The Anaheim artist doll and bear collection that we recently purchased included a large Harmony Kingdom component. I wasn't familiar with Harmony Kingdom before, but I can see why collectors love these items. Harmony Kingdom figurines are handmade treasure box sculptures cast from a marble resin. Most of the items are two piece boxes. The boxes combine clever, clever designs, beautiful modeling and hand finishing, all in a pint-sized package. Originally English craftsman made Harmony Kingdom in a cottage type industry production, though over the years some pieces have been handmade in China.
Our Anaheim collector amassed an impressive collection of Harmony Kingdom. We wanted to share some of her hard to find early pieces here. She took the trouble of having many of the unmarked early pieces signed by the designers in 1988 and 1989, which both authenticates the pieces and adds to their value.
Here is one of the holy grails of HK collecting, an early version of Back Scratch:
Note the smooth interior on this piece, the lack of molded or stamped marks, and the early Arktype box. Harmony Kingdom reissued Back Scratch, the later pieces are marked and have a detailed molded interior.
Another important series for Harmony Kingdom is the elusive series. The elusives are early, unmarked boxes issued in very limited quantities. They include the panda, shorebill, ram, shark, shaggy dog and rooster. Here are some elusives from the Anaheim collection:
Black Panda, unmarked and double signed.
Brown panda, also double signed and unmarked.
Please note that we found examples of the Elusive Shark with both blue eyes and yellow eyes.
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