“A Precious Pearl” Jim Shore – Review
This 15” Ariel is the 2nd release of Jim Shore’s Deluxe Disney Princesses line. After receiving Belle, I was more than impressed by the details and the quality of these pieces. I knew that I was going to need one of each Princess that I collect, so I ordered Ariel without hesitation when she was available for pre-order.
This Ariel is absolutely stunning, and although I was a little disappointed Jim decided to go with her pink dress instead of the teal dress that was teased on his sketch, I am still satisfied with this piece. The colour combination of pink, purple and blue for her dress is pastel perfection. Jim uses his signature patterns throughout the dress and adds both crystal and pearl embellishments to her dress to create a Disney Princess worthy ball gown.
I absolutely love the fact that he decided to add Sebastien into this piece and can be found perching on the oyster that Ariel is holding. The pearl inside of the oyster and her gown have been painted with a white pearlescent paint, which is a very nice detail. I am very happy with how Ariel’s face turned out on this piece, as it has been a miss on a few of his pieces in the past. Unfortunately, there are some Little Mermaid pieces that I will not be adding to my collection due to her face being slightly off. Remember that each Disney Tradition is hand painted, and each piece will vary slightly as they are not batch painted by a machine.
My only wish for this piece was that they added a little bit more detail to the back of the dress, Belle has a complete pattern that runs all around her dress. This one could have used a little bit more details, but it doesn’t bother me too much as I would never display her facing the wall.
You should keep in mind exactly how big these pieces are, they are the biggest pieces that I currently have in my collection and Belle does not fit into a bookcase due to the circumference of her dress. They do, however, sit very nicely on top of a bookcase and that is why I decided to continue with this series as space could easily be an issue. Jim Shore pieces are also made from stone resin, so these are pretty heavy piece due to their size.
I can’t wait to see the next piece from this collection which will be Snow White releasing some time in September. I will definitely be adding her to my collection and Tiana who will be releasing early next year. I am happy that he will be spacing out the releases by a fair amount of time as these pieces are a little bit more on the expensive side and it’s nice to have the time in between purchases. I have seen them range from $150-200 USD depending where you buy them from. I am looking forward to seeing the next sketches that Jim Shore shares with his community and I hope that it is of one that I want to add to my collection.
Click the link below to shop Deluxe Ariel:
Click the link below to shop Deluxe Belle:
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