Posted By: JULB
Artist's Proof on the shelf - 12/23/01 09:22 AM
Earlier this week, I was in western Colorado visiting for the holidays, and of course I swung by the local HL distributor to see what they had and to see the serial number ranges of the pieces they were selling. This was my first visit to this store so I had no idea what to expect, but I figured, this remote shop would have some middle to high numbers. After looking at a couple of pieces, I spotted a (#189) Morris Island (Then), which I had on my "wish-list" for some day in the future. I picked it up to see what serial # it was and nearly fainted to see it marked "AP" or ARTIST PROOF!! It was in perfect condition! I couldn't believe it!! The store keeper told me they had picked it up from the HL Sales Rep after they were done with it. I thought you could only "win" these at conventions. Lucky Me !!!!!!!! It had no box (AP's rarely do) but it did have it's bottom label, and HL's customer service has already helped me get a Certificate of Authenticity, and Tent Card for it. What a great find! My collection now has one AP, one 2 digit piece, one 3 digit piece, and the rest are the more common distribution numbers. My next goal is to see how high a number I can find closest to the maximum of an edition size! I have a La Jument that is #8955/9500 so I am 545 from the reported end of the production run. I'll have to work on that a little more.