Swatch Trade/Sale List

  Welcome to Mark's humble swatch page, below is a little about my collection and my sale list.
****I also buy Collections from Locals, just drop me an email to Lydiathio@singapore.com****

Worldwide delivery available, Paypal Accepted!

(All prices in Singapore Dollars / US dollars)

Japanese Le Salon Special (limited to 20,000) - SGD$85.00 / US$58

Zapping ('97 Musical Art Special) - SGD$90.00 / US$62

Seasons Greetings ('97 Xmas Special) - SGD$90.00 / US$62

Special Display 3 signed Kostabi "12 Apostles" with specially made deco in Acrylic Display and Artwork  (this piece is featured below; read about it!! Also more pics of it) - SGD$1800.00 / US$1250 

  Blue leaves and Red leaves set - SGD$150.00 / US$103

Anyway, enuff' about that boring stuff. I started craze collecting in late 1996 and my very first pieces included magic spell and zapping. I had lots of help from people like Brian Pier, Peter Rollings, Michael Kuo and Rob Versteeg of Squiggly guiding me through what to look out for when purchasing swatches. I won't go into much of what to look out for, just email to ask. However, one thing I will mention is that, when buying expensive swatch pieces like e.g. the Harring set, Folon set, Hollywood Dream etc., only get these sort of pieces if possible in one of these two ways. The first way, get them of big time dealers with establised reputations. The second is to get them locally where you can see and then decide to buy. Reason is simple, sometimes different collectors have different definitions of Mint. More often than not, when you think you got a bargain, you'd probably get burnt. I know, I've been burnt enough. Pay that little extra and be extremely satisfied with the product.

The other thing is about buying autographed swatches. I am not saying that they are not authentic, but there are people who fake them (I have heard of many people claiming to have Keith Harring autographed swatches and the thing is Keith Harring signed very very few). Ask for Authentication!  

My Collection

Since '96, my Collection , (close up 1, 2, 3, 4, 5  ) has grown somewhat and I find my collection evolving towards acrylic decorations and custom made displays. Dirk of Art-Box can custom make them for you, give him you specs and explain to him what you want in detail. He is very helpful. One thing though, these displays don't come cheap, but when you finally put your swatches in them = swatch Art. I recently purchased a few custom made and unique displays. One is for my Sam Francis Art special. Unlike the small normal display that just has the words Sam Francis and has the watch sitting on its side, mine was custom made to fit in the lithograph, watch, wording and description of Sam Francis himself (Dirk only made 3 of these worldwide). Yes, Yes, here is the pic. The thing was really heavy and the cost of shipping from Germany to Singapore wasn't funny.

Another one and only unique piece I absolutely consider one of my prized possessions is the Kostabi set which I purchased off a dealer in Singapore. You collectors are probably thinking what the heck I am going on about. Well, in 20th May 1995, there was a convention in New York City where Kostabi was present to display his art and 12 apostles which isn't that popular anyway. Anyhow, this dealer made a trip to N.Y.C. purchased three 12 apostles and waited for the convention doors to open. He approached Kostabi and asked him whether he was able to sign on his 3 twelve apostle swatches. Kostabi mentioned he hasn't done any signings yet and agreed to do so. These are the first three 12 apostles signed by Kostabi, he specifically numbered them 1,2 and 3, signed and dated them on the strap. Later, more signings were done for others. Sure, I was absolutely sceptical about it when this dealer told me this story. Then the proof came. This dealer had brought along his camera and took several photographs with Kostabi himself. The film was developed and brought back to Kostabi on the 21^st May, the second day. There, Kostabi dated and signed the photograph and if that isn't enough, Kostabi himself has a video tape which he recorded on the 20^th May capturing the signing of the swatches for this dealer. Now, I could no longer dispute what was staring me in my face. On the 20^th May, this dealer went to look for Kostabi in his gallery to get more information about his 12 apostles watch design. The design was found to be based on Kostabi's 1992 oil on canvas "Gentlemen" art piece. Bold enough, this dealer asked Kostabi for a replica poster of this art piece. Kostabi agreed, signed and dated it for him. Now, with 3 very unique pieces of 12 apostles (by the way, the boxes of the swatches were signed and dated too), one signed and dated replica poster and one signed and dated photograph, this dealer proceeded to Germany to look for Dirk of art-box. After some careful designing and consideration, Dirk truly came up with a work of beauty. Using laser, he custom cut an acrylic display as well as the replica poster such that the swatches sat in the poster and the display itself. You can see it here in the picture and closeup 1 and 2. So I can more or less stop describing it. I never really liked the 12 apostles swatch watch, but when I saw this one of a kind art piece, it had to be mine. The price I paid for it wasn't that easy to swallow either, but damn, its worth it!

I also have my Harrings in acrylic. Have a look 1 and 2.

Recent additions to my collection are my vegetable collection in acrylic with clear see-thru deco background and my medici, lucretia and dummy lucretia which I also put in acrylic and had Dirk design a background deco for me (1, 2, 3).

Favourite collectibles of mine are Taiwan Black Sheep, K.Harring Set, Maxi Black Sheep, Singapore Unofficial Piquant 1,2,3 Special (I have to be proud of it, don't I? I designed it), Bonaparte, Pompadour, Kostabi set, the limited earth summit globe special (see pic in trade list)  (it ain't in Bonello) and Pacific Beach in Bottle. Favourite swatches to wear: body and soul and Earth Summit Automatic.

 Some additional information. There are only 4 links you essentially need on the internet for swatch collecting and they are , and Ebay .

Please email your comments  good or bad to  Lydiathio@singapore.com . I will appreciate it tremendously. Thanks for dropping by.