Bringing the Fun Back into Retired Bead Shopping
Well, after a few years of de-trolling, I was surprised and delighted to see a few things upon my return to the Troll world:
1) The prices on many retireds have continued to climb & this may sound like a bad thing - but if you are a newer collector this may actually be a great time for you to start collecting from the latest 2018 retirement. Retired bead prices indicate that there is still great interest in the retired market. I remember when the Kimono Kit came out & it was a hard sell. Many retailers took a quite a few years to move all of the beads, but now the kit is averaging 50 Euro per bead. The Mexico & Pearl locks are relatively newly retired, but are fetching decent prices on the second hand market in a much shorter time frame.
2) The "mothership" stock levels of newly retired beads seems to be much lower than in the past. When a bead retires, its not that desirable if it is hanging around for 8 years, in stock at trollbeads.com, seemingly refusing to die. I've noticed the stock for the recent retirements have run out online in many places already. This births a consipiracy theory that Troll is hoarding stock for future promotions, or my favorite: practicing better stock management by reducing levels before retirement. And this means:
3) The fun of hunting for retired beads in-shop has just been reborn! So here are a few of my favorite recent retired beads that are disappearing fast:
Decorative Baby Rabbit - Sporting the alluring flower pattern from Soren Nielsen.
Christmas Rose - again by Soren Nielsen
Babylonian Nymph - Lars Sogaard. You may have overlooked this one, but the detail of the nymph's body is amazing. And even though insects might not be your thing, I find the detail in this complex bead mesmerizing.
Prisms! All of them! Any of them! These are classic beads that are already proving scarce. Historically they have resold & traded well. I'd get out & find them sooner than later if you'd like to get them at a decent price.
So if your "must have" bead list is still unfinished, and you notice your desired bead is not available on-line, now is the time to panic & start using your weekends to shop for retired beads. You may find some unusual glass treasures when you are out, or even a rare retired bead. It's still possible. Try businesses that have carried Troll in the past & discontinued, or locations in smaller towns that may not see the trollie traffic that busier places do. If you happen to find something interesting, drop me a note!
