El Portal Porcelana

"For People Passionate About Spanish Porcelain"

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LLADRÓ
   Regular Collection
   NAO
      (NAO Catalog)
          (Retired 2004)
          (Retired 2005)
          (Retired 2006)
          (Retired 2007)
          (Retired 2008)
          (Retired 2009)
   Rosal
   Tang
   Zaphir
      (Zaphir Catalog)
   Golden Memories
       (GM Catalog)
   Hispania
     (Hispania Catalog)

Made in Spain
(No Brand Name)

Nadal

Other Companies
   Nalda

FAQ PAGES
   Value FAQs
      "Seconds"
      "Prototypes"
   Restoration FAQs
      Restoration (2)
      Restoration (3)
   Authenticity FAQs
   About Selling

Glossary

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Now Out of Print

Latest Book!

A Collector's Book
of Retired Lladró ;
Genuine Figurines & Their Marks
by Peggy Whiteneck

Click here to order!

Click on the image above for a link to the web site for The Glass and Pottery Review from Old Line Publishing! The inaugural issue has my feature article on Lladró.

Welcome to the FAQ Section!

In many respects, these FAQ pages are the "meat and potatoes" of my information web site, so I'll be udpating the pages often and archiving old Q&A's as I post new ones. I plan to arrange the questions, as I have here, by theme. Have fun!

Questions about Value

"Lladró values seem to be all over the lot. When you look at a broker's web site, the prices are way up there, but you can buy the same things for a fraction as much on eBay. What's the real value of my item?"

If you've ever watched the popular PBS series Antiques Road Show , you'll know that there are at least two kinds of "value" in the world of antiques and collectibles. "Replacement value" for insurance purposes is generally higher than estimated "auction value." Then, of course, there's the price at which the item actually sells, which may be above or below the estimated auction value. In other words, "value" is a relative rather than an absolute term, and the item's value to you for resale purposes will depend on a variety of factors: how much you paid for it, how scarce the item is, how motivated you are to sell it, how long you could wait for the item to move, etc.

In the Lladró field, Janet Hammer's prices on A Retired Collection are widely accepted by the insurance industry as replacement values, for the practical reason that she's often the only one with ready access to the scarcer pieces. But that doesn't mean you'll be able to get her prices should you decide to "cut out the middle man" and sell items from your collection directly - because you're not Janet Hammer and don't have her reputation in the field nor her network of contacts.


On the other hand, I've never accepted the notion that eBay is somehow the new benchmark for collectibles pricing. It's hard to factor the price of inconvenience, undeclared condition problems, a limited range of items offered, shipping damage, and the occasional outright fraud into "eBay values." Besides, values are often volatile even on eBay. What's "the eBay value" on an item that sells for $100 on eBay one week, $25 the next, and $250 the week after that?

I bought "Dreamy Kitten," Lladró #6567G from an authorized dealer. Sure I could have gotten it cheaper on eBay. But so what? I could also have ended up with the flowerwork chipped or damage in shipping. Internet auctions aren't always the bargain they're cracked up to be - no pun intended! (Photo by the author from her own collection.)

Generally speaking, the scarcer your item is (i.e., the more limited its availability to other collectors), the more likely it is you'll be able to name your price. For items more readily available, the greater the chances that you'll have to compete with others trying to sell the very same item, and that always tends to drive prices down. (If you've tracked eBay trends over time, you already know that's exactly what's happening there: a quite narrow range of Lladró items offered over and over again.)

I have a Nadal I want to sell, but I can't find out what model it is. Can you help me identify it, and how much is it worth?

This may be, hands down, the question that lands most often in my email inbox. Nadal does have its own web site where it has a photo catalogue of issues in current production only. Until recently, the site was run out of th UK and was in English as well as Spanish. That web site appears ti have been shut down, and the new company web site is entirely in Spanish.



This is a photo of the labeled end of an original Nadal box. Retaining the information from original boxes seems to be virtually the only way that people would know the identity of retired Nadal issues. Unfortunately, most people don't keep the boxes.

I know of no catalogue anywhere in any language for Nadal retired issues. Nadal has always had less of a global retail profile than Lladró, even though Nadal is the older company (founded in 1917!). Unfortunately, the company itself, which is still in business, has not been very interested in nor cooperative with collector efforts to identify retired issues, and they did not respond to my offer to set up a historic catalog for Nadal here on "El Portal Porcelana." So I'm afraid that I can't tell you anything at all about specific retired Nadal models, though not for lack of trying.

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Questions on Value of "Seconds"
Value Issues with Prototypes
Questions on Damage & Restoration (1) (2) (3)
Questions About Authenticity
Questions About Buying & Selling

Now Available! A Collector's Book of Retired Lladró by Peggy Whiteneck published by Old Line Publishing, LLC Hampstead, Maryland Posted 9/20/10 Ever since its founding in the 1950s and its subsequent, stellar rise to global prominence, collectors have been fascinated with the singular modeling and attention to detail in Lladró Spanish porcelain figurines. Eventually, collectors discovered that Lladró wasn't just one brand, but several. At the same time, other companies began to sprout up all over Spain, particularly around Lladó's own region in Valencia, working "in the Lladró style" and hoping to catch a ride on the tailwinds of its popularity. This book is written to acquaint readers with retired figurines in all the Lladró and Lladró-affiliated brands and to help distinguish them from the work of other Spanish companies. The book features substantive chapters on the Lladró "core brand," NAO by Lladró, Zaphir, Golden Memories, Rosal, and Hispania, complete with representative photos for each brand. Retail Price: $29.95 S & H: $5.95 Click Here to Order! Also available at Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com or through any bookseller by ISBN order #13: 978-0-9845704-6-1.