Frequently Asked Questions

Index to Questions

1. Where Can I Buy Egg Coddlers?

2. Why Egg-Coddlers.COM? (Instead of dot ORG or dot NET)

3. I seem to have an egg coddler with a pattern, design, or backstamp that doesn't match anything on your site. What does this mean?

4. How rare is (some specific example of) an egg coddler?
   How valuable is (some specific example of) an egg coddler?
   How much is my egg coddler collection worth?

Where Can I Buy Egg Coddlers?

New egg coddlers can be bought at retail prices. The most consistently accessible coddlers for purchase new are those from Royal Worcester. Royal Worcester coddlers are often available in-stock or by special order from companies that specialize in China giftware. Other brands of egg coddlers are sold new, either through the manufacturer, or a retail outlet. We maintain a web page with information about where you might be able to find new egg coddlers at retail prices:   http://www.egg-coddlers.com/where-to-buy.shtml.

Most of the egg coddlers described by this web site are no longer available for direct retail sale. [That does not necessarily mean that it is rare or valuable ... see FAQ #4.] Egg coddlers that are no longer manufactured and sold at retail are available from the "secondary market." This makes the hunt as much of an adventure as the final acquisition. Shops that sell antiques and collectibles are a good place to start, online and "brick & mortar." Antiques/Collectible auctions seem to be the place where many egg coddlers are trading hands these days. eBay seems to be the biggest online auction site, although there are many others. Like many collectibles, individual sales/swaps between collectors is also common. Feel free to use our Marketplace Bulletin Board to try to find a trading partner. If you are trying to buy/sell coddlers, you will have better success with eBay or another online sales site.

We have seen egg coddlers for sale at Replacements.COM, from several different manufacturers. Type in coddler into their search page to find what they currently have.

Why Egg-Coddlers.COM? (Instead of dot ORG or dot NET)

This isn't a commercial site. We're not selling anything. We don't sell advertising space on the web site. We don't work secretly for Royal Worcester or any other manufacturer of coddlers. The site was created by a couple of coddler collectors and enthusiasts for the purposes of:
1. Educating other coddler collectors and enthusiasts about the breadth and depth of the field of egg coddlers ... what's out there.
2. Make contact with other coddler collectors and enthusiasts, and provide a forum where they can communicate with each other.
3. Learn more about what's out there from other coddler collectors ... after all, we are coddler collectors and enthusiasts too!
So ... the direct answer to the question is that there is no distinction between .COM, .NET, and .ORG addresses. The distinction between commercial entities', network providers, and organizations went away several years ago.

I seem to have an egg coddler with a pattern, design, or backstamp that doesn't match anything on your site. What does this mean?

This web site is under almost constant update. (Ed.: Actually, we are constantly acquiring new data and information. The update of the web site content lags far behind that acquisition!) As of the most recent update to this page (August 2003), we have an incredible backlog of data and images that has been received. We are constantly learning about new patterns, manufacturers, or names for pictured patterns.

If you have seen an egg-coddler that does not match anything on our web site, either in your collection, or on sale (or that you plan to sell), please do contact us. Digital images of the item are extremely helpful in identifying manufacturers, patterns, and variations. If you have photographs that you can't digitize, please send them by postal mail to: Egg-Coddlers.COM, P.O. Box 207, Glen Echo MD 20817-0207, U.S.A.. Please do indicate whether you wish the photographs returned to you once we have scanned them.

How rare is (some specific example of) an egg coddler?
How valuable is (some specific example of) an egg coddler?
How much is my egg coddler collection worth?

The authors of this web site have decided unanimously, and unequivocably, that we will not include specific pricing, rarity, or other valuation guidelines on this web site. E-mail responses from editors of this web site will will also be responded to under the same policy.

There are several fundamental reasons for this policy. The most important reason is that we feel that such valuation data is often arbitrary, and causes unhealthy speculation in the "coddler marketplace".

As with most collectibles, the value of a particular object is based entirely on what a seller is willing to accept from a buyer, both being able and willing to conduct their part of the transaction under mutually agreeable terms. The fact that of the matter is that online auctions, such as eBay have had an amazing impact on the coddler marketplace. On the one hand, there are many more sellers who can make their goods visible to a much larger audience of buyers who are able to see what is available and add it to their collections. On the other hand, the auction venue creates an additional factor, what I call the "winning hysteria," that tends to push the final price of auction items, even those that are available through retail channels, to amazingly high closing prices.

We don't believe that maintaining a running tally of prices paid at auction for specific coddlers would be constructive. Such a tally would also be extremely difficult to maintain accurately, and could also be perceived as a serious "conflict of interest." All site editors and contributors are buyers, collectors, and/or sellers of egg coddlers for their own collections. Rather than create the possibility of inappropriate appearance, we simply will stay away from the valuation issue entirely.

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