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Show ' Current Art Boom , . . Launched By Christmas Tradition As we approach the Christmas Christ-mas season, you may be interested inter-ested to know that what is now the world's most-traded art began as a Danish Christmas Christ-mas tradition. Limited-edition plate collecting collect-ing the art phenomenon of our time traces its origins to the feudal Danish custom of giving Christmas dinner as a gift and keeping the serving serv-ing plate as a souvenir of the occasion. When the great Danish porcelain maker, Harold Har-old Bing, issued the very first, official, limited-edition collector's plate for Christmas in 1895, he could net have imagined that he had launched a worldwide art form that today to-day spans continents, age and income groups, and has drawn over four-and-one-half million avid collectors into a frenzy of happy pursuit. Also, if Mr. Bing had realized real-ized that his very first plate, which he sold for fifty cents, would be valued today at $4,000.00, he might have stashed a few dozen in the attic for the grandchildren. According to Tom Foster of The Bradford Exchange in Niles, Illinois, "Limited-edition collector's plates are far and away the most widely collected and accessible art form of modern times." Bradford is the world's largest larg-est trading center in these art objects and processes an average aver-age of 6,000 transactions each day on this volatile and obviously obvi-ously active market. Every two months, Bradford publishes the most current and comprehensive compre-hensive price guide to the collector's col-lector's plate market. While the themes and subject sub-ject matter for plates have evolved beyond its holiday origins, Christmas still plays an important part in the current market. Because of plates, you'll find that a little bit of the Christmas spirit is being displayed in many of the world's finest homes all year round. 'till ;s' m Of the more than 1,000 actively ac-tively traded limited-edition plates, more than 400 have had Christmas themes. And plates celebrating the holiday season are among those that have performed per-formed best on the market, sometimes appreciating by hundreds hun-dreds if not thousands of percent per-cent of their original price. You'll find a multitude of 1979 Christmas plates available at fine department, gift and specialty shops many under $50.00. And the potential seems endless for using them in any room in the home, apartment or office because of the colors and styles to be found. For the Early American motif, mo-tif, why not consider Wedgwood's Wedg-wood's "Buckingham Palace" or the Rockwell Society's "Somebody's Up There." For the traditional home, there is the famous Norwegian blue and white of Royal Copenhagen's Copen-hagen's "Choosing the Christinas Christ-inas Tree" or Bing & Gron-dahl's Gron-dahl's "White Christmas." Bradford makes the follow ing suggestions for preserving their beauty : Handle plates one at a time so they won't get chipped. Keep plates well dusted and wash them with mild soap and water only when needed. Avoid displaying sculptured plates in bright sunlight. Store plates, when not on display, in their original boxes. Since most Christmas plates are part of a series, it will make it that much easier to select Aunt Jane's gift next year, if she doesn't beat you to it herself. But don't forget the men on your Christmas list they make up nearly half of the plate collectors today. to-day. So, if you're looking for a Christmas gift to please a choosey relative or friend, a gift that will complement any decorating scheme, why not think collector's plates? There are few other gifts that can match their beauty, enduring charm or originality. |
