Hummel figurines

Do you know anyone who collected these? My mother spent thousands on figurines, plates, bells, etc.- thinking they would be worth a fortune someday. But they seem less expensive now than when she bought them in the 80s.

Was it all a pyramid scheme? I read a couple years ago they shut production down, then some guy bought the company and promised to crank-out more- but there's no recent info.

They creep me out.

My step mom had two velvet paintings one a little girl and the other a little boy that were basically figurines in velvet painting form. They creeped me out. I took much joy in trashing them after she died.

Hitler and the Nazis were anti-Hummel. One Nazi magazine, the SA Man (issue of 23 March 1937), wrote:

There is no place in the ranks of German artists for the likes of Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel. No, the "beloved Fatherland" cannot remain calm when Germany's youth are portrayed as brainless sissies.

During WW II, the figurines were allowed to be sold only for export, not in Germany.

Not a pyramid scheme but like a lot of other collectibles they have fallen out of favor as the people who collected them are aging out and their kids don’t want their tchotchkes.

Like a lot of collectors items people eventually stop collecting them because of space issues, they have what they want or it becomes cost prohibitive.

They’ve had production issues for over a decade as their ownerships have changed several times due to bankruptcy. I have a few my parents bought in Germany and they are a nice memento, but other than the memory not really worth anything.

Oh Dear God. I have 30 boxes in storage full of Hummels my mother collected for decades. I've debated for a long time what to do with them. I've just never made the move to do anything with them. They're all quite old as my mother didn't care for the more modern ones. Together they're worth a small fortune. The only ones I keep in the house are a few of the Christmas ones. I have a huge Hummel nativity scene that is 50+ years old that I know is worth thousands. All told I have over 125 pieces. I'm old now and won't be around that much longer so I guess I'll have to find someone or some charity to leave them to. None of my heirs would be interested in them.

I remember in the 70's people collecting them when I was a kid. My mother has tons of Precious Moments she is leaving to me. I don't want to hurt her feelings but the only value they have would be sentimental and I don't know what I will do with them.

My mother has a few Hummels and a few Precious Moments, but she was never serious about collecting them. I think most of them were gifts.

That Kate Winslet movie 'Little Children' the pedo's Mom collected Hummels and he smashed them in the end.

My 91 year old mother in law has them all over her house

Any collecting mania is a neurosis.

The Hummels and Precious Moments are adorable compared to the Capodimonte eyesores my immigrant Italian mother collected . I gave them all to my aunts when they began circling like vultures when she died.

Capodimonte, along with cubic zirconia rings, are what put The Home Shopping Club (which became The Home Shopping Network) on the map back in the early 80s. God that crap was tacky.

Hummels are the poor man’s Lladro.

OP, blame eBay for your Hummels being worthless today.

If you collected these little horrors, you might spend years looking for a rare one, or for a Hummel that you particularly liked. You might drive long distances and you would pay any price because it was so hard to find.

Then eBay came along. Any one you want... there were 14 of them there. And the prices went down, down, down, down, down.

Not just Hummels. eBay changed the market for anything "collectible."

What are those expensive figurines that are constantly pushed on cruise ships?

[quote] What are those expensive figurines that are constantly pushed on cruise ships?

Alas I’ve never been on a cruise.

I have a little "Max und Moritz" statue from the early 1900's. I paid a website $20 to find out how much it was worth and the answer was $20. But I like it.

I cleaned some of my Mom's Precious Moments (you can wash them gently in soap and water) and I accidentally washed the maker's signature off the bottom. My mom took it to have signed by him years ago at the mall around 1980 when they were most popular. I didn't realize it wasn't in Sharpie. I felt so bad about it.

My mother has some Lladro stuff I'm sure I'll get when she's gone. Is it worth anything?

If you collect for investment purposes you'll almost always get your heart broken down the line. Almost nothing collectible stays valuable except Civil War memorabilia (for some reason) and old comic books.

Being a collector is about the joys of collecting, not a practical purpose. if it is a neurosis (as claimed above), BIG DEAL.

Lladro is what’s pushed on cruises relentlessly. I had never heard of them.

I was even at the point where I thought—maybe I should buy a Lladro for my home. Thankfully, I regained common sense before the end of the cruise

My grandmother collected the godawful Precious Moments creatures. When she died she had over 100 of the little fuckers.

We were going to donate them but even the charity shop didn't want them, so we had fun smashing them in the dumpster.

Love you Gran!

Very few things people collect come to be worth a lot of money. If you collect things do it just for enjoyment, not investment.

I remember some 60 Minutes segment about commemorative coins. The story featured a poor lady who thought they would be a good investment and bought thousands of dollars worth of them. But they worth nothing. She was told that they were of so little value that they were being used for scrap metal. I felt really badly for the poor woman. At the end of the segment the viewer was told if you buy things like that just do it for fun, do not consider it an investment.

Remember the stupid Beanie Babies craze!? People bought those things because they were thought it would mean accruing big bucks. Surprise! It blew up in their faces and a lot of people were stuck with hundreds of the dumb things and nothing to show for it.

The mom of my high school friend collected a ton of cabbage patch kids thinking they’ll be worth a lot. Their entire attic was filled with them. Don’t think they’re worth much now

R24, my husband came to the relationship with a ton of those fucking beanie babies. I’ve been throwing them away little by little when he isn’t looking. No one is going to mess up the house!

[quote] No one is going to mess up the house!

Your mere presence does that, beanie butcher.

I worked at McDonald's during the Beanie baby craze and it was insane how vicious people got over these fuckers. I dreaded Everytime new exclusivs were released. We had to keep everything clamped down and limited sales per customer. I got screamed at almost constantly during those days.

My grandmother had a couple of Hummel knock-offs from Napco and—God help us—Goebel. I have them now; they make a nice touch of kitsch.

Wait, I just looked this up and I think the "Goebel" figurine might be the same as Hummel, not a knock-off (Goebel being the name of the manufacturer). I'm not a connoisseur of this stuff, though, and don't intend to become one.

If you collect the right thing, you can do very well. I collect vintage watches, and many of them have appreciated 5 times the amount I paid of them -- not all, of course -- vintage Rolexes and Pateks are a given to do well but you have to be careful with the lesser brands; even well known Swiss ones. Omega and Universal Geneve have seen an insane recent rise in value, while some brands, like Hublot or Chopard don't seem to have much of a market. Also depends on things like complications, the metal, the rarity of the issue, etc.

[quote] "That Kate Winslet movie 'Little Children' the pedo's Mom collected Hummels and he smashed them in the end."

I was just about to post that scene, when I read your comment, R9. It's dark, but "Little Children" is one of my favorite films, and it features my favorite Thomas Newman score (though not in this scene).

And I can't think of anything better to do with these dust collectors, but what Ronnie does in this scene.

[quote] My grandmother had a couple of Hummel knock-offs from Napco and—God help us—Goebel.

It would be worse if they were from Goebbels.

R31, is anyone really going to buy those watches now? No one wears a watch, except for maybe Apple watches

There’s a market for 1982-84 vintage cabbage patch kids. Preferably in the box. The ones made in Spain can be pretty valuable.

I have an aunt who was big on Anri figurines. She used to put down those who collected Hummel.

Fuck zees Hummels. Who need Hummel?

in 50 years the Hummels and precious moments will be worth money. Why because so many people will have thrown these out now that by then they will be very rare. It is how most antiques gain value.

Antiques are a crap shoot. I bought something that I knew had value and when I got home and it looked it up they were selling for $5. I debated whether I should buy more or not but didn't. I held onto it and 1 year later they were selling for $50 which is when I sold it.

The Hummel's. Precious Moments, Beanie Babies, etc. and anything produced after WWll has far less value then items produced before that. During WWll I believe the population was around 94 million. Now the pop is 330 million. This means that far more of any item is being produced in triple.

When I lived in Germany I almost bought one thinking it would be some collectors item. The ones I saw were kind of expensive (I think the cheapest was 100€)...but I decided I had enough useless crap.

For Hummels, the nativity set is worth money. The rest are not, except for some of the older rarities. Otherwise, auction houses can’t give them away and often try and unload them in multi-item lots. A group of them often sell for about $10.

“Collectibles” are not a monetary investment. There are plenty of suckers who bought tons of figurines, plates, and assorted crap for the past several decades in the mistaken belief that they were going to be able to reap a healthy profit. Instead, they were left with a lot of useless, ugly stuff that isn’t worth a damn thing.

Antiques and fine art are an entirely different story. But even there, you need to be very careful and know what you’re doing or you can wind up paying a lot of money for something that is worth only a fraction of the purchase price.

I remember someone years ago calling into KCAL Channel 9 (when they opened up the telephone lines to the public after a big earthquake) and screaming “All my Hummel figurines fell off the shelf and broke!”

I have a relative that often gave me commemorative coins for presents. While they don’t take up as much space, I doubt they’re worth much either.

My grandmother had a ton of them. I thought most of them were kind of creepy.

My rich Aunt collected them. She had a special cabinet where she displayed them.

Even back in the 70s I thought they were tacky.

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