Although Cybis always gave a ‘Declared Edition’ quantity when introducing each limited edition (with one exception: the Commemorative Bride in 1987), that number wasn’t written in stone; the studio could revise it downward later, if they chose. What’s a little surprising is the number of times they did choose. Some of the percentages were modest, but some were real nose-dives.
There are two obvious reasons for a manufacturer to decide to make fewer of something than they originally intended: Production problems, or lower-than-expected consumer interest. Having both of those problems would be quite a double-whammy indeed. Let’s take a look at the sculptures that Cybis decided to cut back on; some have explanatory notes following, as per the asterisks.
(Don’t forget that, as explained in this post, it is quite possible to find a Cybis piece bearing a sculpture number that is higher than the final quantity shown here for it. The painted number should never be regarded as an indication of how many of those sculptures the studio actually made.)
Animals
Bull ‘God of the Thunderbolt’, 1000 reduced to 100 *
Carousel Bear, 500 reduced to 325
Carousel Bull, 500 reduced to 325
Carousel Goat, 500 reduced to 325
Carousel Horse, 500 reduced to 325
Carousel Horse ‘Ticonderoga’, 500 reduced to 350
Carousel Lion, 500 reduced to 325
Carousel Tiger, 500 reduced to 325
Desiree the White Deer, 1000 reduced to 400
Humpback Whale, 500 reduced to 250
Mother Bear and Three Cubs, 100 reduced to 50
Nashua, 500 reduced to 100
Sea King’s Steed ‘Oceania’, 350 reduced to 200
Stallion, 500 reduced to 350
* The Spring 1963 price list shows the edition size for this piece as 1000. I do not have any other lists after that until July 1966 which by then shows it as a completed edition of 100. However, the 1978/79 Cybis catalog Appendix says that the edition size was only 100 at the start and at the end. This means it’s possible that the “1000” on the 1963 list was a typographical error but without any 1960, 1961, or 1962-1965 lists to examine, I cannot be certain.
Birds and Flowers
American Crested Iris with Bobwhite Chick, 500 reduced to 400
Autumn Dogwood with Chickadees, 500 reduced to 350
Blue Headed Vireo with Lilac, 500 pair reduced to 275 pair
Clematis with House Wren, 500 reduced to 350
Dutch Crocus *, 700 reduced to 350
Kestrel, 350 reduced to 175
Kinglets on Pyracantha, 500 pair reduced to 300 pair
Skylarks, 750 pair reduced to 350 pair
* This edition is shown in the 1978 catalog Appendix as Dutch Crocus ‘Golden Goblet’ or ‘Blue Enchantress’ followed by the declared (750) and final (350) edition sizes. It is unclear whether this means “there were 700 of each colorway planned, but we made only 350 of each colorway” or “there were 700 total Dutch Crocus planned, regardless of color, but we only made 350 in all.”
People
Abigail Adams, 750 reduced to 600
At the Council Fire, 350/150 * reduced to 225 total
Baby Bust, 500 reduced to 239
Cinderella Belle of the Ball 50th Anniv edition **
Circus Rider ‘Equestrienne Extraordinaire’, 500 reduced to 150
Court Jester, 500 reduced to 400
Dream of Venus ***
Eskimo Mother, 350 reduced to 200
Flight Into Egypt, 750 reduced to 50 (yes, really)
Folk Singer, 500 reduced to 283
Frollo the Juggler, 1000 reduced to 750
Good Queen Anne, 750 reduced to 550
Harlequin, 500 reduced to 250
Holy Child of Prague (original edition), 25 reduced to 10
Jumbles and Friend, edition of 750, later demoted to an open edition
Kwan Yin, 750 reduced to 350
Leda and the Swan ****
Mary Mary, 750 reduced to 500
Puck, 350 reduced to 200
Queen Esther, 750 reduced to 650
Sharmaine the Sea Nymph, 500 reduced to 250
Swan Lake’s Odette, 100 reduced to 15
The Enamoured Prince Florimund, 500 reduced to 200
The Enchanted Princess Aurora, 500 reduced to 200
*The second quantity was described as an “international” edition size which essentially meant Canada (even though Cybis seems to have had only two retailers in Canada.)
** When originally advertised in 1989, this Cinderella was a declared edition of 1000. In 1990, the edition size was increased to 2500. In 1992 or 1993 she was downgraded to an open (non-limited) edition. Talk about a yo-yo effect! There’s a deep dive into this hot mess of an edition here.
*** Originally issued in February 1988 as 500 in white bisque and 200 in color. In 1990 she was still offered in both colorways at different prices, but with only one edition size which is given as 500…presumably covering both color options.
**** Originally issued in February 1988 as 500 in white bisque and 200 in color. Like Dream of Venus, in 1990 she was offered in both colorways at different prices, but as only one edition size which was only 200.
Miscellaneous
There were very few limited-edition décor items compared to the overall production history of Cybis limited editions. The most significant was the Limnettes, which were three series of four designs each (12 designs in all) created by George Ivers during the 1970s. As explained in their dedicated Archive post, these were among the very few Cybis items to have decals applied to them; the only hand-painting on the Limnettes is the accents (berries, flowers, etc.).
When originally introduced in 1972, each individual Limnette design was cited as being a “limited edition of 500 each.” This pricing is shown on the 1973 through 1975 price lists, but in the Spring 1976 list the edition size has been reduced to 100 per design. As explained in the Limnettes post, there are many examples bearing numbers over 100 but that was a product of how Cybis assigned sculpture numbers rather than being an indication of how many were actually made.
Another décor item that experienced an edition size reduction was the Moses Plaque. When introduced in Spring 1981 this had a declared edition of 50, which was swiftly reduced to 25 the following year. The extremely similar Holy Child of Prague Plaque which was introduced in the autumn of 1981 was an edition of 25 from the get-go.
The Spring 1987 introductions brochure contains this plate, titled A Mother’s Love, captioned as a “numbered limited edition of 2500”. I do not have a Fall 1987 Cybis price list but the one they issued in February 1988 has it under a ‘Mother’s Day Collection’ heading as an open edition called the Mother’s Day Plate. So this is another instance of an initial limited edition being demoted to open rather than merely experiencing a quantity reduction.
There is one more décor item which MAY have had an edition-size reduction, but because I have never found any price lists to confirm this, I’m only mentioning it for completeness. The ‘Four Seasons’ framed plaques appeared in 1982 with a declared edition size of 100 of each design (Spring Promise, Summer Dreams, Autumn Glow, and Winter Song.) I was once told, but have never been able to confirm via any Cybis publication, that these editions were reduced to 60 each. Maybe they were but maybe they weren’t. Again…mentioning it only in passing and so it should not be used in any for-sale descriptions of any of these. (I’m looking at you eBay sellers when I say this.)
Reality Check!
Unfortunately I am still missing some Cybis price lists from the 1980s and 1990s and thus cannot know whether some other editions were likewise reduced. I strongly suspect that there were more than I have been able to list here.
In reality, probably every limited edition that appears on their 1990s price lists ended up being ‘shorted’ compared to the edition size shown for it, because by that time the studio was not creating any stock ahead of demand. The only question is, by how much? These are all of the sculptures with a declared edition of 1000 or more that still appeared as available on the 1999 Cybis price list:
Fleurette, 1000, introduced in 1981
Arion the Dolphin Rider, 1000, introduced in 1981
Robin, 1000, introduced in 1982
Pegasus Colts ‘Flight and Fancy’, 1000, introduced in 1984
Dore, 1000, introduced in 1985
Madonna with Lily, 1000, introduced in 1987
Commemorative Bride, 1000, introduced in 1987
Commemorative Groom, 1000, introduced in 1988
Cleopatra Bust, 1000, introduced in 1989
Mark Antony Bust, 1000, introduced in 1989
Nefertiti Bust, 1000, introduced in 1990
The Pope in gold and white (10″ high), 1000, introduced in 1990
The Pope in white tone on tone (8″ high), 2500, introduced in 1990
American Bald Eagle in white bisque, 1000, introduced in 1990
American Bald Eagle in color, 1000, introduced in 1990
Circus Horse Trio ‘Show Time’, 2000, introduced in 1991
Ballerina ‘Curtain Call’, 2500, introduced in 1991
Hall of Fame white Buffalo (“Buffalo II in white“), 1000, introduced in 1991 or 1992
Hall of Fame downsized Chess Set pieces (King, Queen, Bishop, Rook, Knight, Pawn), 1000 each, introduced in 1991 or 1992
Hall of Fame Lady Macbeth II (11″ high), 1000, introduced in 1991 or 1992
Hall of Fame Lady Macbeth III (10″ high) 1500, introduced in 1991 or 1992
Hall of Fame Persephone III (10″ high) 1500, introduced in 1991 or 1992
Hall of Fame Rapunzel II, 1500, introduced in 1991 or 1992
Lady Elizabeth (the lady removed from The Lady and the Unicorn), 1500, introduced between 1993 and 1996
It’s a given that all of the foregoing 30 limited editions were made in quantities lower (probably MUCH lower) than originally declared, and some not even produced at all. I have rarely seen any of the post-1990 ones appear for sale online, and none of them even had a photograph in the Cybis website’s “shop”. (Because of that, I once asked Theresa Chorlton if she could send me photos of the 1991/1992 Hall of Fame pieces listed above; she claimed that “none were ever taken” which seems…unlikely for something that one is actually trying to sell.) Remember that by 1999 Cybis had lost all of their retailers and had not created any effective marketing techniques that could even begin to replace them. They had no staff, were selling mainly backstock and were only making others after someone ordered and paid in advance for them; production of even a single piece took many months to complete. The market itself had also dramatically changed.
In addition to the above-listed limited editions, the 1999 price list shows 14 sculptures with declared editions of 750, and 14 others with declared editions of 500. It’s a pretty safe bet that none of those reached their advertised production quantities.
It is interesting to see how many edition size reductions that we know of already (51), and how many were almost certainly ‘reduced’ by virtue of the fact that the studio closed before reaching the originally-declared quantities (57.) There’s no doubt that there were more ‘shorted limited editions’ than these 108.
Name Index of Cybis Sculptures
Visual Index (for human figures/busts only)
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