John Howe Bronzes

[cstojano]

Hello
This is a call to fellow collectors. I contacted Tim at Weta about ordering an Eowyn vs Nazgul bronze statue as I already had purchased the Smaug bronze. I was told by Tim that despite the fact that they have not sold out the run that they are not making these anymore and won't make them unless they get an order for five of them. I told him to put me down for 1 and I would look for others to order. I have to say I confused at this approach. The items are still listed as "made to order" items on the website. They have not sold all 20 of the edition. Yet they aren't planning to make anymore. I am pretty upset about this as I didn't realize this could happen. SO if anyone was on the fence about getting one of these (long shot) please let me know so we can present them with a batch order.
Thanks
Chris

 

[joblain]

How much is it?

 

[Adolfo]

A lot. If I was a rich man I would get one

 

[cstojano]

4900 + shipping. I pleaded with Tim to sell me one, really confused about how this is a made to order product except its not. No PMs yet so I suspect I am sunk.

 

[Adolfo]

Did he tell you how many were made if any? I'm very curious myself

 

[cstojano]

No he didn't say how many were made.

 

[theguru1]

4900 + shipping. I pleaded with Tim to sell me one, really confused about how this is a made to order product except its not. No PMs yet so I suspect I am sunk.

I wonder if it's even possible that none have been made/sold so far, which while a bit sad, isn't totally surprising given how things turned out with the line.

So while it may well be 'made to order', they could be looking at just making one, very possible the first one/prototype and the total overall expense to do so, woudl in fact be way more then the 4900 price tag. It's only by making 5 'made to orders' that the general production costs can be covered.

As such, I get the feeling that as a real bronze statue, this one may well never exist.

 

[cstojano]

Well they did have one. When I first contacted them about buying this they said they had 1 at the Weta Cave but oddly it wasn't #1. I assume that one sold to a Cave customer. Maybe someone from NZ can chime in who remembers seeing it. I seem to recall someone confirmed this although it would be hard to differentiate the proto shown at SDCC originally from a bronze if in a display case. There was some confusion about this at the time because I was supposed to have right of refusal on the #1 for this since I bought the Smaug, but those rules seem to have been written when expectations were different.

 

[theguru1]

hmm, guess that must have been a test/prototype/AP that was in the Cave and the only real bronze that was made. Will be interesting to see if Tim gives any more details, but sounding like your not going to be able to get Eowyn and I very much suspect your Smaug is more likely going to end up as number 1 of an ES of 5 or something, given how very unlikely is it that any more of those are made.

 

[cstojano]

So an update, the bronze Eowyn vs Nazgul should be shipping in early April. I know I and one other collector bought one but they should have 1-2 in stock as it was a minimum order of 5 to start the production.

Has anyone seen any of the faux bronze for either Howe piece for sale for a reasonable price (not the 4,000 dollar asking price on eBay)?

 

[Gurthang]

Has anyone seen any of the faux bronze for either Howe piece for sale for a reasonable price (not the 4,000 dollar asking price on eBay)?

There is one for 399eur but you live in the US so...
FedCon GmbH | Goblinshop | WETA Collectibles - Shop

 

[cstojano]

Hmmm, they might deliver to the US though??

 

[Gurthang]

Hmmm, they might deliver to the US though??

I checked and they do! Good Luck

 

[cstojano]

Gurthang, great thanks for pointing me to this site. I bought the statue and its on its way. The weak Euro really made this a nice price as well. I plan to get it professionally painted to match the original painting.

 

[cstojano]

Well the statue arrived in one piece. Thanks again to Gurthang for the lead. In the end it was even cheaper than buying from Weta after they upped their price to 499 right before selling out. BUT, I have to say this thing is really light. The base looks much better in person than online pics, a bit shiny but it looks like real marble to me. But the statue itself is so light I thought someone stole the statue part from the box.

 

[Gurthang]

Well the statue arrived in one piece. Thanks again to Gurthang for the lead. In the end it was even cheaper than buying from Weta after they upped their price to 499 right before selling out. BUT, I have to say this thing is really light. The base looks much better in person than online pics, a bit shiny but it looks like real marble to me. But the statue itself is so light I thought someone stole the statue part from the box.

Happy it worked for you! Are you satisfied overall? Make some pics once your repaint it done

 

[cstojano]

Well after a 9 month wait Weta has told me they no longer have the ability to make the bronzes and are returning my deposit. I am extremely disappointed by this for many reasons but if anyone knows an owner of a real bronze Eowyn vz Nazgul I will offer a pretty penny for it. Slim chance given how few they did sell but I think one sold from the Weta cave and maybe that person has grown bored of it and wants to make some money.