21 August 2016

Soviet Propaganda Porcelain?

Talk about summer doldrums! For this edition of Top eBay Chess Items by Price, I had very few items to choose from, except giant chess sets. Since we already saw those a few months ago in Top eBay Giant Chess Sets by Price (May 2016), I had to find another angle. The last time this happened, in Two American Champions (March 2016), I went below my normal cutoff price and back more than two weeks. This time I decided to lower the cutoff until I found something.

You might think I should have kept going, but I liked the item pictured below. It was titled 'RARE old Soviet porcelain figurine "Tough Chess Move", KIEV, 1960s-1970s' and sold for US $307 after 21 bids from sevent bidders. At one point near the end of the auction the price rose over $200 in five minutes as one bidder tried to find the top bid.

The description added,

A typical example of 1960s Soviet propaganda porcelain. The cost of such figurines in the world of antique auctions is very high. The price can go up to several hundred or thousands of dollars for a single item. The problem is that such sales must be prepared for half a year. You must provide the object itself, collect the necessary documents, pay a fee, and [continue with] similar procedures. I have neither the time nor the inclination to deal with such matters. I sell items from my father's collection, because he died long ago, and I do not have time to deal with collecting.

We've already seen the keywords 'chess soviet porcelain' in one of my favorite 'Top eBay Chess Items' posts, Soviet Propaganda Chess Set (September 2009; 'works for me on several levels'). Note also the keyword 'propaganda'. It escapes me why this current item might also be considered propaganda. Maybe I should look into that another time.

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Follow-up: Chess Sells, Propaganda Sells.

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