History    

     Olszewski was commissioned by Miniature Collector Magazine in 1982 to create the Alice in Wonderland Series.  This was his first commission that included three figurines for the series.  The story was taken from the classic books by Lewis Carroll which were published in 1923.  Dick Hunt reports in his book "The Goebel Miniatures of Robert Olszewski" "...they [Miniature Collector Magazine] wanted something special to offer for sale to their readers to commemorate their fifth anniversary."  Further, Hunt adds "The [Goebel Miniatures] Studio thought that since this figurine would signify an anniversary, they would produce this figurine for only one year."  "Thus, their first limited editon was born.  Little did the studio realize what was to come.  Alice was the studio's first magazine centerfold girl!" 

     Miniature Collector's Magazine happened to use Alice as their logo.  5,000 figurines were planned to be reproduced for each figurine in the series; however, this never happened.   The reason for this was primarily the involved painting process which Dick Hunt describes as follows.  "Painting the bow on the back of [Alice's] dress was most tediuous.  Bob carved a rased surface, but cuttin ghte white of the bow into the blue of her dress was extremely difficult.  For the Down the Rabbit Hole, Olszewski backed her up against a tree to eliminiate the problem.  A number of additional miniscule problems to another artist surfaced, but these problems were serious to this master miniature sculptor. 

     Below are captures written about the series taken from the Olszewski Study Group and the Olszewski Fan Club.

     The first was" Alice in the Garden," commissioned by Miniature Collector Magazine in 1981.   This piece and its successors, "Down the Rabbit Hole" and "The Cheshire Cat," were Bob's first limited edition commissioned work and the first of five storybook series he produced for Goebel.  "Alice in the Garden"  sold to Miniature Collector subscribers for $60 in 1982. She is worth about $800 today [1994 when the article was written] if you can find someone willing to part with her.  The Alice in Wonderland Series is on display at the Alle-Kiski Valley Historical Museum in Tarentum, PA as part of Ray Olszewski's donation. 

Source:  Miniature Collector Magazine, pages 34-35, November/December 1994.

     A question was raised by a "Disney" Collector regarding the use of the name "Alice in Wonderland" by Goebel Miniatures for the series.  Here is the response by Robert Olszewski to the OSG to the question:  The Disney name being on some series but not on others such as Alice In Wonderland, Wizard of Oz and The Three Little Pigs.  Bob [Olszewski] reports it is because Disney does not hold the license to those stories. The Disney Alice in Wonderland, etc. is Disney's interpretation of those characters. The Goebel series were Bob's interpretation of the characters. 

Source:  Olszewski Study Group Letter dated February 12, 1995. 

     As one conducts research on this site, one will find that the Alice Series can be found on the comprehensive list as "commissioned" work by Olszewski.  Additionally, some of the documentation refers this work to "Storybook" collection which was part of Goebel Miniatures marketing materials.  Also of note is that "Alice in Wonderland" was produced as a film by Disney and released in 1951.

     Self Portrait, another figurine created by Olszewski for his "Special Release" series includes the 'rabbit' from the Alice in Wonderland Series "Down the Rabbit Hole." 

     Olszewski  was still with Goebel Miniatures when he commented the following with regards to a "1992 Artist Recommendation to Buy at Issue Price" listing produced that year.  "It used to be in '82 and '83 I Would travel and people would say, Gee Bob, what should I buy?' I don't like to tell people what to buy cause you never know what people's tastes are. I would tell them, if you like every piece exactly the same and you could only afford to buy one, buy  Alice in the Garden.  I don't want to come off as being commercial or anything like that, but I have been concer'ned about the availability of the work.  Since the inventories are dropping, I put together this 'Artist Recommendation' list.  My choices of 2, 3 and 4 pieces in each category were based on low inventory and pieces that would be candidates for retirement because of difficulty in painting or getting [the figurine] out of the molds resulting in major price increases should they be reissued.  If you were going to shop in anyone of these series, I listed the items you should still be able to find at issue price."

Source:  Olszewski Fan Club letter dated 6/3/1992

     This article titled "Unique Collectible Sells in the Five Figure Range."  Dick Hunt reveals an astonishing price for the Alice progressive stick:  " To gauge their value, Bob decided to place Down the Rabbit Hole from the "Alice in Wonderland" series into a collectors' auction.  After a spirited bidding, the final sales price was an astounding $11,000.  Compare this to the $500 current price for the five piece Winter Cardinal and Flower Boy progressive sticks. 

Source:  Goebel Miniatures by Dick Hunt, an article published in the Collector's Mart Magazine, December 1992, page 32.

     Studio Times Newsletter, a product of Goebel Miniatures issued in the Spring of 1994 reported a Zero inventory of the Alice Series three figurines.   That same year, Hunt's Collectibles Price List reported prices for the 3 individual figurines ranging from $835 (Alice in the Garden), $540 (Down the Rabbit Hole), and $520 (The Cheshire Cat). 

Research Conducted by Ray Olszewski 2009