In 2003, The Tolkien Society established an annual tradition, designating one day of the year for fans of J.R.R. Tolkien worldwide to celebrate their love of Tolkien’s writings by, well, reading them! March 25 was chosen for the celebration as it is the date in The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, when the ring of power was destroyed and the dark lord Sauron was defeated.
Each year the Society selects a theme for the day, with this year’s theme being Home and Hearth: the many ways of being a Hobbit. This opens up a wide array of things that could be read to explore the ‘inner Hobbit’ in all of us. You might join Bilbo in The Hobbit, as he opens his home to Gandalf and the dwarves, feeding them most of the goodies in his pantry! Another option would be to settle around the dinner table with Frodo, Merry, Sam and Pippin, as they eat the delicious mushrooms offered to them by Farmer Maggot during their journey through The Shire. What favorite Hobbity thing will you pull off of your bookshelves to read today?
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We have some great news from out friend and Middle-earth artist Jerry Vanderstelt. If you’re going to WonderCon you will have a chance to visit with Jerry at booth 2101. Jerry is sure to have many of his amazing pieces of art there as well as I’m sure to be live painting something for fans to see. Speaking of live painting if you were in Seattle checking out our friends at the Weta Workshop booth you got to see Jerry live painting. He painted a large portrait of the Balrog over the course of the show and as he did so fans asked Jerry to turn this into a print. Surprising nobody Jerry listened to fans and will be doing a print of that painting.
Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Vanderstelt Studio News”
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Good news is never late; it arrives precisely when it means to! As we mentioned a little while back, our friends at Weta Workshop were nominated for several categories in Michael Crawford’s The Poppies yearly collectibles award show. Not only were some Middle-earth themed items nominated, but they came home with the hardware in both The People’s Picks as well as The Judge’s Picks. The Mouth of Sauron on Steed finished second place in best statue for The People’s Picks, as well as finishing third in the same category for the The Judge’s picks. Weta also did well in some other categories, with the Frodo Baggins Mini Epic finishing second in Best Designer Vinyl, while the 1:30 Dol Guldur set finished first in best misc collectibles. Congratulations to our friends at Weta Workshop!
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This week our friends at Weta Workshop released a fantastic looking new statue from their awesome mini-statue line. This time fans can add Gandalf the Grey on Gwaihir as he escapes being trapped by former friend Saruman the White. This beautiful statue does a very good job of capturing the tiniest of details between Gandalf and Gwaihir. Fans can add this piece right now to their collection for only $125, and with it being in-stock there will be little to no wait time.
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For the last few years I’ve had the honor of being one of the judges for Michael Crawford’s The Poppies. Michael is one of the top reviewers of collectables out there. Every year he has an award contest for the best collectibles available in a variety of scales, price points, makers, etc. This year, Middle-earth is well represented by our friends at Weta Workshop and Asmus Toys. Weta Workshop has been nominated in categories such as Best Company, Best Overall Line, Best Statue, Best Vinyl, Best Paint Apps, and Best Miscellaneous. In addition, Asmus Toys received a nomination in the category of best male 1:6 figure. Be sure to vote for these fantastic Middle-earth themed collectibles and let the collecting world know just how much we love these items!
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Tonight our friends at Weta Workshop launched a brand new statue for fans to order and add to our collections. Once again, this is one of those pieces we’ve been waiting for going back to when the films were in the theaters. Who is this character that always seems to be near the top of any most wanted list? The character is Haldir who finally joins the 1:6 statue line as we saw him during The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Haldir looks fantastic on the product page, and with an edition size of only 750 pieces he won’t last long. You can get him right now for $399, and for anyone who might need a payment plan Weta has one for this guy. Don’t wait too long for this one!
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In 2003, The Tolkien Society established an annual tradition, designating one day of the year for fans of J.R.R. Tolkien worldwide to celebrate their love of Tolkien’s writings by, well, reading them! March 25 was chosen for the celebration as it is the date in The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, when the ring of power was destroyed and the dark lord Sauron was defeated.
