Simba and Nala and will cost $85, available in March 2010.
"The Lion King" Gallery of Light with regular lighting.
"The Lion King" Gallery of Light with extra lighting to show details.
June 2010 will see the release of two more attraction pieces, so they will be exclusive to the Disney parks. The Jungle Cruise piece ($85) depicts an attraction boat being menaced by two hippos, and the Mad Tea Party piece ($85) shows Mickey and Minnie each in a tea cup.
Jungle Cruise Gallery of Light with regular lighting.
Jungle Cruise Gallery of Light with extra lighting to show details.
There's even a skipper aboard the boat.
Teacups with regular lighting, which came out a little dark in the picture.
Teacups with extra lighting to show details.
A Gallery of Light piece for each of Sleeping Beauty Castle and Cinderella Castle will be released in July 2010 and will share similar traits: it will be a side view of each castle with the appropriate princess and prince characters in front of the castle. There will also be fireworks visible in the sky, with changing lights to show their effects, and Tinker Bell will be seen flying across the skies. There will also be a shadow of the Partners Statue visible. While each piece will be available at its respective resort, it is hoped that both resorts will carry both pieces rather than each piece being exclusive only to each respective resort. Each piece will cost $125.
Three other pieces will be released in Summer 2010. A third scene from "The Nightmare Before Christmas" depicts Santa Jack Skellington giving a present to a young child. A second scene from "Fantasia" shows Sorcerer Mickey on a mountain commanding the waters. And a second scene from "Cinderella" is a romantic moment on a bridge between the princess and her prince.
A Gift for Timmy Gallery of Light with regular lighting.
A Gift for Timmy Gallery of Light with extra lighting to show details.
Sorcerer Mickey Gallery of Light with regular lighting.
Sorcerer Mickey Gallery of Light with extra lighting to show details.
In the PokitPals line, the pieces which had been due in November 2009 now have new release dates and several new pieces have been added to the list.
The Maleficent and Jiminy Cricket pieces are now due out in February 2010. March 2010 will feature releases for Geppetto's Toy Shop sign, the Evil Queen, the Mickey Mouse Club, and the Casey Jr. Train. Then, in May 2010, the releases will be Cinderella's pumpkin coach, Autopia car (with the black interior), "Lady and the Tramp", Big Al and Frontierland canoe paddle. Each will cost $20.
The front of Geppetto's Toy Shop sign.
The back of Geppetto's Toy Shop sign.
The front of the Evil Queen.
The back of the Evil Queen.
The front of The Mickey Mouse Club.
The back of The Mickey Mouse Club.
The side of The Mickey Mouse Club.
The front of Casey Jr.
The back of Casey Jr.
The side of Casey Jr.
The front of Cinderella's pumpkin coach.
The back of Cinderella's pumpkin coach.
The side of Cinderella's pumpkin coach.
The front of "Lady and the Tramp".
The back of "Lady and the Tramp".
The side of "Lady and the Tramp" - I love that it's like a puppy basket.
The front of Big Al from Country Bear Jamboree.
The back of Big Al from Country Bear Jamboree. I *love* that it's Melvin, Buff and Buck, who can still be seen at Disneyland, in the Winnie the Pooh attraction, which occupies the space of the former Country Bear attraction.
The front of the paddle.
The back of the paddle.
The side of the paddle.
In the Heirloom Boxes line, five new Disney-themed pieces are expected in Summer 2010 with details to come at a later date.
Olszewski Studios is also working on a Gallery of Light piece and two PokitPals in conjunction with Walt Disney World's Star Wars Weekends event in May, but at the moment, it is unclear if the products will be ready in time for this year's event. The Gallery of Light piece depicts Darth Maul Donald and Jedi Mickey in a lightsabre duel. One of the PokitPals will have Darth Vader's helmet on one side and a stormtrooper helmet on the other. The other PokitPal will be of Donald as Han Solo frozen in carbonite - front and back.. There was a big fig released of that last year (which we have because the husband loved it so much - it was really cool and cute), so I'm looking forward to having the PokitPal of that as well.
Finally, a couple of notes specific to this particular event. For some time now, Olszewski Studios has been at NFFC's show and sale in January and July at the booth sponsored by Decker's Fine Gifts. Decker's has on hand a number of items from Olszewski Studios for purchase, which Bob Olszewski is available to sign at the event. People can also bring in items previously purchased elsewhere for Bob to sign, though I have seen some collectors who have taken advantage of that by bringing in way too many things for Bob to sign, considering how many other people are there to see Bob. So, when the announcement for this show came out, I was actually glad to see the notice that people were limited to 2 items to be brought with them (as opposed to purchased from Decker's) for Bob to sign. Since Decker's sponsors the booth and Bob's availability at the show, I think it's completely fair for them to put a limit on how many outside product can be brought for Bob to sign. That also helps to make sure that Bob isn't monopolized by any one person who has a large amount of things for Bob to sign. On previous occasions, I've seen people literally with a dolly of items for Bob to sign, and in one instance, a collector wanted Bob to sign every single member of the Disneyland Band. I hope that they keep this restriction for future shows. One other restriction indicated at the show was that Gallery of Light pieces could only be signed by Bob if they were purchased at Decker's. I think that would have been good to include in the initial notice as well, but at least the sign was up so that people could see it before they joined the line. Collectors may want to keep that restriction in mind for future shows as well.
Signs indicate the limitations of what and how many can be signed by Bob Olszewski.
I inadvertently made a discovery about a tradition that Bob keeps which other collectors may not be aware of either. The first time that Bob signs a piece of one of his products, he signs the item with a special designation and the date. Most of the items on display at Decker's this time were Disney-related merchandise. I was disappointed only because there were a few of Bob's non-Disney items that I'd wanted to purchase, and I'd figured that Decker's would have those on hand as well. One of the things I'd wanted was the Gallery of Light with Santa and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and it turned out that Decker's did have some on hand at the show, so I wanted Bob to sign my piece for me. When I got to see him, he mentioned that he had not signed any of the Rudolph pieces yet, so I was the first, and he explained the tradition to me. (He said that many artists will set aside the first such signed piece for family, but he preferred to have it just happen on the open market.) He looked for a good place to sign the piece and decided on the little area just at the bottom of the television border, not quite on the underside of the piece. I was very happy to not only discover this tradition but to also now be the owner of such a "first signed" piece.
Prototype version of the piece where you can see the little space just at the bottom.
The first Rudolph piece signed by Bob Olszewski.
A close-up of what Bob wrote.
There is usually a steady and long line of people waiting to see Bob at the NFFC shows, but it seemed a little lighter this time. That also meant that Bob was able to come out from behind the table and talk to people on the open floor.
Bob Olszewski talking to collectors.
I'm excited for the Mr. Toad/Alice release, so we'll see you on March 13!
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