Mark Roberts fairies are the figures people photograph in our store. Long-limbed, sharp-featured, dressed like they are late for a very good party, they perch on the edge of a shelf or deep in a tree with their legs crossed and their wings catching the light. Customers either know exactly what they are or have never seen anything like them, and both groups ask the same questions: what are they, why are they posed like that, which size do I want, and are they going to be worth something. Here is what we tell them.
What a Mark Roberts Fairy Is
Mark Roberts makes limited edition Christmas collectibles: fairies, elves and Santas, each released in a numbered edition and each built to be posed. The fairies are the stars. They have sculpted faces with a knowing expression, elaborate costumes in velvet, brocade and trim, and bendable bodies, so the same fairy can sit on a mantel one year and lounge in the branches the next. They are not dolls for play and not ornaments in the usual sense; they are display figures, closer to the fairies of Victorian illustration than to anything in a toy aisle, and they are collected the way people collect nutcrackers or carolers, one or two a year, with a favorite.
The Three Sizes
Most Mark Roberts fairies come in up to three sizes, and the size decides where the fairy lives.
Small
Around eleven to twelve inches. The small fairies sit on a bookshelf, a desk, a windowsill or in the tree itself, and they are the usual first purchase. Several small ones scattered through a tree is the look that stops people in our aisles.
Medium
Seventeen to eighteen and a half inches. The medium fairies anchor a mantel or a sideboard, hold their own next to a large nutcracker, and are the size most collectors settle on once they know they are collecting.
Large
Around twenty-two inches. The large fairies are statement pieces for an entry table, the top of a hutch or a prominent spot in a big tree. One large fairy is a focal point; two is a display.
The Current Crowd
The fairies on our shelves this season come from one party. The Toymaker Fairy, in all three sizes, is in charge of the toys and has decorated his hat with one. The Stocking Maker Fairy, in red velvet with gold trim, makes a stocking for every fairy at the annual Christmas party and tucks a gift inside each. The Jingle All The Way Fairy arrives in gold trim and holly berries, bells in hand. The Winter White Fairy wears white with sparkle and gold and carries silver bells. The Holly and Ivy Fairy has dressed himself in his favorite leaves and berries. And the Mingle and Jingle Elf, the social one, jingles as he mingles. Yes, the fairies are he; Mark Roberts fairies are gentlemen, which surprises people and then makes complete sense.
Fairies, Elves and Santas
The three families share a maker and a level of detail but play different parts. Fairies are the elegant ones, all wings and posture. Elves are rounder, warmer and funnier, the ones carrying bells and cookies. The Santas are the grand figures, often the largest pieces in the line. A collection that mixes them reads as a scene rather than a row, and the elves in particular make good companions for a fairy who looks like he needs someone to talk to.
Why People Collect Them
Limited Editions
Each design is produced in a limited, numbered edition and then it is done. New designs arrive every year with a new theme, and the previous ones retire. That is the engine behind the questions we get about retired Mark Roberts fairies: once an edition is gone, the only way to find that fairy is secondhand, and the ones people loved most are the ones that vanish first.
What Collectors Look For
Condition, completeness and the tag. A fairy with its hang tag, its edition information and its original box is what a collector hopes to find; one with a bent wing, a missing prop or faded velvet is a shelf piece rather than a collectible. We do not quote values, because they move and depend entirely on the fairy in hand. The practical advice is the same as for every retiring line: if you love a design, buy it in the year it is current.
A Theme a Year
Because each year’s release shares a theme, many collectors buy one fairy from each year’s party and let the shelf tell the story of the collection. Others collect a single character, the toymaker or the stocking maker, across the sizes and years. Either way, the collection has a shape, which is what separates collecting from accumulating.
Posing and Displaying Mark Roberts Fairies
Pose gently and once. The bodies bend, but they are not meant to be re-posed every week, so decide where the fairy is going before you shape him. Crossed legs on a shelf edge, one arm resting on a lamp or a frame, a lean against the nutcracker: small gestures look natural and big ones look stiff. In a tree, seat a fairy on a firm branch close to the trunk and let the wings show against the lights. Keep fairies away from direct sun, which fades velvet, and out of reach of cats, who regard them as prey. Our guide to displaying ornaments has more on building a display with height and depth, and the fantasy, fairies and elves ornaments are the right companions on the branches around a seated fairy.
Caring for Them
Dust with a soft brush or a hair dryer on cool, never a cloth that can snag trim or a cleaner that can mark a face. Straighten wings and fingers slowly. For storage, lay each fairy in its box with tissue around the wings and props, keep the tag with the fairy, and store the boxes flat somewhere dry and temperate. Our storage guide covers the rest of the closet. A fairy that is boxed properly each January will look the way it did in the store for a very long time.
Where to See Them
Photographs do not do the detail justice, which is why our Mark Roberts pieces are displayed out in the open in the store, posed, among the other collectibles. Years ago we wrote about a customer whose home was a house of collectibles with Mark Roberts figures among them, and it remains the best argument for buying the fairy you keep thinking about.
The Short Version
Mark Roberts fairies are limited edition, posable display figures with sculpted faces and elaborate costumes, made in small, medium and large sizes and retired as each year’s edition sells out. Choose the size for the spot, pose him once and gently, keep the tag and the box, buy the design you love while it is current, and let the elves keep him company.
Frequently Asked Questions
Find It at St. Nick's
Meet the fairies: shop Mark Roberts fairies, elves and Santas, add fairy and fantasy ornaments to the branches, and browse the rest of our collectibles.
St. Nick’s Christmas and Collectibles has been Littleton, Colorado’s Christmas store since 1976. Shop online, visit us in person, or call 1-800-875-8865 with any questions.
