William Silvester - Harry Potter Collectors Handbook

HARRY POTTER
COLLECTORS
HANDBOOK

THIS BOOK IS UNOFFICIAL AND UNAUTHORIZED. IT IS NOT AUTHORIZED, APPROVED, LICENSED OR ENDORSED BY J. K. ROWLING, HER PUBLISHERS, OR WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC.

2010 William Silvester

All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a critical article or review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper, or electronically transmitted on radio, television, or the Internet.

Published by

Krause Publications, a division of F+W Media, Inc.
700 East State Street Iola, WI 54990-0001
715-445-2214 888-457-2873
www.krausebooks.com

To order books or other products call toll-free 1-800-258-0929
or visit us online at www.krausebooks.com or www.Shop.Collect.com

This book is unofficial and unauthorized. It is not authorized, approved, licensed
or endorsed by J. K. Rowling, her publishers, or Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Cover image of Ron Weasley at Hogwarts (T6-HPDD-01), Harry Potter at Hogwarts
(T5-HPDD-02), and Hermione Granger at Hogwarts (T6-HPDD-02),
courtesy Tonner Doll Company, Inc.; used with permission.
See for more information.

Photography by Storm Photo, Kingston, New York, www.stormphotoinc.com.
Tonner Doll Company, Inc. All rights reserved. www.tonnerdoll.com/harrypotter.htm

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010923675

ISBN 13: 978-1-4402-0897-3
ISBN 10: 1-4402-0897-2
eISBN 13: 978-1-4402-1626-8

Designed by Katrina Newby
Edited by Mary Sieber

Printed in China

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Contents

J. K. Rowling:
The Woman Behind the Wizard

Foreword

I will never forget sitting in an executive meeting at Warner Bros. and hearing about Harry Potter for the first time. On the way home from work that night, I bought Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone and finished it in a single sitting. I immediately fell in love with the story of Harry and the magical world at Hogwarts, never realizing the adventures that laid ahead of me working on this property.

As vice president of design for the Warner Bros. Stores, my team was responsible for designing the first Harry Potter product. At that time the initial film had not yet been cast, so we had to develop art for all the main characters and settings from the stories. The pinnacle of our whirlwind development was a trip I took to London with Fred Bode, my senior character illustrator, for a long meeting with J.K. Rowling finessing Freds drawings of the characters and scenes. I had never worked with a creator who had such a clear vision in her head of her characters and their world. I felt like Rowling could describe intricate details of each character and every corner and crevice of Hogwarts. It was an incredibly inspiring day, and her passion for the world she had created helped me understand her intent to always respect the property more than trying to make piles of money from merchandising.

As you look through this book, you may marvel at all of the collectibles that have been produced from the Harry Potter properties, but what you may not realize is that for every product produced, there are piles of ideas that never saw the light of day in an effort to stay true to the property and what it represented to its fans.

After the closing of the WB Studio Stores, I acquired the license to continue the fine art business for WB with the intent of Harry Potter being an important part of our program. Over the last eight years we have had the opportunity to publish over three dozen wonderful Harry Potter illustrations by Mary GrandPr. These works include both scenics she had illustrated from the HP stories, to the actual book cover artwork she did for the U.S. books. We have also released film inspired images from artist Jim Salvati and the Witches and Wizards of Harry Potter individual character studies from the films. I am very proud to be the publisher of such beautiful, meaningful works.

I am by nature a collector and a huge fan of the Harry Potter series, so I understand peoples desire to own something that reminds them of the characters and stories they love so much. My family and I own a number of Harry Potter collectibles, including the exquisite timeturner (produced by Noble Collections) I presented to my daughter when she dressed up as Hermione for Halloween one year. When you are a fan, it is a pleasure to own something that reminds you of your passion. To be able to hang a signed print of your favorite book cover in your home or wear a timeturner around your neck keeps the stories alive in your world. In a world full of challenges and difficult times, J.K. Rowlings stories let us enter a magical world and escape in Harrys story. I feel very fortunate to have experienced that magic, and through the artwork share it with you.

Ruth Clampett,
Former Vice President of Design
for Warner Bros. Stores

Ruth Clampett (right) with Harry Potter books author, J.K. Rowling.

Acknowledgments

I n my search for information and images of the Harry Potter collectibles, I had the great pleasure of corresponding with a number of wonderfully helpful people. They are listed below, in no particular order, with my sincere thanks for all they have done to assist in the researching of this book.

Victoria Mielke, Arabella Figgs Hogwarts Express website, for permission to use all the information on her website, an incredible source for early items.

Doug Blaine, for images from Bachmann Trains.

Kate Harvey, rights executive, Bloomsbury Publishing, for information and incredible images of the book covers.

Liz Davignon, eBay store: bondlizbond, for images from Bonds Corner.

Ruth Clampett, Clampettstudio.com and Wildsvillegallery.com, for images of artwork and for writing the fantastic foreword.

Lucy Rogers, Christopher Little Literary Agency, for information and permission to use excerpts.

Chuck Pint, Chuckpint.com/dicers, for information on dicers.

Susan Nielsen, photo stylist, and Melinda Seegers, manager, consumer services, Department 56, for information and images.

Jeanne Haffeman, director, licensing, Elope Inc., for information and images.

Captain Coder, figurerealm.com, for information and images from his website.

Gary Tulk, Fuburiver Investibles Inc., for information and images on early Harry Potter wands.

John Dev Gilmore, vice president, product development and design, Gentle Giant, for images.

Janice de Vera, product research and graphics coordinator, Gund, for images.

Matt Polakoff and Joe Fay, Heritage Auction, HA.com, for information, catalogs, and images.

Louise Tinagero, marketing department, Kurt S. Adler Inc., for images.

Seth Reisman, Rubies Costumes, for information and images.