UPDATED 5TH FEBRUARY 2012

Still working on the insurance guide for 2012, which we hope to have on line at the end of February/beginning of March. We have just had a huge collection arrive in stock, which we will be gradually uploading onto the website, once we've sorted the insurance guide out! This includes items such as the Chess Set, Apollo Bowl, Constellation pencils and many other items. So, if you are looking for anything, just let us know and if we have the item, you can jump the queue!

UPDATED 27 JANUARY 2012

We're just about getting back to relatively normal following the system crash, but please remember if you contacted us between mid-September and early January, we will no longer have copies of that correspondence and you will need to resend.

UPDATED 20 JANUARY 2012

Although we haven't completed our stock-take, we have managed to get our database back on line - no thanks to a certain well-known computer company who have been very unhelpful, won't accept responsibility for misleading/mis-selling and who I hold responsible for the simultaneous loss of the hard drive plus their recommended back-up system, which proved to be completely useless. Thank goodness for our independent engineer who has now done everything possible to ensure that nothing like this can ever happen again.

The website updates are a bit behind now as we can't upload too many new products until we are sure we still have them (records are 4 months out of date) and can find where they are! Unfortunately we did our stock-taking exercise inbetween Christmas and New Year, recorded everything diligently on the computer and then lost the lot! So we now have to do it all again - we're just over half way through. if you are looking for something not shown, do let us know and we can advise you of availability.

The insurance guide for 2012 will be slightly delayed as much of the research we did for this has also been lost, and all the new reference guides (about 250 pages in total) have also been lost. We will start those again later on this year, but for now, they will have to be a lower priority task.

Thank you for your support and patience during the very difficult last couple of weeks. We really appreciate it. Having put in some extremely long hours for the last fortnight, we are nearly back to the point which almost resembles normality!!

Please remember that if you have e-mailed us between 18th September 2011 and 8th January 2012 we no longer have a record of your e-mail and no way of contacting you, as we have a gap of 4 months in our data.

UPDATE 16 JANUARY 2012

Due to a fatal failure of the hard drive and back up system on our brand new computer system, we had to close The Crystal Lodge to telephone callers, while we tried to get back to being fully operational. Our telephone lines are now open again, but our stock inventory remains a little out of date, so please bear with us while we complete the necessary work to get back to where we should be! Our apologies for the inconvenience caused. It was just one of those really unfortunate, one in a million situations, with a 4 month old computer system! Thankfully, we were able to transfer old data from previous computer system over, but this is now 4 months out of date where stock, customers and orders are concerned and its going to take a while to get back to where we should be, and we also need to undertake a complete stock-take before we can update the stock database! We still have December and January to do, but we're getting there - slowly.

The other thing to mention is that we now have a 4 month gap in our e-mails, so if you have e-mailed us during this time (19 Sept 2011 to 11 Jan 2012), we no longer have your details. We may be able to retrieve "express interest" requests from the website, and possibly "desperately seeking" but all other e-mails will need to be resent. Sorry, but the hard drive was considered so bad by the independent engineer that he said it was a waste of time even trying to get data recovered. The moral of the story is to never buy the brand of computer that we have!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

Updated 29th December 2011

Really busy run-up to Christmas and we are busy trying to restock - we have run out of loads of things! Lots more goodies arriving soon, so don't forget to use our expression of interest facility if you need anything and that way you can be at the front of the queue when they arrive.

We will start working on the insurance guide for 2012 towards the end of January, and also we should have most of the newly retired items available on-line by then too. They are ready to go, hiding on the website already, but they are not available for sale yet as strictly speaking they are not retired.

Apologies for lack of newsletter (we had hoped to do one this month) but its crazy here right now!!!!

Limited Editions in stock - 1995 Eagle, Clear Bull & Rhino

Expressions of Interest:
We have quite a waiting list now for people seeking baby boy aquamarine and baby girl rosaline sets, so I'm afraid we are not too confident of being able to fulfil those requests. Also very hard to find at the moment are the gold and rhodium graduation sets - again we have a waiting list for those.

We are receiving some expressions of interest for pieces of Swarovski jewellery. Some of these we can help with quite easily, but the vast majority of the jewellery pieces are undocumented in terms of the secondary market and therefore if you would like us to search for a piece for you, we really do need as much information as you can possibly provide. Code number would be wonderful - description/photo, anything that would help us track the item down for you. One item that we have taken the decision not to re-sell are pierced earrings, due to health and safety concerns, we are more than happy however, to seek out other jewellery items, including clip-on earrings. The only problem with jewellery is that it doesn't really come back onto the market once its originally sold in the same way that the figurines do, so these searches are more difficult.

Orange shine Limited Edition Panthers now in stock. Brilliant news!

Ganesha and Buddha

We can now supply not only Ganesha, but also the elusive and absolutely stunning crystal Buddha. Full details are in our Rare and Unusual section, and also the New Arrivals section.

Our slideshow feature has evolved and you will now be able to see underneath the page picture on the description page whether or not there are further pictures for you to view. We are collecting more photos for you, and gradually loading them in sections, but it is a very long process, so please bear with us!

You're loving our own brand Crystal Lodge boxes - we can't pack them fast enough! They really do seem to have filled one of those elusive "gaps in the market"!!

EMPTY BOXES

Check out our new "boxes and certificate" section which is in the miscellaneous area of the shop. Our long-awaited surprise own brand product has arrived! For those of you who have been asking us about spare boxes for your boxless crystal items, we have designed and commissioned our very own Crystal Lodge boxes, complete with end caps and foam in 3 different sizes. Available in selection packs of 6, 12, 18 or 24 boxes (with graduating discount for larger packs). Hope you like them!

ILULIAC ICEBERG AVAILABLE - UK ONLY (£2,300)

£2,300 shipped to UK address. Payment can be RBS WorldPay, PayPal or bank transfer. Just use our expression of interest facility to reserve this item, and we'll take it from there!

2011 CRYSTAL LODGE INSURANCE VALUATION GUIDE ALSO NOW AVAILABLE
DOWNLOAD FREE FROM OUR INSURANCE/VALUATION PAGES.

The guide has grown from 40 pages in length last year to an amazing 55 pages this year!

For anyone previously registered with Crystal Exchange, please note we are not yet in receipt of their client database, so if you were registered with them, please note that we do not have details of any items you wish to sell and/or buy, nor do we have your contact details. This is because Jill is tying up loose ends on transactions which began ahead of the sale of the company and also returning any crystal which was on-site to its respective owners. We currently have their phone routed through to ours, but this is only a temporary measure while this is sorted out. Their e-mail is not coming through to us as it was a personal account, not a business one routed through their website.

Rare and Unusual section

Don't forget to check our "rare and unusual" area of the website from time to time to see some great pieces that become available every so often. At the moment, we have the elusive Sonntage paperweight, the Mon Cheris in black and red, plus a special smoky crystal tipped USA mini butterfly!

We gradually refreshing our website over the course of the year - it will be a slow process, adding more photos. We have recently had the font size increased to make it easier to read. However, this is going to be a very long project, so will be a gradual thing, rather than a massive shake-up!

We do not sell currently available/currently in production items of Swarovski as we do not wish to compete with Swarovski's own primary market retailers, as they don't sell retired items, so we don't sell current! Our products consist of rare and retired Swarovski crystal.

Don't forget - anything with a price of £0.00 means that its out of stock - however, you can use our express an interest facility to tell us that you're looking for this piece. That way, we can advise you as soon as new stock arrives and you can jump the queue!

Purchase of Crystal Exchange Ltd by The Crystal Lodge

On 1st September 2010, The Crystal Lodge purchased Crystal Exchange Ltd. If you have existing/ongoing transactions with Crystal Exchange started prior to 1st September, these will still be seen through to conclusion by Jill, but all new enquiries are being forwarded to us here at The Crystal Lodge. No stock was transferred to us as part of the handover, so if you do have items residing with Jill, don't worry, she will be in touch asap to arrange the return of your items.

Ebay

We now have an Ebay shop - our shop name and seller ID is "thecrystallodge". The direct link to our Ebay shop is:
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/thecrystallodge.

PANDA DISPLAY SCREENS

Our latest batch of panda screens have arrived and we received a discount on this order - which we are happy to pass onto you while stocks last. Normal price: £55.00 - special price just £48.00 (just over 12.5% off!)

PAYMENT METHODS

We now offer both WorldPay and PayPal as methods of payment on our website. The choice will be offered once you get to the checkout stage. We have no preference - the choice is entirely yours! Although if you are using American Express to pay, you will need to select PayPal as our RBS WorldPay gateway does not take this card. Thanks.

COLLECT IT MAGAZINE

Did you see Collect It Magazine/September 2010 issue - blue cover with picture of Betty Boop? The magazine has THREE pages of information about Swarovski. Two pages written by our very own Alison, and one by Swarovski themselves. The magazine's theme is "Iconic Females".

Another new feature to the website is "Wanted/Desperately Seeking". Help our Crystal Detective!!! If we are struggling to find items, we will list them on a new page on this website. If you have them to sell, complete the form and let us know! Please do not use that form if you are trying to sell other items. Thanks!

FABULOUS ITEM - 6 CLOCKS IN REPS BRIEFCASE - £1200 (THAT'S JUST £200 PER VINTAGE/RARE CLOCK!) ATHENA, POLAR STAR, BELLE EPOQUE, COLLOSEUM, EL DORADO AND NAPOLEON. Available now - one set only - see our new "Clearance" section. A brilliant buy and unlikely to ever be found again!

NEW PRODUCTS:

GLASS PODIUMS/PODIA - Now available in our display section! They are absolutely fabulous! These will be despatched direct from the manufacturer, not from us. If you are ordering from overseas, please e-mail us first and ask for a shipping quote.

SPECIALIST COLLECTOR INSURANCE IS HERE!!! Includes accidental breakage cover, and NO excess! A policy designed exclusively for collectors of Swarovski crystal. Visit the insurance tab above for more details.

GENERAL NEWS

Our new office hours of Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm seem to be working well for everyone concerned. We break for lunch at some point between 12pm and 1pm, for around half an hour - but timing varies! Don't forget - we are also away from the phones at other times during the day sorting out the day's parcels for despatch and also taking in deliveries!

We don’t charge a fee for the use of credit or debit cards, nor are there any additional charges for shipping to UK destinations – so what you see is what you pay. No nasty surprises.

For European and international destinations we charge a simple flat fee of £7 to Europe, £10 to USA, so again, you don’t have to wait until you have finished shopping to find out how much shipping will be. However, please be aware that we do not, at this time, despatch single items over 2kg in weight to international destinations. If you are interested in a larger piece - then you will need to contact us for a shipping quote, as the £7/£10 standard fee cannot be used for these items.