Ryklyn UK
Myth & Magic™
About Us
Contents.
Introduction.
How I Became Hooked.
How could I forget! December 1989. I was walking past H.
Samuels in Staines, Middx, when something beaconed to me from low down in the
window. My first encounter with Myth and Magic figurines was thinking, “Who on
Earth would buy those!”
It was almost a month later, a month of passing that
window, before I finally decided I’d got to have one. I plunged in and bought
“The Magical Encounter”. Over the coming months 1 became 10, and after a few
years 10 became the 224 I own today. Two years later I began a hunt for the
early moulds and on a trip to Lands End, found model 3013, The Old Hag complete
with red bead. From then on I began my research and also trading pieces for
people who also wanted to find these older studies.
The thrill of finding a piece that you may have been
searching for, for literally years is awe-inspiring. To create that feeling for
someone else is doubly gratifying and I soon built up a list of 48 pieces that
I was hunting for on others behalf. So it is with this site that I wish to
recreate that time. (Terms and pieces required and acquired, also pieces
offered by third parties, are under Secondary Market
The Concept.
The year is 1988 and
recession has a tight grip on our country and The Tudor Mint in Solihull, West
Midlands, begins to feel the pinch. Graham Hughes, Managing Director, was on
the lookout for something new to replace the tired “Crystalflame” range. As a
result of a lunchtime discussion with a colleague, the idea was born.
People had always loved fairy tales, wizards and
warriors. A set of twelve pewter figurines depicting wizards, witches,
serpents, demons and castles, each including a full lead crystal was produced.
They were launched at a trade show in February 1989 and were an instant
success. The collection was soon extended and orders came from far and wide.
Within the first year the company was struggling to keep up with demand. Before
long the range had grown enough to become collectable and that is where my
interest really took off.
Mistakes (A Blessing in Disguise)
Yes, of course mistakes
were made, who hasn’t? “The Evil of Greed” and “Infernal Demon” were hardly the
most appealing of names for giftware. Red beads instead of crystals did not sell
and some pieces simply weren’t popular. But, mistakes are not permanent, they
can be rectified, and they were. Sometimes with astonishing speed. The few
pieces that had already sold remained alive only in the collections of those
who had the misfortune to have bought something nobody else wanted.
Slowly, however, the collectability of the range
increased. People wanted to have all the pieces. The range was introduced to
America and almost fanatical collecting started. Those sad lonely mistakes were
suddenly in demand, and with demand came VALUE.
In 1994 Collectables Publishing Ltd produced “The
Collectors Guide to Myth & Magic”. At last collectors everywhere had a
basis on which to value their collections and soon after the buying and selling
of pieces really got moving, spearheaded by non other than “Collectables”. How
shrewd a business move was that!
Pieces were changing hands for 3 and even 4 figure
sums! The Tudor Mint took a view of non-involvement to the secondary market,
and who could blame them. One old piece was now fetching more than ten or often
twenty times the price of a new one, and often whilst they were still offering
a different variation of the same model. I have often wondered why The Tudor
Mint did not offer a mediation service for the trade of these pieces, instead
of leaving that to people like me
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to top
Buying and Selling
Looking
to buy a piece for your collection? Maybe you want to sell one. We offer a full
advertisement service free of charge.
Don’t
know what to price to sell for? We can also suggest prices for you based on the
average selling prices for the last year.
Don’t want to split your collection. Fine! In many
cases we can offer you a cash sum for your collection and leave the selling to
us. Given a reasonable size of collection and if you’re within traveling
distance we will even collect it for you.
See 
for
details.
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Our Role
How do I find other
collectors that want to buy or sell?
This site is dedicated to collectors of Myth
& Magic figurines. There is no reason to search for other collectors! We do
that for you. In the first week we had over 50 hits and while registered with
only one search engine. There are people out there that are desperately seeking
pieces you may want to sell and those that wish to sell the very piece you
need. Our aim is to get these people together in a way that poses none of the
usual risks involved with private transactions.
What Risks?
Many of us have tales to tell of how payment
was sent for a piece that never arrived. Or nuisance phone calls and unwanted
attention. One collector even reported having his collection stolen just weeks
after giving an address to someone who was to send a piece, that incidentally,
he also paid for. Needless to say that the piece was lost in the post and
whilst the cost was refunded, the collection was not recovered.
What do I do?
Well you could continue as before and hope that
everyone is as honest as you are! Or you could use our experience as mediators.
We have been handling transactions for collectors for over 8 years (as at 2002).
We originally started out trading pieces for friends, but before long we had a
list of over 40 people we were actively searching for pieces for. This site is
merely an extension of that.
What do you do?
We advertise your needs for free on this site,
offerings or requirements (See Below). In addition we verify Mould numbers,
Crystal types, Nameplate details and many other aspects of the figurines so
that you get exactly what you want. Once we have a match between buyer and
seller, we handle the exchange from start to finish. The seller sends the piece
to us, (we recommend at the very least Recorded post) and the buyer either pays
us by card through PAYPAL or, sends their crossed cheque or postal order. Once
payment is cleared through our account, the piece is forwarded to the buyer and
our own cheque for the balance of the transaction is forwarded to the seller.
What about security?
We hold
your details on removable disk. The buyer and seller never meet and neither
party has access to the others details. For all the times that we are accessing
your details the equipment we use is fully firewalled and virus protected. We
Guarantee that your details will not be released, sold or otherwise made
public. A Guarantee we take very seriously. A hard copy of any details we hold
about you available at any time by E-Mail request after we have verified your
identity by phone (A £2.00 Charge is made for this). This is your right under The Data Protection Act.
What if one or other is lost in the post?
Again, if
you are sending pieces to us we recommend RECORDED
DELIVERY, REGISTERED
POST or INSURED COURIER. We only use these services for forwarding pieces on*. However
accidents do happen! And we will not complete the transaction until we are in receipt of both the verified** piece and cleared funds. You are within your rights
to suspend or even cancel a transaction at any time until we complete it after
which both parties will be notified that completion*** has occurred. Should a
problem arise we will keep you fully informed of any investigations deemed
necessary.
*2001 – Recorded post for the average piece is £3.00 and
Registered is £5.00
**We
verify every aspect of the piece as fully as possible before advertising and a
pre-completion check is made on all pieces.
***COMPLETION
is when the piece is forwarded to the buyer and our cheque is forwarded to the
seller. Any loss after that point will be conducted only with the affected
party.
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Terms And Conditions
1)
All advertisements are placed
at the discretion of the RYKLYN UK. We reserve the right to refuse advertisements and purchase
offers from anyone deemed to have not acted accordingly in a past transaction.
2)
Any
member deemed to be acting in any way that could bring the site into disrepute
will, have their advertising removed and permanently blocked from further usage
of the service.
3)
Any
member deemed to be attempting a fraudulent transaction will be reported to the
relevant authorities and in the event of an investigation by those authorities
the RYKLYN
UK will co-operate
with said authority in every way necessary to bring about a prosecution.
4)
Posting
of pieces to us is the responsibility of the vendor (Again we strongly
recommend REGISTERED
POST). RYKLYN UK will not be responsible, financially or otherwise for
any property not in their possession.
5)
All
prices are agreed by the vendor prior to inclusion on this site and advertised
prices include an approx 10% commission.
The vendor will receive the agreed amount as the balance of the transaction
(Except where an offer is accepted by the vendor).
6) Any Viewer may make an offer on any piece advertised
on this site and RYKLYN UK
will make all sensible offers known to the vendor.