Pinocchio & Jiminy Cricket – Kaws

Artist: Kaws

Series: Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket (produced by Originalfake/Medicom)

Date Purchased: 2010

Price purchased: $300-$350CAD

Story: No real interesting story with this one. Originally when I started collecting figures in the late 90’s, early 2000’s, eBay was a great source for deals and hard to find items. Fast forward to 2010 and there were less deals, more fakes, higher shipping costs and duties. You can read about the general challenge of purchasing a Kaws piece here. This one was no different where I had to use a reputable and fair aftermarket seller out in Japan. Price was higher compared to release (which was about $200USD at the time) but relative the $1000+ now, I’m pretty happy (although there are a lot more fakes popping up now). The interesting thing about this piece isn’t about the toy itself, but more about the stand I made for it. Years ago, when a great, local, home and clothing store, Caban, was closing its doors, they had these amazing acrylic garbage containers at liquidation prices. They were $10 each and I grabbed the last three just to keep around. Anyways, when I picked up this Kaws piece, I thought it would be perfect and asked my architect friend Ryan if he could build a stand using the acrylic container. He used some plywood and built this beautiful pedestal. The corners were nicely rounded, it was built to perfectly fit the garbage container and it was painted in bright white. Ryan’s always been handy with wood work and just building shit around the house. He’s even built his own 3d printer which is ghetto, but amazing.