Verbum Magus is the Brainchild of Andrew Bill, the creator of Enchantica. When it was announced that Andrew was leaving Royal Doulton on the 22nd of May 2000 it was a bad day for Enchantica collectors but it was hoped by many fantasy collectors world wide that he wouldn't stop sculpting and he didn't disappoint as just one year later Verbum Magus was launched.

Verbum Magus again saw the re-teaming of Andrew with his old boss Phil Holland who's company Holland Studio Craft first launched Andrews Enchantica range way back in 1988, Andrew met Phil and just simply asked 'Have you ever thought about doing Fantasy again' to which Phil replied 'No' straight away but the seed had been sown and later after a bit of thought Phil changed his mind and contacted Andrew and history was made yet again. It also saw a partnership between Phil Holland and Doug Mitchell who was the American importer/distributer and silent force behind Enchantica. Doug and Phil were to become partners of the Dragonsite.

This time though the plan was different, it was decided by all concerned that the range was going to be more of a prestige range with only a few pieces released throughout the year (about one every 6 to 8 weeks) and not 20 or 30 pieces per year as was regular with Enchantica, it was also agreed that only 2000 (linked to the year 2000 and the millennium) of each piece would ever be made, 1000 for America and 1000 for Europe and they wouldn't make the same mistake of making the limited edition sizes bigger than the specified 2000 as this is what happened to the Enchantica range with pieces having limited runs of up to 15,000 which proved very costly and they had no intention of repeating past mistakes, at first it was the idea to only make pieces of the same large size (not including 'Incantation') - by that it was meant that you could have a tall thin piece or a low long piece or even a fairly square piece but the cubic size would be the same, this was mainly for transportation of the pieces so they could work out how many pieces could fit in a container and if all the pieces are the same general cubic size then the same amount of all the pieces could be transported no matter what shape the piece was - This thought has been slightly changed because it came to light that not everybody could afford the large pieces and Andrew has a large following of loyal collectors who would be disappointed if they couldn't collect some of his work so it was decided to have some smaller size pieces to appeal to a wider audience but they still want to keep the exclusive prestige feel to the range so there are no plans to release loads of little pieces like the Snappa's and Rattajacks of the Enchantica day's as this range is something completely different.

The Verbum Magus name can be translated as 'Word Wizard' which is very apt considering that Andrew not only sculpts the pieces he also writes the short story to go with the piece and he also wrote the four Enchantica novels, one other thing about the name is that you will often see it wrote as verbuMMagus with the two 'M's as larger capitals, this again comes back to the original idea for the range starting in the year 2000 with the millennium and the Roman numeral for 2000 is MM.

The story behind the range is that the Word Wizard (the Verbum Magus himself) is a librarian/Wizard and he looks after a library containing 2000 magical books (there's that number again) all containing fantasy/mystical stories and that's where the pieces come in, every piece is from a single section in a single book, like the freezing of time of a certain scene from that book, so the scope for the range is huge as not every piece has to be a dragon and if Andrew is given the chance we may see other mystical or fantasy figures in different scenes like unicorns, flying horse's, Griffin, Phoenix and many other creatures as well as wizards and other figures. One other exciting thing about the idea for the wizards and other figures is that they don't all have to look like your standard run of the mill Wizards as Andrew would like to use things like the TV mini series 'Gormenghast' (adapted from Mervyn Peakes trilogy) as an inspiration to the costumes of some of the figures.

One thing that must be remembered is that 'Verbum Magus' will only ever be Sculpted by Andrew Bill and no one else, this is his range and only his so unlike Enchantica where you had other sculptors coming in to do pieces and bringing their own style of sculpting to the range, this time every piece will be by Andrew right from design to the finished sculpture, if other sculptors are commissioned to sculpt for the Dragonsite then the piece will be released under the Dragonsite banner, not Verbum Magus. One very early concept idea for the range was for every piece to be stood on a book like incantation (but not always an open book) but that idea was very short lived because it was realised that some pieces would be very heavy, just imagine a piece like 'Deliverance' with a book for a base! So the idea was droped but the odd piece may still appear stood on a book.

The pieces are all sculpted by Andrew in the UK and then a master is made from which a few resin pieces are then produced and given to either Steve Vyse or Caroline Briggs (both ex Head Enchantica artists) to do colour tests, then when Andrew gives his approval the painted master is sent over to the Thailand factory and the piece is then produced and painted in Thailand, this is a disappointment to a lot of collectors but in the modern economic climate it would be commercial suicide to try and produce them entirely in the UK due to production costs that would make them far too costly in today's competitive market, one other important factor in using eastern factories is their far superior mould and resin techniques and manufacture which are much better than anything we have and that is very important to the production of such delicate pieces that Andrew is now coming out with and with the Far Eastern technology Andrew can be more adventurous with his sculptures and push the boundaries of resin figures even further than was ever thought possible.

I was one of a lucky few who got to visit Andrew Bill and Phil and Dea Holland at Moddershall Oaks Health Spa near Stoke-on-Trent in February 2001 as part of a small consumer group to talk about the range and input ideas, we saw early concepts for the packaging and certificates, we heard about the releasing policy and the way the pieces were to be sold exclusively by mail order with a website called 'The Dragon Site' set up to sell the pieces that would expand over time as the range expands, we were also to learn of plans for different pieces/ranges by other sculptors for the Dragon site but what really impressed us the most was to actually see the pieces, we were lucky enough to see 'Incantation' and 'Deliverance' in their painted state and Andrews original wax sculpture's for 'Secrets' and 'Thief' (plus we got to see a couple of other pieces for the Dragon site by Julie Bell (Vansal) and Boris Vallejo and heard about a piece by Hap Henriksen), what we saw blew us away and we left very happy indeed.

Then on the weekend of the 26th and 27th of May 2001 the range was launched at a small show at Moddershall Oaks Health Spa near Stoke-on-Trent (that just happened to be on the same weekend as Royal Doultons Enchantica Extravaganza), the show was a great success and visitors got the chance to purchase 'Incantation' and 'Deliverance' (and Julie Bells 'Vansal') and meet up with Andrew Bill who happily signed pieces for people, Phil and Dea Holland were kept very busy as they were very much 'hands on' selling the pieces, collectors also got to see painted versions of forthcoming pieces like 'Secrets', 'Thief' and 'Renaissance', also Steve Vyse was at the show painting various pieces (including Hap Henriksens piece for the Dragon site). The day was a great success and showed great promise for the future of the range.

Over time things went quite well but pieces began to take ages to appear and then there was the sudden death of Doug in June 2003 and the decision of Phil and Dea to concentrate their time on building work at their Health Spa, all this resulted in no news from the dragonsite other than the Fact that Doug's son, Douglas had taken over the U.S side of the company. collectors began to get aggravated and dejected at getting no news, this wasn't helped when a dealer in America started to sell the Verbum piece called Window of Wonders but it wasn't available in the UK nor via the official site (in fact it wasn't even mentioned on the site!). Then on the 10th of December 2003 Phil and Dea Holland announced via the Dragonsite chat page that they intended to sell the UK arm of the company.

In March 2004 it was announced that fellow collector Adrian Donati had purchased the UK arm of the Dragonsite in February and he still continues to run the UK side.

To be continued...

Other Information

On the back of every piece is a small gem stone which is a certain colour depending on what year the piece was sculpted (not when it was released), the first years stone for 2001 is Topaz 20pp but other colours have yet to be decided for other years - the picture below shows the Topaz gem stone for 2001 on the back of 'Deliverance'

Packaging Design

The boxes for the Verbum Magus range are shown in the picture below, the interior packing consists of solid Styrofoam blocks that are specially made for the piece and is has soft sponge foam to protect the more delicate parts of the piece like the claws and neck. (The Dragonsite web site used to have the same pattern that's on the box for it's backgrounds)

Each box has a sticker on the back in the same design as the box that tells you what piece it is and it is individually hand numbered with the limited number of the piece.

Certificates

Each piece comes with a full colour certificate wether it is an open edition like 'Incantation' or a limited edition, The picture below shows the certificate for 'Deliverance' - All the certificates for pieces that are limited to 2000 pieces are personally signed by Andrew Bill and Phillip Holland (not the usual printed signature) and are hand numbered.

How to contact and purchase Dragonsite pieces

You can contact The Dragonsite in any of the following ways

By Phone - +44 (0)1606 359111

By Fax - +44 (0)1606 359111

By e-mail - enquiries@thedragonsite.com

By Web site - The Dragonsite.com

Or By Post - thedragonsite.com
Unit 4b, Leftwich Warehouses
Queen Street,
Northwich
Cheshire, CW9 5JN
United Kingdom

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Or if you are in the U.S

info@thedragonsite.com

thedragonsite.com
1220 Waterville-Monclova Rd
Waterville, OH 43566

419-878-0034 phone
419-878-2535 fax