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How "Golden Memories" Became "Just a Memory"

-Peggy Whiteneck

Golden Memories (GM) was originally conceived as a series within the NAO brand. As such, it was a loosely defined thematic category that was essentially indistinguishable from the rest of the NAO collection. Then, for some unknown reason, the company decided to launch GM as a separate product line in 1992, a move which proved ill-fated.

Golden Memories had its own logo (a child lying on his stomach in grass and flowers with a little dog in front of him), and the logo and series name were incorporated into a light green backstamp. The copyright dates on Lladró models are generally the year before issue date, so the dates on the base of Golden Memories figurines are 1991 through 1993, corresponding to issue years of 1992 through 1994.


This little guy is titled "Come Home Soon!" (Golden Memories number 33012), a model from the ill-fated brand's first year. The facial features on these first year models had the most affinity with other Lladró. Note the uncharacteristically bright pink of the toy dog and phone. (Photo by the author from her own collection.)

The faces of the first-year figures (1992,
© 1991) had the greatest affinity with the rest of Lladró. The first-year models were very thinly potted, of a distinctive ceramic formula and matte texture markedly different from Lladró's regular matte porcelain, and translucent as fine porcelain is supposed to be but rarely is in figurine form. The colors in these models were much more vivid pastels than normally associated with Lladró.

The facial features on Golden Memories figurines were completely revamped in the second year of production (1993, © 1992), and a more traditional glazed surface was adopted for the line, though the items remained thinly enough potted to be translucent. The eyes were round, large, and uncharacteristically dark for Lladró.

In the third year (1994, © 1993), the facial design was revamped yet again and became downright unattractive. The big, dark eyes developed for the second year figurines were retained, but the faces and noses were flattened most unflatteringly. I have always thought of these ugly-duckling, third-year models as the proverbial "faces only a mother could love."

Golden Memories was a brand in search of an identity it never quite found, and it is difficult to discern a rationale for its introduction. The best theory I've heard on this is that it was Lladró's attempt to capture a part of the modestly-priced but volume-lucrative market niche occupied by Enesco's popular "Precious Moments"®.

(The GM-NAO Connection)