There are currently 34 known automobiles directly manufactured by Daum, including standard editions, limited editions, custom designs, and relief (1/2 width) cars, and the Claude Nicolas cars. These cars range in length from 8” to 17” in length, and range in scale from 1:20 to 1:12, making them some of the largest high quality lead crystal cars ever produced. In addition there is one additional car which was manufactured by Daum's sister company, Cristal de Sevres.

There are a number of collectors who solely collect the Daum automobiles. Others, like myself, collect a much wider range of Daum pieces. Particularly with the cars, I am a “purist” in that I collect not only the cars, but also the metal car nameplates, complete original boxes, and coordinating numbered certificates of authenticity for the limited edition pieces.

It should be noted that it is unlikely Daum made very large quantities of most of the cars. The first and most common car is the Coupe Riviera. All others are less common in varying degrees. In many cases we now have verified production numbers for the cars. Other production numbers are hopefully coming soon. In all cases the actual production numbers are much lower than many anticipated. As an example, each limited edition convertible, which are individually numbered as part of an edition of 2500, were never produced in quantities over 320. I personally have never run into a S/N over 331 for any of these convertibles. The ultra rare Aston Martin DB5 and the Jaguar MKII are even significantly lower than the convertible numbers.

Please note that the list below is the complete list of every known Daum car. In this section only, I am listing all the pieces in this category and have indicated with an asterisk which cars I do not have in my collection.

Due to the large number of Daum automobiles, they are divided into the following categories:

The Standard Large Cars (Info) Coupe Riviera Eldorado Monoplace LeMans Limousine Imperial Grand Prix etched #2 Mercedes Benz 300SL Bugatti 55 Roadster Corvette Stingray Jaguar Type E Porsche 911 Carrera Ferrari 250 GTO Mercedes 500 SEL BMW 750IL The Claude Nicolas Large Cars (Info) Ferrari 456 Ferrari Testarossa

The Limited Edition Cars (Info) 53 Corvette Ford T-Bird 53 Cadillac Ford Mustang Aston Martin DB5 Jaguar MKII * The Custom Production Cars (Info) Grand Prix etched #1 Alfa Romeo SZ * Mercedes SL500 The Standard Alfa Romeos (Info) Alfa Romeo 33 Alfa Romeo 155 Alfa Romeo 164

The Relief Cars (Info) Deauville Marly Monza L’Automobile Manhattan (with clock) The Claude Nicolas 1:20 Scale Cars (Info) Range Rover Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 The Daum Related Cars (Info) Peugeot 905     The Daum Paperweights (Info)   Citroen

* Cars I am missing from my collection.

THE DAUM STANDARD PRODUCTION CARS

There are 13 standard production cars that Daum produced in the large size cars, and all are listed in the Automobile Mini Brochure. The Coupe Riviera was the first and most popular car produced, while the rest sold with varying degrees of success. No one knows exactly how many of each car was produced, but the quantities were not as high as one might think. Many collectors, especially early on, concentrate on just collecting these 13 standard cars.

These cars were sold through Daum dealers. Some came with metal nameplates while others did not. Throughout the years both original boxes and the metal nameplates have disappeared. The metal nameplates have now become somewhat of a collectors item in their own right.

THE DAUM LIMITED EDITION CARS

Daum designed and produced 6 limited edition automobiles as part of their on-going regular production, each of which were limited editions, and each of which were individually numbered. Four of the cars were convertible models of American classics: the 53 Corvette, the 53 Cadillac, an early T-bird, and an early Mustang. Each of these convertibles were supposed to be limited to an edition size of 2500. The other two cars were classic English cars: the Aston Martin DB5, and the Jaguar MK II. The two English cars were each part of a very small edition size of 250.

Unfortunately for Daum, they never came close to selling 2500 of any of the convertibles, or 250 of either of the English cars, so the actual edition size was much smaller. No documentation exists that I am aware of that shows exactly how many of each car were actually made. In my personal knowledge, I have never seen a convertible with a serial number of 400 or above, or an English car above serial number 100.

Each of these cars came with a metal name plate (unnumbered), a Daum Automobile mini brochure (unnumbered), and a certificate of authenticity which had the serial number of the car written on it. In addition, the label on each box also had the corresponding serial number written on it. A truly complete limited edition car consists of the car, the name plate, the mini brochure, the certificate of authenticity, and the box (with all inserts), all with matching serial numbers where appropriate.

I would love to hear from others who have these cars, along with their car’s serial numbers, especially if you have a serial number higher than the production number I have on the individual web pages.

Note: To the best of my knowledge, none of the limited edition cars ever appeared in a catalog or mini brochure with the other cars. In fact, I do not have any catalog or brochure that lists any of the limited edition cars or other specialty cars, although I am sure such advertising had to exist. I would love to hear from anyone who has original advertising info on these cars.

DAUM’S CUSTOM PRODUCTION CARS

Daum produced a number of custom cars for car manufacturers and certain of their retail dealers. Many of these were designed by or under the direction of Claude Nicolas, and these are itemized on the Claude Nicolas Cars page. In addition three other cars have been identified as being made for specific Daum retail dealers.

The “Mercedes 500SL” was a custom design produced specifically for a jewelry store in Texas. This was a large (1:12 scale) car that was signed Daum, but not numbered. The actual edition size of this car is under 500 pieces.

The “Grand Prix N:1” was a specifically created alternate version of the standard “Grand Prix”, however it is etched with the number “1” rather than the number “2” on their standard edition. It is believed this cars was specially ordered for an international corporation through one of Daum’s European retailers. It is not numbered, but is signed Daum, and did come with a metal name sign. The actual edition size of this car is unknown, but assumed to be very small. I consider this to be a distinct and separate collectible car from the number "2" Grand Prix.

The Alfa Romeo SZ was a custom design specifically made for Alfa Romeo. It was a numbered limited edition of 300 pieces. Alfa Romeo did not sell these to the best of my knowledge, but gave them away, as marketing gifts to top clients and the press. (Thanks to Harry Hoving as the best known source for Alfa SZ information. His website is www.alfasz.nl, then go to SZ-Stuff)

DAUM’S RELIEF AUTOMOBILES

Daum also designed and produced a series of four stylized Relief cars which were smaller in scale (1:20 approx) than their larger cars. In addition the Relief cars where only ½ width cars, typically about 1 ½” deep, and with the back and rear ends of the pieces being flat. The four Relief cars were included in the standard Automobile mini brochure that was included with many of the cars. The four original Relief cars are: “L’Automobile”, “Deauville”, “Marly”, and “Monza”.

Daum also produced a fifth Relief car that was a combination piece of a clock, tall skyscrapers, all sitting atop of a relief car. The car in this piece is of an even smaller scale (perhaps 1:24), although the entire piece is good sized. This piece was named “Manhattan” and appeared in the 1988 Catalog.

DAUM’S ALFA ROMEOS

Daum made a total of 4 Alfa Romeo’s, all in the smaller 1:20 scale. Three of these were standard production items, the Alfa 33, 155, and 164. A fourth Alfa was custom made in 1989 directly for Alfa Romeo, the Alfa SZ, which was a limited edition of 300 pieces. The Alfa Romeo 155 is the most common of the cars, while the 33 and 164 are a bit harder to find. The SZ is extremely rare and is coveted both by Daum Collectors and by Alfa SZ owners.

THE CLAUDE NICOLAS AUTOMOBILES

During the 1980’s and early 1990’s, Claude Nicolas in conjunction with Daum, was involved in the creation of a number of cars specifically for the Ferrari, Range Rover, and Peugeot auto companies, to sell through their dealers and accessory retailers. It is currently unclear whether Claude Nicolas was actually involved in the design of these pieces, commissioned them specifically, or was only involved in the marketing of these pieces. In any event each of these automobiles were etched with the name Claude Nicolas, albeit in different variations from car to car.

The Claude Nicolas cars are divided into two groups: The large scale (1:14) cars, and the small scale (1:20) cars,

The large cars include:

The “Ferrari 456”, which was actually signed “Daum France”, and was a numbered limited edition of 599 pieces.

The Ferrari Testarossa, which was unnumbered and not signed by Daum, and which was shown on some boxes as being made by Kan International. However it known that the Testarossa was manufactured by Daun, both from a quality point of view, and from being advertised as made by Daum in a car accessories magazine ad. See Note below regarding Kan International.

The small cars include:

The Range Rover, not signed by Daum, and which was shown on the box as being made by Kan International. However I have indirect evidence that Daum actually manufactured this piece. See Note below regarding Kan International.

The Peugeot 205 Turbo 16, not signed by Daum, and which was shown on the box as being made by Kan International. See Note below regarding Kan International.

The Peugeot 905, signed "Crystal de Sevres". See Related Car section below.

Note: There has always been continuing discussion among Daum Automobile Collectors as to the manufacturing origin of these Claude Nicolas cars. In discussions with knowledgable people in France and ex-Daum employees, I am confident that the Testarossa, Range Rover, and Peugeot 205 were all made my Daum in its own production facility.

The fact that the boxes for the Range Rover, Testarossa, and Peugeot 205 show the manufacturer as "Kan International" is misleading. In actuality, it is believed that "Kan International" was a Daum wholesaler who re-packaged at least some of this production to market under the “Kan International” name. Today Kan International is an international trading company and can be found at www.kanintlcorp.com

THE DAUM RELATED CARS

There is at least one additional car which, while not made by Daum directly, was produced by one of Daum's sister companies, and was also a Creation of Claude Nicolas.This car, the Peugeot 905, was made under by Cristal de Sevres, which was another high quality and well known French Crystal maker, and which was actually owned by Daum’s parent company, AXA, during the late 1980’s and 1990’s when these cars were produced. The Peugeot 905 is the only known car actually signed "Cristal de Sevres", as well as having the :"Creation Claude Nicolas Paris" also engraved on it. As such I believe it is a valuable and integral addition to any complete Daum Automobile collection. It is further interesting that certain variations exist as a limited edition production run. See Peugeot 905 for relevant pictures.

THE DAUM PAPERWEIGHTS

Daum made a whole series of Paperweights with various images pressed into them: Autos, Horses, Flowers, etc. The only Auto related paperwieght I know of is an image of a Citroen. I do not know if there are other Auto images. If anyone has one of these paperweights with a different car, please let me know so I can add it to the Auto Database.

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