Chatting with David Olsen

Recently I had a chance to chat with David Olsen, author of Christopher Radko Ornaments, Volume 1, about his book and ornament collections.

How did you get started collecting Radko ornaments?
About ten years ago I was in a local store, just browsing, and saw the first Radko ornament. My thoughts were "Wow, they're so big and so expensive". After several months of looking at them in the store, I decided I liked them and wound up with seven Santa ornaments that year.

And what about your collection now?
I more than doubled the number of ornaments each year. I've collected Radko, Breen, Hallmark and other pieces, such as small hand carved Kachinas for the southwest tree. Today the collection numbers about 4000 pieces, but the bulk, about 3500, are Radko.

How are all these ornaments stored?
The ornaments are wrapped in acid-free tissue paper, put in Rubbermaid hard-sided containers and then kept in an off site temperature controlled storage facility.

How did the book come about?
When I started collecting I was trying to find more information about Radko ornaments. I went to all the web sites, looked around and could never find the information I wanted. So, I started my own web site and built it up over time, adding the information I thought was needed. I was told that at one time the Radko company has used the information on the web site for training their representatives.

A year ago Bangzoom Publishers contacted me about doing a book. It wound up being a bigger project than I thought it would be, even though I already had a lot of the information on my web site. There were a few things I didn't have information on, such as the store exclusives. Steve Robba helped me with the Radko exclusives and Connie Porcher helped out with the Russian Santas.

Because of the huge amount of information on Radko, it was cost prohibitive to do it all in one book. Volume 2 will be published next fall.

Tell me more about how you determined the secondary values.
I used numerous sources, including eBay and other trading sites. eBay has had a significant impact on Radko. I've watched the auction site for years and for a long time the prices were around retail or a little over and then the prices crashed. A seller could barely get retail. Prices have really gone up, down and back up again. For instance Scrooge from the Christmas Carol series retailed for $60 and for a while it couldn't even get the retail price. About a year or two later the piece sold for $300 and more. Then the prices dropped again for a while, now Scrooge is gong for over retail again.

We also collect Asian antiques and they've followed the same selling pattern.

What advice do you have for beginning collectors?
Always collect the pieces you love, if you don't love a piece, don't buy it! And definitely don't get a piece just for investment or trade. I buy because I love the piece. I may not be able to tell you every piece I have off the top of my head, but when when I open up the box, I can tell you the name, the year, and some sort of a story about the ornament. It's like looking at an old friend that hasn't been seen in a few years.

And for the last question -- What's your Holy Grail?
When it comes to Radko, there are two pieces I want -- Victorian Angel and Santa Balloons.