Kristall Buzz… Swarovski Crystal News Blog by Crystal Exchange

Some less commonly seen Swarovski crystal figurines are the frosted birds perched on top of clear thimbles.  These figurines are better known as Swarovski Thimbles.

The Swarovski Thimble figurines were available with 5 different birds on 2 different thimble bases.  The 5 different Swarovski birds are:

1. Swarovski Owl on Thimble
2. Swarovski Parrot on Thimble
3. Swarovski Eagle on Thimble
4. Swarovski Cockatoo on Thimble
5. Swarovski Toucan on Thimble

The thimble bases are clear, but have different shapes, and are known under various names.  One base is often referred to as the pinecone base or barrel base.  It is difficult to describe, other than saying that is resembles a pinecone….smaller at the bottom and top, wider near the middle.  The other base has a straight-line design, larger at the bottom and smaller at the top.  This straighter design has also been called the panel-base.  In the Swarovski thimbles photo, the Parrot and Toucan are shown on the pinecone/barrel base.  The Owl, Eagle and Cockatoo are shown on the panel/straight base.

The Swarovski Thimbles were produced under the “Crystal Colors” name in the European market.  The crystal thimbles were about 2.25” tall.  While I am uncertain as to the approximate retail price while they were available in the 1990’s, they are estimated to be valued at $100 – $200 each on the secondary market.  It is difficult to find the bird thimbles these days, but they are oftentimes sold as a set of 5 birds (with the same base) or a set of all 10.

I generally confirm details for my articles using the well-respected Warner’s Blue Ribbon Books on Swarovski.   While I was closing the Swarovski book, the pages flipped to the Zales Cockatoo on Stand figurine.  I turned back to the thimbles pages.  Back and forth to the Zales pages.    Know what?  I believe that the same frosted birds are used on the Zales figurines, which were produced in the 1980’s in USA for the Zales Jewelers stores!  I have never heard this theory anywhere else and I don’t have any of the figurines for a visual comparison, so this may very well be a new discovery!

Good luck finding the Swarovski birds crystal thimbles….finding them is becoming a real challenge!  If I should obtain confirmation as to the question of the Swarovski bird components being used for both the thimbles and Zales figurines, an updated post will certainly be in order!