German porcelain figurines run the gamut from the finest Meissen figurines made in the Eighteenth Century to 20th Century squirters and bathing beauties. They also run from thousands of dollars to under fifty. Obviously, if you are thinking about beginning a collection of German porcelain figurines, there are a number of decisions you have to make.
First, do you want to be the expert and rely on your own opinions, or collect with the help of dealers and other experts in porcelain figurines? If you want to stand on your own, you will need to begin accumulating books on porcelain figurines and educate yourself on what they consist of and the relative scarcity (and prices) of the figurines you are interested in. If you are looking to collect museum quality figurines, it is time to visit as many museums as you can to look at their German porcelain figurines to educate your eye on the points the books make on how to tell the good from the bad, the real from the fake.
Most likely, if your collection is to be made up of highly priced figurines, you are going to need to cultivate one or more dealers in fine porcelain. Even if you rely on your own opinions, these people will have the best access to figurines on the market. After they get to know you and your emphases, they can vouch for you to collectors selling figurines, and they can also send likely purchases your way. Eventually, you may find yourself in a friendly bidding war with these same people at auctions.
Second decision: what to collect and price range. Those with less lofty goals for their collections may or may not ever find someone who deals in their choice of collectibles, and will have to do all the work for themselves. That means finding the people with the figurines they are interested in, bargaining, getting the provenance of the figurines and documenting it as well as the figurines. Collectors need to keep records of their acquisitions, even if they are the cheapest, tackiest figurines made. All collections need records of purchases, as much history for each piece as is available, and a complete physical description with pictures in order to identify stolen pieces and get insurance for the collection.
Speaking of ugly and mass-produced, even these figurines can make up an interesting collection. Remember the big-eyed children paintings? Ever see one now? You don’t, because everyone who bought them because they were sentimental has tossed them. Someday, someone who has collected them will startle the world with their collection of kitsch, and everyone will wonder why they didn’t save their paintings or start a collection of them. So consider kitsch, such as was made by Schafer and Vater, as well as the elegant Nymphenburg when deciding what kind of German porcelain figurines you want to collect.
These are the decisions you will need to make when you decide to begin collecting German porcelain figurines, or anything else:
What kind of figurines do you want to collect?
What price range will your budget support?
Do you want to make all your own decisions or work with experts and dealers?
Once you have decided where to start your collection, begin your educational work. You should also begin your documentation efforts with anything you already have that fits into the collection. Then you will be ready to begin looking for German porcelain figurines on the market, and begin making friends with other collectors and dealers. Enjoy, and good luck!
Go to the Table of Contents to see all the topics covered so far.
Read more about porcelain collectibles in the Porcelain Collectibles Guide.