Archive for October, 2010
Collecting Department 56 Items
A lot of people, who love seeing Department 56 displays in malls and large stores especially during Christmas, fall in love with the beautifully crafted lighted buildings and colorful accessories. The charm of these miniature figures entices many individuals to start their very own Department 56 collection and create a Christmas display of their own in their homes.
Fortunately, Department 56 collectors need not to go distant places just to find new pieces to add to their growing collection as there are numerous online stores in the internet that offers products created by Department 56. In just a few minutes, one can easily find Department 56 Snow Village, Dickens’ village, North Pole, New England village, and Alpine village series as well as the wide variety of cute and charming little accessories to complement a village collection. A person interested in getting tips and advices from other collectors may opt to join forums and online clubs founded by avid Department 56 village series collectors and display enthusiasts. In forum threads online, Department 56 collectors and enthusiasts discuss different topics such as how to successfully create a wonderful Christmas display, where to buy limited edition pieces or where to find retired pieces.
Retired Department 56 pieces refer to the ones that the company chooses to remove from production. Several times each year, Department 56 selects a number of accessories and village buildings to take off the distribution and production line and these pieces will never be brought back in limited or available edition. Many collectors say that finding retired pieces is one of the fun parts in collecting Department 56 series. Some collectors attend club meetings or arrange swap meets to exchange information about their collection and swap some items.