Hello people.

This site rates the Rumph items for scarcity, using a 1-6 star rarity scale. The common 1-2 star items are hard to make a guess about quantities as they were mass produced. Im more curious about the 3-4-5-6 star items.
3=probably less than 100 remain. 4=probably less than 25 remain. 5=only a handful are know to exist. 6=most likely a one of a kind piece.

So, the 3 and 4 star items were not mass produced in Brazil, but made in the Rumph studios and sold at renaissance festivals. Probably formed in a 'mold'. Yes?

The 5 star items are pre production test pieces?...from a mold or hand sculpted?

And the 6 star were Rumphs hand sculpted prototypes?

How were the quantities in the ratings determined? Based on actual data from Rumphs friends and co workers who made them? Or from observing the number of items which become available on ebay?

Of course the numbers are guesses. Ive got 2 scrooge mugs. Supposedly fewer than 25 remain. So, many more than 25 were probably produced (maybe hundreds), but based on how many appear on ebay, the presumption is that many of these mugs were broken or thrown away over the years? Is that how the numbers were derived? Ive been watching ebay for many years and bought 2 scrooge mugs, was outbid on one for sure, and maybe missed seeing a few auctions. As far as i know, no scrooge mugs have appeared on ebay in 3-4 years. But how many sit in boxes or on shelves of owners who dont know what theyve got? How many are in collections? Is 'fewer than 25' a realistic number? Im guessing there are more than 25 in existence, but if youre in the market to buy one then the fewer than 25 number might be realistic.

Thoughts?   

My favorite piece is the Scrooge tankard. Ive got 2 of them. Both from ebay. One was sold by the 'rumph estate'. How long ago was that?...2015 or 2016?  I have not seen a scrooge mug on ebay since then. This site rates the scrooge mug a '4 star' on the rarity spectrum: 'probably fewer than 25 remain'. One is signed by rumph on the side. The other is not signed.

So, whats with all the Chewbacca and obi-wan mugs for sale on ebay?  Was there a large cache of these mugs recently discovered in a long forgotten warehouse?  (haha)

Yes, I suppose the release of the recent Star Wars movies may have created a resurgence of interest in Star Wars items...but this is ridiculous.

The Rumph Star Wars mugs are just about my least favorite of all the Rumph mugs. Maybe the sellers with Star Wars mugs feel the same and are using the recent Star Wars mania as an opportunity to dump their least favorite Rumph mugs?

"These aren't the droids youre looking for" ...and apparently these Obi wan and Chewie mugs aren't either.

I don't use facebook, (facebook and google are the top two worst offenders for maintaining personal privacy) so I guess that any Rumph activity on facebook will be unavailable to me. Unfortunate, as I have made several attempts to generate discussion on this website, and although there are hundreds of 'views'...there is virtually zero activity except from the webmaster re-directing people somewhere else, and another forum owner (gumball) inviting people to his website.

I wonder...that if people don't have the interest or energy to post here (except for lack of member participation this IS a pretty sweet Rumph resource!!) ... then how much participation will happen at another website?

Looks like youve got a nice start there.

What you need now, is a blog area where people can talk about Rumph stuff.

I still fail to understand how there can be so many serious Rumph collectors and none of them have anything to say. Is it this site? Is it the webmaster? Is it something else?  Or do Rumph collectors only like to show off their stuff and the enthusiasm ends there?

I suspect you wont get much  of a reply on this board, as this is a very common piece and most of these collectors already have both varieties.  If you want to get an idea of what its worth, then youre best off looking at the completed auctions section on ebay.

Even the more scarce items wont receive much attention here. Im not sure why.

I just looked at the active listings. There are 10 of these currently for sale.

The completed listings show a couple of these had bids and went for about 21$. A damaged one sold for 13$. Most of the rest are 'buy it now' for 35-70$ and of course...unsold.

The bugger about these common items...is the shipping. A 20$ mug costs you 35$ by the time its said and done.

I dont have one of these, but then again im not an addicted collector, :-D  and i really dont want to pay 80% of the mugs value again in shipping for such a common item.

I think if i were you, id list the mug on your local craigslist. Ask 25$ and see if you get any bites.... or...ill pay 18$ if you can find a way to ship it to me at no cost. -grinz-

Good luck.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but im seeing a few Rumph items which are marked 'Karl Rumph'.

What/Who is 'Karl'? One of Jims alter egos? Or a family member? Or are these knockoffs or fakes?

Ive looked through the Rumph site and am unable to find anything on this.

Thanks,

Odin

I'm curious.

Don't you Rumph collectors have anything to say about your hobby? about your collections?

I'm new here and posted a comment a few days ago. (The first comment in almost a year.) I know there are people here, because there are 16 views.

There are 15 threads on this board, 26,697 views (twenty seven thousand frigging views!!) and a whopping 14 comments.

I just don't get it. Wheres the interest? Wheres the enthusiasm?

Theres a large Rumph event happening right now on ebay, and no one except the new guy has anything to say about it.

Is there another website other than this one where everyone goes to chat? What am I not understanding?

Odin

Wow...what a crazy evening!!    Ive been observing the ebay auctions for the Rumph estate items as I waited for the item I wanted to bid on.

What a wonderful opportunity for people to add some unique and hard to find pieces to a collection.

Looking at the bid history I saw a recurring trend of similar (hidden name) bidders appear on a number of auctions.

Bidder " a**a " won a number of unique items with a classic 'last second' high bid.

Admittedly, I was a little bit worried about the item I was interested to get, as tonights last second bidding frenzy went to people with some deeper pockets than I typically enjoy.

None the less, I did prevail and am thrilled to have won the Scrooge tankard.

This is my 2nd Scrooge mug by Rumph. Interesting, as my other Scrooge mug does not have the same coloration as this mug, and this mug cost less $$. Also of interest, is that tonights mug does not have the Rumph signature incised in clay as my other Scrooge mug does. But, this mug 'does' come with some sort of Rumph estate certificate... and a photo will appear in a soon to be published book, or so I was in formed.  If nothing else...kind of a fun piece of provenance. 

No doubt a large part of the appeal for me is due to the hand made 'one of a kind' look and individual differences which makes these items desirable.

So, theres one other item I'm interested to have. If it doesn't get bid to outer space maybe ill add that one too, but if I don't, I'm still happy.

Wheeee!!!!

Some interesting Rumph stuff on ebay this week. Lots of early stuff and some unigue items too. That paint brush mug is a sweet piece. Aside from it being Jims personal item, is a unique piece? I cant find another hunchback mug on the website. Maybe I overlooked something?

That family crest. From Jim to his dad as a Christmas present. How cool is that?

Bidding on some of these items is going nuts!

So, I wonder, what prompts the sale to happen now?

I wonder how much more will be listed from the estate in the days/weeks to come?

Is this all of it? Or is there a warehouse full of stuff waiting for a slow release to the public?