Money multipliers

INVESTMENT: New collectibles like Swarovski crystal and Lladro pieces are yielding pretty high returns.

The sparkling crystal elephant adorning Swarovski stores across the globe is special "" it is a limited edition piece, of which only 10,000 have been manufactured.

With the steep price appreciation that previous limited edition pieces have seen "" this is the fifth in the series "" crystal is now counted among the list of high value collectibles.

If crystal is among the new collectibles, what investment value does it give? "Pretty high," says Vembu Shivkumar, country manager, consumer goods business, Swarovski India, "within 2-3 years, the prices of a Swarovski crystal piece triples on an average."

Take the Swarovski Eagle edition launched in 1995. Crystal collectors are willing to pay $12,000 (Rs 5.4 lakh) for a piece, which is multiples of its original price.

Getting this elephant is not simply about putting Rs 1,60,495 on the table, which is the listed price of the piece. You have to be a member of the Swarovski Crystal Society to be eligible to own a piece, and then you have to be lucky in the final draw of lots. There are about 2,000 members of this society in India.

Other home decor accessories too, like porcelain figurines from Lladro, are now part of high-investment value collectibles. The Lord Ganesha figurines "" a limited 2,000 pieces were put in the market by Lladro in 2002 for Rs 69,000 "" command Rs 6 lakh per piece now, informs Angelique O'Brien, CEO, Lladro India.

A Hawaiian Ceremony limited edition piece launched ten years ago for Rs 2 lakh shows an Internet price of Rs 20 lakh currently. If one is collecting Lladro then a 10-15 per cent appreciation of price is guaranteed every year, says O'Brien.

The high returns have attracted a whole new varied breed of collectors. Interestingly, Swarovski's youngest member is a 12-year old!