News about the ring... Will this make the first wave of rings more valuable?
From QMx
We have received questions from a number of folks about the provenance of our Dracula ring replica. Please allow us to pass on what we have recently learned…
When we first contacted Forrest Ackerman early last year, we were told by numerous people, including “Uncle Forry” himself, that the ring was in-fact, worn by Bela Lugosi in the 1931 film, Dracula. Forry even signed a certificate stating this as a fact. We proceeded for months on this supposition and actually created our certificates and ads around this info. Since we had heard the same, confirmatory statements from many experts in the field, we did not question the provenance any further.
We were recently contacted by several people (one of whom is a close friend of the gentleman who actually sold the ring to Forry) and were provided with a more-detailed explanation as to its history. We started to research this point and collected as much information as possible. Based on this research, here is what we can determine:
The Dracula crest ring was worn by Bela Lugosi in the 1948 film, Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein. It was also worn by John Carradine in the 1945 film, House of Dracula. (It is even visible in a close up of Dracula’s hand in this film.) Bela Lugosi acquired this ring at some point and wore it publicly for some time, before turning it over to its second owner (who subsequently turned it over to Uncle Forry). Because of Bela’s ownership, it naturally became associated with him, and through the evolution of time, became one of his trademarks. (Along with his signature black cape.)
Reportedly, Bela Lugosi actually wore a black onyx ring in the 1931 film and (from what we were told) was buried with that ring upon his passing. We cannot however confirm that as fact at this time.
Since the first two hundred QMx Dracula rings have already shipped, it is too late to pull everything back and alter the certificates for that first wave. We will however, correct the text on future ads and the remaining certificates going out in the next wave to be more-reflective of the ring’s actual origin. This will cause a minor delay as we print the new certificates.
We are sending this note to all of our retailers and we will keep it up on our blog and various prop boards until we feel that we have reached everyone who is affected. We will send a corrected certificate to any customer in the first wave who requests one, free of charge.
As always, QMx strives for absolute authenticity with our products. Sometimes however, product “lore” evolves through the passage of time into product “fact”. The “burden of proof” however, falls upon us, and therefore, we accept full responsibility for any mis-information related to our products. In light of this, once we confirmed the above information, we immediately issued this correction. If anyone has any concerns about this product, QMx has a full money back return policy. (Please see our website for details).
If you would like to purchase this wonderful replica or obtain more information about this and other QMx products, please visit our website at
www.quantummechanix.com
Thanks for reading this! We apologize for any misunderstanding that may have occurred.
The QMx team.
More news; price increase!
Hello, fellow Dracula fans!
We have another important update for the Dracula ring. Over the last few months, we have made a number of improvements to the ring to make it as authentic and attractive as possible. For example:
- We upgraded the weathering using several different chemical washes to better-replicate the decades of age and oxidation.
- We upgraded the coffin from resin to CNC machined wood.
- We upgraded the original liner to a hand-stitched velvet pillow
- We made various in-process improvements to the box and certificate (which is now weathered by hand, using several separate processes) to make them more “thematic”.
Unfortunately, the cost of the .925 to .935 pure sterling silver that we are using (as well as the cost of the semi-precious stone, Carnelian) has increased dramatically over the last few months and our manufacturer recently hit us with a significant price increase. We were able to absorb the aforementioned cost increases, but these recent cost increases finally put us over the top.
As such, we are forced to increase the SRP of the ring from $199 to $225, effective immediately. Anyone who pre-ordered the ring PRIOR to Feb 1st will NOT pay the increased price. Anyone who places an order after that date will be subject to the price increase.
QMx takes every step possible to maintain the advertised SRP and while we despise changing the prices of our products, we just could not take the hit, due to the recent significant increase in the cost of precious metals and stone related to this specific product.
Thanks for your understanding.
