Took a peek at what's going on at Ebay today (as a time-waster, since I should be packing for the road trip to Nationals!). First, the John Phillips WSS book is available for less than $50-it's signed and dated and a 1st Edition. So check it out. Next, is the Bill Pferd WSS book, also a 1st Edition (but that's it's only edition, I believe!), unsigned, for less than $45. The WSSC Book of Champions from 1902-1992 is also available, but for almost $60. So before you buy this one, perhaps you want to check the link I gave on the Art & Books link to see if the WSSC in England still has the book available from their stock.
An artist with very nice Welshie prints that I like is Lyn StClair. Right now on Ebay there are three breed prints for sale named Splash, Puppy, and Composite. I bought my first StClair print - Splash -from a vendor in Louisville in 1986 when I was competing with Kismet in breed and obedience. It's been up in our bedroom since we moved into this house in 1987. You can find all three prints listed individually with instructions for purchase here - "Welsh Springer Spaniel Lyn St.Clair".
An artist with very nice Welshie prints that I like is Lyn StClair. Right now on Ebay there are three breed prints for sale named Splash, Puppy, and Composite. I bought my first StClair print - Splash -from a vendor in Louisville in 1986 when I was competing with Kismet in breed and obedience. It's been up in our bedroom since we moved into this house in 1987. You can find all three prints listed individually with instructions for purchase here - "Welsh Springer Spaniel Lyn St.Clair".
Here's a trip down Memory Lane for you...I first started auction-buying on ebay.com back in 1997, after one of my friends at work introduced me to the site. There weren't really many WSS folks online at that time, and, you used your email address as your identifier. At first, I purchased a lot of collectible items for a ridiculously low price because there were no other bidders. Gradually, other WSS folks started discovering Ebay, and now we knew who we were bidding against just by looking at the bidding history. Yes, there was some competitive sniping going on then-for you Ebay newbies, that's where you think you have the item sewn up, then at the last second, someone puts in a bid that is only slightly higher and nabs the item before you can log a counter-bid.
Then it occurred to me that a) we were driving up the prices for ourselves and b) there was more stuff available most of the time-these were not one-of-a-kind items being sold. So, Colleen O'Keefe, Rhonda Kuhn and I started paying attention to who put the first bid on an item and we would let it alone-that way, we all got what we wanted, and the price didn't get too high to afford. We all got our WSS stamps, books, plates, statues, figurines, jewelry, etc. at reasonable prices.
I've noticed the prices now are WAY up on many items on ebay.com, with not many bargains to be had. You also have to be careful that you are getting original prints, not reproductions of prints for the WSS items that are from books. There are sellers who scan the page and print it out and sell it like it's from the original book. Read all the copy carefully to understand what you are buying. Oh, and just because someone calls something a Welsh Springer Spaniel, you know that in all likelihood, it's NOT a Welshie. This is especially prevalent in figurines, where most are Japanese-made and most are of Cocker Spaniels (American or English) or English Springers, with ears hanging to the shoulder. Of course, it's a dead giveaway when they are painted black or brown-obviously not a WSS at all!