 | |
| (photo credit: Paul Stormberg) |
"According to Jeff Leason this miniature was a promotional figure given to the very few employees at TSR in 1977 to curry favor with the company and get the lucrative miniatures license from TSR. The rest is history, as Grenadier went on to create some of the most memorable miniatures as part of their Official Advanced Dungeons & Dragons line. Occasionally, spare copies would show up in The Dungeon! Hobby Shop.
The Lizardman Logo miniature for TSR was copied from an illustration inside the front cover of D&D Supplement I: Greyhawk by Greg Bell. The miniature is very exacting in detail and is a virtual copy of the original drawing. Clearly an effort by the Grenadier sculptor to show off his talent and win the license for his company. Amazing!
The Lizard Man is 70mm tall to the top of the weapon and 55mm from head to toe! The bottom is engraved, "TSR Lizzard Man ©1977".
The only other times I have seen this miniature at auction was in 2004, when The Collector's Trove ran it's first auction for Dave Sutherland III, and then again in 2007 when The Collector's Trove ran an auction for TSR employee Kevin Hendryx. However, this is the first time I have ever seen this miniature for auction where it is still in it's original packaging!
A piece of gaming history! Don't let this one slip away this miniature is a true crown jewel for the serious TSR and miniature collector!
This item comes from personal collection of Jeff Leason!"
So there you have it, a miniature that actually deserves to be tagged as rare. This makes three copies that have been sold by Paul (all from former TSR employees), and I have seen three more owned by Acaeum members (two collectors, and one former TSR employee). I wonder how many others might be sitting around gathering dust or hidden away in a box somewhere?
2 comments:
Holy cow.
You follow the lead market more than anyone I know so here's a question: what about the Ral Partha "three stooges" troll? One guy has had it for sale for like 8+ years, and the asking price as fallen from $1500 to just $1000. But there's one on ebay now for like 100, and a 2014 sale of one foe $15. How rare is it really?
Hi Mike, I just saw this comment - my notifications weren't coming through, so sorry for the slow response.
I don't consider it very rare. Uncommon, perhaps, but not rare. There are always a few copies floating around, and most often way overpriced in my opinion. Personally I wouldn't pay more than $20-25.
Post a Comment