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| The
Final Cottages |
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 Despite
Enesco's shock announcement early in 2002
there were plans for collectors, dealers and
all who had a love for David Winter Cottages
to join them in making 2002 the best year
ever.
As
well as the usual Guild Member Only pieces
David had just finished work on two new collections:
"The Dinner Party Collection" (a
series of pubs with names like The Bombay
Duck and The Cheshire Cheese)
and "The Victorian Rhyme Collection"
that was based on the Tinker, Tailor, Soldier,
Sailor nursery rhyme.
2002 was also when the fourth and final piece in
the fabulous "Crack the Code Collection"
was released with The King's Fissure.
The pieces in this collection, that was started
in 2000 with The Assayers Tower,
each contained two symbols hidden somewhere
on them and once all eight had been found
and the clue solved then you would have "Cracked
the Code" and so be eligible to be entered
in a special draw where the prize was one
of ten Year 2000 Gold Bullion Full Sovereigns
issued by the Royal Mint.
Other special releases
were also made available including the unusual
The Pineapple Pit, the fiendish The
Labyrinth and the grand Azay-le-Rideau.
As the final
year drew to a close Fagin's Hideout
the sixteenth and very last Christmas special
was released. These special festive snow covered
releases, that started with Ebenezer Scrooges
Counting House in 1987, each had a plaque
with the year of issue stamped into them.
The
most important release of the year though
was the aptly named Fair-well Cottage.
Being the final Enesco release it was fitting
that this piece was based on the very first
cottage that David made. The very cottage
that was taken by John Hine to that gift shop
in Guildford way back in 1980. And the cottage
that was the start of something very special
in the collecting world. A cottage called
Mill House.
So
things had turned full circle with the release
of Fair-well Cottage and twenty two
glorious years of collecting David Winter
Cottages had come to end on the 31st December
2002.
From
the humble beginnings in the Coalshed, at
the bottom of David's parents, to the growth
of The Studios and Workshops of John Hine
Limited, to the take-over by Media Arts Group
Inc. and finally Enesco stepping in at the
last minute to allow the range to continue
into the new Millennium it has been a privilege
to be a part of this collecting phenomenon. |
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