The Good: Good balance, Affordable, Good collectible value.
The Bad: Breakable, Sloppy paint job on many points
The Basics: A pretty wonderful ornament, the lack of durability and somewhat sloppy paint job on the Kurt Adler TARDIS ornament keeps it from being an essential buy for Doctor Who fans.
My wife has gotten into Doctor Who pretty big and, as such, I have gotten into the habit of picking her up Doctor Who merchandise. To go with the new Christmas tree I picked her up, I got her the Kurt Adler TARDIS blown-glass ornament. There are actually very few non-Hallmark ornaments I’ve reviewed, but Kurt Adler has the license, not Hallmark. The TARDIS ornament is pretty cool, but it is not incredible, though it is very clearly hand-detailed as it was promised to be.
The TARDIS blown glass ornament is a Kurt Adler ornament released in 2012 as one of several Doctor Who ornaments that the Kurt Adler company released. It is getting increasingly more difficult to find in the secondary market, though it is pretty inexpensive when one can find it online.
Kurt Adler Gold Crown Reflections has a line of collectible ornaments from major franchises, like Doctor Who. For that line, the emphasis is on quality and craftsmanship and the TARDIS ornament lives up on those fronts very well.
Fans of the Doctor Who franchise will easily recognize the TARDIS as it appeared in every episode of the series, Doctor Who (click here for my review of Season 9 of the television series!).
Basics
The TARDIS ornament recreates the time machine from the television series in blown glass. The ornament, released in 2012, is instantly recognizable both by fans and pop culture junkies all the world over. The TARDIS ornament is 1 7/8” wide and deep and 4 1/2” tall to the top of the light atop the TARDIS which is on this ornament.
Kurt Adler Gold Crown Reflections blew the TARDIS in a dark translucent glass before they painted it. It is painted with a sparkly blue paint that does not look quite like the TARDIS does on television. The color is very slightly off. Of course, the actual TARDIS does not have sparkles to it. The white around the window is very clearly hand-painted and is not remarkable at all. In fact, while it has authenticity for being hand-painted, it is not clean-looking or actually real looking for the subject of the ornament.
The TARDIS ornament features stickers for such details as the Police Box placard and the sign that hangs on the door to the TARDIS. The stickers are so clear that they act with strong contrast to the painting on the windows.
The Kurt Adler Gold Crown TARDIS ornament is made of fragile blown glass. The ornament features just the TARDIS, without anything around it. The TARDIS is a very simple police box ornament, as it is supposed to be.
Features
As a Kurt Adler ornament, the TARDIS ornament could have a function like a sound chip or light effect, much like a Hallmark ornament, but does not. Instead, this is attempting to sell itself to a more upscale crowd not wowed by simple sound and light functions. This works more as an art piece than a kitsch collectible and most fans who look for classy will be pleased as a result. It’s unfortunate that it does not have a sound chip for the TARDIS arriving/departing noise!
Balance
As with all ornaments, the intent of the Kurt Adler Gold Crown Reflections TARDIS ornament is to be hung on a Christmas Tree. And for those creating the ultimate Doctor Who Christmas Tree, this is pretty much essential! Kurt Adler seems to have a plastic TARDIS ornament as well, but the blown glass ornament is the only one I’ve been able to find so far. The ornament has an aluminum hook loop embedded into the top center. From that hook, the TARDIS ornament hangs very well. The balance is perfect and the time machine hangs level.
Collectibility
Kurt Adler makes a number of Christmas ornaments for genre fans throughout the year. This is actually my first experience with Kurt Adler ornaments and all I know is that they seem to have a pretty extensive line of Doctor Who ornaments. The blown glass ornament seems to be one of the better Doctor Who ornaments. Assuming these break at about the same rate as the Hallmark Keepsake Reflections Star Trek Enterprise blown glass ornament (reviewed here!), this is likely to increase in value.
Overview
The Kurt Adler TARDIS blown glass ornament is good for Doctor Who collectors, but might be a bit fragile for collectors who need it shipped to them and wants something that looks incredibly accurate. Still, it’s a nice collectible, even if it is not perfect.
For other ornament reviews, please check out my reviews of:
Syracuse Orangemen Helmet Blown-Glass Ornament
2009 Wonder Woman Ornament
2013 Jango Fett Star Wars Ornament
6/10
For other ornament reviews, please check out my Ornament Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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