It's turning into a cottage industry.....
 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HELMAR-BREWI...item4ad0eb8470

:rolleyes:

Funny...higher end starting lineup action figures!!!! Some of the other johny come lately's trying to replicate the helmar card style are pretty lame!

I can see this type of thing catching on and becoming popular, but not for nearly what they are asking for it.

He's got good artists, that's the biggest thing.

If it's the same ones, I'm a bit surprised that translates to sculpture. It's a different skill and in some ways harder.

I've seen a lot worse selling for more.


Steve B

Nice looking piece.

I see that 3d printers are coming down in price. I wonder if this was 3d printed and then hand painted?

Perhaps we will be seeing a lot more of these in the future....

It's possible. The 3-d Modeling is difficult. I trained in CAD years ago, and I'm relearning it. Mechanical stuff is doable for me, but not smoother figures like that.

Shapeways can print in colored limestone, with really impressive results.
http://www.shapeways.com/model/19396...p&materialId=6

Steve B

Agreed. At about a $29.99 price point they might have something. They should be able to get those mass produced for much less, if they get that far. A hundred bucks is more than most will pay though. Even having that price point as a OBO might not do it......

and that seller has several different Helmar based items.....

http://www.ebay.com/sch/stevenp1953/...p2047675.l2562




.

So what are the copyright laws with such things? Can they use major league logos? Are they paying the family of Napoleon Lajoie anything for using his name and likeness? I'm starting to see lots of "Helmar like" businesses popping up on ebay.

Major league logos are a no-no.

I thought they somehow skirted the trademark issue by each piece being a one-off kind of production? Hand-made one at a time rather than mass-produced?

No more copyrights after 75 years ( usually ) . I guess everyone is looking for their niche .

That's not exactly right and a pretty gross generalization with respect to copyright law, but I know what you mean. Copyright (for a specific work) and Trademark (for team logos and I believe certain players' visage) are two separate things though.

I think what is being referred to here with respect to the team logos and player's estate is a question of whether it's Trademark Infringement or not. I don't know the answer, but I think there is some loophole with respect to one-off pieces (works of art, for example) which led me to question whether that may be why the Helmar pieces are done one at a time rather than being mass-produced.

As I said, I don't know. Just throwing that out there as a possibility.