Update! The World Tour Trollbeads In a Nutshell
I've seen many new Trollbeads enthusiasts and collectors join our ranks this year and with the new collectors come a lot of questions about past releases and one of the releases that has garnered most of the questions has been the World Tour Trollbeads. What are they? Why are some not available? Are they limited editions? So forth and so on. I'd like to make a brief description to bring the newbies up to date while not giving too much info in case this becomes boring for the more informed. I am writing this now because as I was doing the year end inventory I discovered that some of the World Tour beads are very low in inventory and I ran out of a few before Christmas. I thought giving a fair warning would be helpful for those of you who are waiting for the right time to purchase...now is it! The whole collection was done in a small scale limited edition and was originally only created to be sold in each of the country's the beads represented. When the tour was completed we were treated with the news that every dealer in every country would have a small window of opportunity to purchase the kits from all countries. Even though I purchased many (I always over do it) I am already finding myself running out of some and running low on others.
The World Tour is a group of 12 kits of Trollbeads, 4 beads to a kit, with each kit representing the 12 countries Trollbeads is most well known and appreciated in. Through out the tour which lasted many months a new kit would be introduced every few months. The beads were designed to best celebrate the culture and history if each of the 12 countries. What a great tribute and one that was appreciated by collectors everywhere.
The first release was appropriately Denmark and the Danish Kit was kicked off at a World Tour Celebration event in Copenhagen. The Danish beads were the Viking Ship (my favorite for the Denmark set), Design Troll (sold out) and the Runes -a beautiful Amber bead. Amber had been hard to get as of late and the Runes amber bead was sold out for months but we now have a good quantity available. The markings on the side of the bead is Denmark engraved in Runes. The glass bead of the kit was Anemones, a very pretty green flower bead. This bead is one of the beads low in stock. The World Tour glass beads while being limited were very well priced at $31.00.
Following Denmark we saw the World Tour Kits from Germany and the Netherlands released with such perfect beads!! Two of my favorites was from Germany, the Beetle and the Frog Prince. It is shown below with a crowned from sitting on his green thrown!The Netherlands Van Gogh bead is a beauty with sculptured Sunflowers in an interesting rounded shape which celebrated one of the many artists to come from the Netherlands, Van Gogh. See below!
The World Tour Kit release from the Baltic States was exciting as it gave us another Amber bead, Baltic Amber, shown below, which people loved because of its facets that dance in the sun and it is only $43. The Baltic Amber bead was out of stock at TBG for awhile and then we got some back in stock late fall. The kit also gave us another silver and glass bead, the Iron Wolf. The sweet Mushroom Family, shown below was a favorite of many cooks! At Trollbeads Gallery we still have a few of these. A great bead at $28.
As you can well imagine there are so many other beads to talk about from the World Tour and as I am limited to space here on the blog please take the link to our website and look through all the beads to see the grand tribute Trollbeads created for each of the countries they are represented by. I have left the images of the sold-out beads visible on the site so you can see them close up. Below is a list of just some of our favorites at Trollbeads Gallery but not mentioned above! Follow the link at the bottom of the blog and enjoy the designs!
Japan- Blooming Sakura Beauty of a glass bead! (Far below left)
Switzerland- Edelweiss (sold out) A beautiful flower. (lower right)
Austria- Amadeus (almost sold out) Great for all Musicians! (lower left)
Italy- Love Locks
Hong Kong- Chinese Auspicious (Shown below upper right)
UK-Tea Party- (Shown below upper left)
The World Tour collection is another aspect of Trollbeads that sets it apart from the other bead brands on the market. The carefully executed release of each of the countries beads as far of sense of timing and the overall plan shows the amount of forethought that typically goes into every major or minor Trollbeads release. The depth of this artistic line is so much more complex in design and in meaning than any other brand and this is why Trollbeads has continued to evolve and continued to inspire other bead brands for over 35 years. If you are new to Trollbeads one other thing to remember is this line is family owned and operated and manages to hold it's own in a world of huge mega conglomerate bead brands so spread your love of Trollbeads to help support the original brand!
See the Whole World Tour Here!