The famous crystal brand has announced that they are releasing another wild cat the Swarovski Soulmate Orange Shine Panther Limited Online Edition. The Orange Shine Panther is the 4th variation of the panther to be produced Swarovski crystal fanatics to add to their collection:
Swarovski Soulmate Panther (clear) – 9600 000 074 / 874 337. Introduced in 2007and retires in 2011.
Swarovski Soulmate Limited Edition Panther (black) – 9600 000 151 / 1060325. Introduced and sold out in 2010.
Swarovski Soulmate Panther (moroda) – 1096051. New release for 2011.
Swarovski Soulmate Limited Edition Panther (orange shine) – 1096051. New release for 2011.
Swarovski Orange Shine Panther
The designer for the Swarovski Soulmate Panther figurines is Heinz Tabertshofer . All the panther crystal figurines are fully faceted animals attached to black spot granite bases. The limited editions are individually numbered and engraved in the granite base.
The Kristall Buzz has featured previous articles about the gorgeous Swarovski Panther cats:
So what are the differences between the Swarovski Online Limited Edition Panthers? As much as I know at this time, the colors are different and the production quantity is different. Swarovski Black Panther – Limited to 500 units. Swarovski Orange Shine Panther – Limited to 888 units. I have not heard any news about the price. The retail price on all the colors released to date has been just under $1000 each.
The Limited Edition Black Panther is performing well on the secondary market, with trading prices in the $3000 to $3500 range. If this is any indication of success for the Limited Edition Orange Shine Panther, you’ll want to save the date of August 29, 2011 to try and purchase this newest one, so that you won’t have to pay secondary market prices to add it to your Swarovski crystal collection.
Last month, I wrote an article about the Swarovski Black Panther and its latest rival the Swarovski Moroda Panther, both a part of the Swarovski Soulmate product line. For the most part, I had two questions:
What is the difference in color between the Swarovski Black Panther and the Swarovski Moroda Panther?
And if the colors are nearly identical, is the value of the Swarovski Limited Edition Black Panther going to decline as a result of a nearly identical release?
Originally, when the article was written, on the Swarovski site, the panther’s color was described as it gleams intensely in Moroda crystal. It was up to the buyer to figure out what ‘Moroda crystal’ was.
I’m happy to see that Swarovski has expanded upon their description of the color. A portion of the Swarovski Panther product description states it gleams intensely in Moroda crystal, radiating from a metallic blue to warm bronze and brown-black tones. I think this still leaves a bit to the imagination, but it does sound like an interesting color, if these dark rainbow tones do come out when displayed in a Swarovski collector’s cabinet.
(Pictured above, left to right are the Swarovski Soulmate Panthers: Moroda Panther, Black Panther, and Clear Panther)
Here’s a quick comparison between the Swarovski Black Panther and Swarovski Moroda Panther if you’re considering a purchase:
Availability… Swarovski Black Panther – Swarovski Numbered Limited Edition (more difficult to locate) Swarovski Moroda Panther – Brand New 2011, not numbered, not limited
Color… Swarovski Black Panther – Jet Black Swarovski Moroda Panther – Moroda crystal, radiating from a metallic blue to warm bronze and brown-black tones
Where to Purchase… Swarovski Black Panther – Retired. Must be purchased on the Secondary Market or Online Auction Swarovski Moroda Panther – Brand New. Can be purchased from the Swarovski web site or any authorized retailer (still not available to purchase in the USA online)
Price… Swarovski Black Panther – Purchase price likely to be $3000 – $4000 Swarovski Moroda Panther – Purchase price $960 (or maybe less if you have a good relationship with your Swarovski store)
If you still prefer clear figurines over colored figurines, the crystal brand is retiring the clear Swarovski Soulmate Panther this year (2011). The clear cat has a system number of 874 337. The Swarovski designer credited for the elegant design is Heinz Tabertshofer. All the Swarovski Soulmate Panther figurines come in a firm case, a cleaning cloth, and gloves. All retail(ed) for $960.
If you are a feline fanatic, there are other Swarovski crystal wild cat figurines: Swarovski Tiger, Swarovski Golden Shadow Lion, Swarovski Lion, and Swarovski Leopard. Most of these feline figurines can be found at the Crystal Exchange America web site: http://www.crystalexchange.com/ .
The Black Panther, Swarovski NLE 2010, sold out very quickly when it was released for online purchasing in April last year. With a retail price tag of $960, the Swarovski Black Panther (jet was the official color) was one of the most affordable NLE issues that was produced by the crystal giant. And a maximum production quantity of only 500 figurines, this was another nice feature that made this black cat quite desirable. Shortly after the sell-out date, the Swarovski Black Panther sky-rocketed to its current secondary market price of $2500-$3000 USD.
Swarovski Black Panther, NLW 2010
All this being said, the Swarovski Black Panther may have some competition in the very near future. The crystal brand is releasing another colored panther…the Swarovski Moroda Panther. The Swarovski system number is 1096051. Looking at the product picture at the Swarovski web site, you may very well think that this newest panther is brown, which would indeed make it a bit different from the original Black Panther.
Swarovski Moroda Panther, 2011
However, if you look at another new release, the Swarovski French Angelfish, this release has a lot of ‘moroda’ colored crystal accents, and the official Swarovski product description for the fish states that Moroda is black. BLACK? BLACK!
Well, of course any color differentiation cannot be done until a collector has both Swarovski Panther figurines side by side. But at the moment, I am feeling uneasy about this new release. My NLE Swarovski Black Panther has gone up in value…something that cannot be said very often these days. If this new cat, the Moroda Panther, is a shade of black, history indicates that the (jet) Black Panther values will drop as many collectors will likely settle for purchasing the Moroda Panther for a fraction of the price.
I have seen this new-similar-design approach in the past, and it nearly always brings down the value of the original design as buyers will simply not pay higher prices for retired figurines when Swarovski has other cheaper, suitable alternatives. Examples of this phenomenon include: Swarovski SCS Dragon (DO1X971) and Dragon (7550 000 005), Swarovski SCS Turtledoves (DO1X891) and Turtledoves (7621 000 011), Swarovski SCS Dolphins (DO1X901) and Dolphin (7644 000 001). (and there are other look-alike figurines, these are only a few). All the Swarovski SCS crystal figurines dropped hundreds of dollars, 30% – 50%, depending on the figurine. While the economy certainly contributes to the decline in value of the secondary market in general, I do believe that for these figurines, it was precipitated by the release of the similar-looking figurines which, by the way, are all still current on the Swarovski web site. I foresee history repeating itself…good for the company with more sales of a newly-released panther, no-so-good for collectors who have valuable retired Swarovski figurines, in this case, the beautiful (jet) Black Panther.
If you like the Swarovski Panther design, but prefer clear crystal figurines, the crystal brand does offer the figurine in clear crystal, but it is retiring very soon (2011). The clear cat has a system number of 874 337. The Swarovski designer credited for the elegant design is Heinz Tabertshofer. All the Swarovski Panther figurines come in a firm blue box, a cleaning cloth, and gloves. All retail(ed) for $960.
If you are a feline fanatic, you may be interested to know that there are other Swarovski crystal wild cat figurines: Swarovski Leopard, Swarovski Lion, Swarovski Golden Shadow Lion, and Swarovski Tiger. Most of these can be found at the Crystal Exchange America web site: http://www.crystalexchange.com/ .
