Hi! New UK Member - Enquiry HELP!

Hi there, Im new here and have only recently started collecting Lord of The Rings Statues. I am from the Uk (Seems to be a rarity although I am sure there are actually more of us out there than it seems). I joined this forum to get help and advice on buying statues.
Ive recently purchased two statues one from France and another from Poland. Both came in the original art box and the serial numbers on the box match that of the ones on the base of the statues. The art boxes are bright and clear, well written and contain no spelling mistakes. They both also came with sideshow engraved polystyrene. One issue I have is the legolas and gimli on Arod statue has the image of the statue on the front and thats it. There is the typical sideshow info with the number on the bottom but nothing on the back like that of the Gandalf on Shadowfax statue that being said I assume shadowbox came later as its from the return of the king. Both sellers said they bought from a French Collectors shop and that originally they came with the brown box with sideshow logo on. Ive attached a link to photos on my photo box account to get some opinions I'm almost certain they are 100% real but wanted others opinions! Anyway heres the link : https://s1378.photobucket.com/user/sianpb20121/library/Lord of the Rings Statue
Also does anyone know of any good storage options for them? IKEA is so bare in the UK.

Welcome to the forum!

Don't collect those lines but look legit to me.
What's the issue with the box?

Ikea are awesome. Look into the Besta/Stuva display cases.
They are cheap and do the job perfectly.

Hi!
I would take a picture but I've packed the boxes away now. Basically on the Gandalf and Shadowfax box there is writing and detail on the back of the box however this is not present on the back of the Legolas and Gimli box but as I said I assume this is because of the different time of release so they changed the box design slightly they are getting quite old now! I looked into the Besta range do you have any advice or which parts to get I preferably want to have doors on it to protect them.

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Welcome! I think others besides myself can give better opinions regarding authenticity. If you went into the transaction thinking they were authentic, then I wouldn't feel bad about contacting Sideshow and asking for their thoughts as well. I've had nothing but good experience with them.

As for display options with your Ikea bare...I've seen many custom display cabinets creatively made by watching groups on Facebook. I recommend that route and be smart with your money but don't be overly cheap. You want them to be presented and show well since you clearly paid enough and love them AND SAFE! Even Ikea stuff isn't the most solid in some ways. If you build or modify stuff yourself you can be sure of security. You don't have to be overly handy, just dedicated to learn and apply what you learn.

For your displays you can go the custom route and save a bit of money building your own shelves--just depends on how handy you are. IKEA definitely gives you a lot of options though and you can see if they will ship to you if they don't have what you want at the actual store. A lot of collectors (myself included) use IKEA products like the Detolf, Besta, and PAX with no problems.

The sellers all had huge collections and we're happy to send me tonnes of images before I bought rather than the official photos from sideshow. I have had great service with sideshow direct so I'll certainly drop them a message thanks! As for storage I'll check them out too. I certainly don't want to go cheap alongside these I have a tonne of game CE statues aswell so looking at the amount of money sat about at the moment a good value well built cabinet wouldnt come close to thier value!

I really want to go down the IKEA route but must be looking in the wrong places if anyone has any useful uk links that'd be great

to the forum

Do you mean that there is no artwork on the back of the box? I used to collect the Sideshow Weta LOTR statues and my Bilbo Baggins statue only has a picture on the front, and the rest of the box is just plain black! Think a few of the boxes were like that. I'm pretty sure mine is genuine so I wouldn't worry too much as from what you've described it sounds like it is the same as my Bilbo one.

Congrats on getting the Legolas/Gimli Arod statue - I never got that one and it was one of my main wants...just a pity I never had the space for it tho!!

Yes no artwork just a black box. Ah that eases my mind the older statues must have had less artwork on the box. Thanks! I've always wanted the Arod one I got the Aragorn one a long time back as a one off but have now decided to start collecting them. I managed to strike a deal with the seller and got it for just £10 more than the original sideshow price - I got very lucky. I don't like anything shipping from the US though as I've had 3 statues broken by FedEx one of which was the Mcfarlane AC Edward Kenway statue the only reason I got alarmed about fakes was when I was looking at the Ringwraith on steed statue and heard there are loads of recasts in circulation.

to the show!

Sianpb2012 said:

Yes no artwork just a black box. Ah that eases my mind the older statues must have had less artwork on the box. Thanks! I've always wanted the Arod one I got the Aragorn one a long time back as a one off but have now decided to start collecting them. I managed to strike a deal with the seller and got it for just £10 more than the original sideshow price - I got very lucky. I don't like anything shipping from the US though as I've had 3 statues broken by FedEx one of which was the Mcfarlane AC Edward Kenway statue the only reason I got alarmed about fakes was when I was looking at the Ringwraith on steed statue and heard there are loads of recasts in circulation.

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No worries, glad I could help I've found the box designs can vary.

Remember reading about the Ringwraith/Steed statue on here so can understand your alarm - although I never got that piece myself. I think there was a thread on it in the LOTR section at one point.

Good luck with collecting the statues tho, the LOTR statue line is fantastic, it has some lovely pieces in it and if space wasn't such an issue I'd probably still be collecting them myself.

Sianpb2012 said:

I looked into the Besta range do you have any advice or which parts to get I preferably want to have doors on it to protect them.

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Take a look on their website. You need to custom build to you requirements.

Pick a colour & size then decide what doors you want to add.
Legs finish them off nicely.

All my Besta shelves are solid and nothing looks 'cheap'.

Welcome to the forums! Those are some nice pieces you have there. I've been to established stores before and came across a few fakes, not saying yours are because I'm not knowledgeable with those certain products but I'm just saying that it COULD happen. Always good to get a second opinion, especially here on the forums.

Hello