Limited Signature Edition LE23

The Wedding of

Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco

(Grace Kelly was never issued)

7500 Sets were to have been issued in 1983

Reeves pre-sale publicity flyer for the dolls - The Grace Kelly doll has been stamped "NOT FOR SALE"

Although intended for production, the Grace Kelly doll was withdrawn from the Nisbet range, at the request of Prince Rainier.   

Here is the story behind the never issued wedding set, as told by Jack Wilson.   It has been taken from an article written by Karen B Kurtz, in the American “Doll World” Magazine, in October 1996, and is reproduced below

 A special lot of 17 sets of very rare dolls also captured the attention of auction-goers: wedding models of Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace.   Sets brought $30, which was the bargain of the day, as astute dealers and collectors cabbaged onto these never-released dolls.

“The Monaco project actually turned into an embarrassment for Nisbet,” Wilson confided after the auction, retelling the dolls’ incredible provenance.   “After our tremendous success with the Prince and Princess of Wales’ Wedding Set in 1981, we decided to produce a Royal Wedding series.   We had produced 20 sets of the Rainier-Grace dolls when, lo and behold, our New York lawyer received a call from Prince Rainier’s lawyer, requesting us to halt production at whatever cost, to protect his privacy”.  

“What we said to ourselves was that we just couldn’t even afford to get up in the morning against that kind of power, you know”, Wilson said.   “So we had to abort the whole thing.   It was very costly, obviously, but it was the only project in Nisbet’s history that needed to be aborted for lack of permission”

 The article was reporting on Jack and Alison’s February 1996 auction of the Nisbet Archive, and the dolls from Peggy Nisbet’s private collection.   More than 1500 dolls were sold, and raised $50,000.

All of the Grace Kelly dolls were supposed to have been destroyed - but obviously weren't, as they surfaced at the Nisbet auction in February 1996.

The doll in our collection, (and shown below), is Sample no.5.   This suggests that there are at least 24 of these very rare dolls potentially in circulation, besides the one we have.

Prince Rainier had no objections to his own doll being sold, and his model was issued.

  • P/1040 was to have been the Grace Kelly doll
  • P/1041 is Prince Rainier of Monaco

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News

21st September 2023

 

Important Announcement

 

My dear wife, Christine, passed away on the 8th December, 2021after 8 weeks in hospital. I was by her side, when she slipped away from me peacefully, with no pain or suffering.

 

Chris had been struggling with a slow decline in health, associated with a progressive, untreatable, and ultimately terminal lung disease, and finally succumbed to her old adversary, Pneumonia.

 

We had been friends for 55 years, together as a couple for 50 years, and married just a month short of 48 years, when she died.   

 

This website was Chris's idea, and I did all the technical stuff, to make it work.   After news of Chris's passing reached her close friends in the doll collecting world, I was deeply touched and gratified to hear their tributes to my dear wife, and I must thank them all for their kindness and support.   Ultimately, it was her doll friends that gave me the courage to continue with the website.

 

In the months before her eventual hospitalisation, Chris had outlined a number of additions and changes she wanted to make to the website, and it is my intention to honour those wishes, and to implement the changes we had considered, over the coming weeks and months.

 

I must apologise to all those who have written to us via the website, only to have your emails go unanswered.   Unfortunately, the email system had been hacked aroung the time Chris was going into hospital, and many emails must have been lost, as a result.

 

As you might imagine, I felt completely broken by Chris's loss, and it is only now, almost 22 months after her passing, that I have felt strong enough to even look at the website again.   

 

My aim is to continue with the website, and to implement Chris's aims for her many new ideas as soon as I can.   In the meantime, I have hopefully got the email system sorted out, and I will attempt to answer any enquiries as soon as I can, and to send replies with the same high degree of accuracy that a reply from Chris would have had.

 

From now on, I will be flying solo, whilst my co-pilot and guide will be soaring much higher, (though she is always in my heart, and in my thoughts).

 

My thanks to all our website visitors for your continued support

 

Dave (also known as Arthur), and Chris, (my lost love, Guinevere)

 

Christine Poulten

25th December 1949 - 8th December 2021