Palessi Figurines - Ever heard of them?

[Tallone]

I stopped by the final day of an estate sale yesterday. Once in a while I can pick up a real good deal on something everyone else overlooked. Anyway, there was a LARGE china/curio cabinet filled with ceramic figurines that hadn't sold yet. From a distance, many of them appeared to be large Lladro pieces. I know these are very popular and often sell for hundreds of dollars. I was hoping the sales company was asking too much on Saturday but would now sell them for a very reasonable price. I checked the price tag and, sure enough, they were asking full retail value. Then the sales lady comes over and says, "Pay no attention to the price tag." She then quotes me prices in the $15 - $40 range.

Now I'm getting excited but I know better than to buy fragile stuff like this without very close inspection so I put her off. Materials and craftsmanship appeared to be good quality. Then I looked at the maker's marks on the bottom. All these Lladro style pieces were made by a company called "Palessi". Never heard of them. So I wandered off to another part of the house, broke out my iPhone, and looked them up on eBay. I only found one piece which is listed for $399. There was nothing in the Completed or Sold listings. Google didn't turn up anything on this "Palessi" outfit, either. I went back to look at them again and this time the lady tries to convince me they are "Nao Lladro" pieces. I had not heard about Nao Lladro either so I looked them up. Turns out Nao pieces are almost as popular as Lladro but the Nao pieces I found on eBay were clearly marked "NAO". This Nao story smelled fishy to me so I walked away and didn't buy any.

Has anyone else ever heard of this "Palessi" outfit? Did I blow a great opportunity or did I dodge a bullet?

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

DR.ÖTEK Metal Detector, Waterproof Gold Detector, Pinpoint & Terrain Modes, Professional Metal Detector - Grab it through Amazon!

[war-digs-it]

Are you sure it wasn't "Palissy" instead?

 

[Mackaydon]

There is also a company that produces "Alessi figurines".
Don....

 

[Tallone]

I'm quite sure it is "Palessi". When I couldn't find much on them, I went back and looked VERY carefully at the hallmark to be sure I had it right. If you search eBay for "Palessi figurine", you will find the one I found which, oddly enough, happens to be the same figurine as one of those I looked at this weekend - with one difference. The one on eBay has a glossy finish like the Lladro's typically have. The one at the estate sale had a bisque finish. In fact, almost all the figures at the estate sale had a bisque finish. From what I have seen on eBay, neither Palissy or Alessi make Lladro style figurines.

 

[diggummup]

They are LLadro wannabes basically. Typically sell for under $20. Here is an example of one that sold for $5- Palessi Figurine of Boy Holding Vase. Good Condition. : Lot 219 and here is another on ebay for $14.99- Pales SI Woman with Hat Figure Made in Spain | eBay

FWIW- Nao is a sub-brand of Lladro started in the late 60's. It is an "economy" LLadro, if you will.

edit- BTW Lladro does make bisque figures also.

 

[Tallone]

Well then, I would have to say I dodged a bullet by leaving those figurines alone. It also tells me something about that estate sale company. They either don't know their stuff (at least with regard to ceramic figurines) or they are a bit shady or both. They had originally priced these Palessi pieces as if they were Lladro but they didn't sell at those prices. Then they represented them as Nao which, in my opinion, was downright dishonest as the pieces were clearly marked "Palessi". Good to know next time I run across this outfit.

 

[batcap]

I think the bisque Lladro are preferred over the glossy. Look at that Palessi boy . . . you will NEVER find a line with a dot below it for an eye on a Lladro piece . . .
And where did he get those fingers, and those shoes?, Ugh!

 

[Tallone]

Love the video snippet from the movie Airplane! One of my all time favorites! So many great sight gags in that movie.

 

[batcap]

I don't know if I was making more fun of myself or the Palessi boy. I was just trying to draw a parallel to my criticism of the figurine.

Tallone-You dodged a bullet!