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What exactly is a grail anyway????

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What exactly is a grail anyway????
Pin-A-Colada said:
Pixie, correct every one can have a difference of opinion when it comes to specifics of the word "Grail", what it means to them, and they should be able to of course.

Now as a general term here on our forum when we think of a grail we are looking for the pin to be valued at least $300 with a ratio of over 300 people wanting. It should definitely be an LE if not it is a public pin and possibly thousands of them made.

Here is a pin of what our DPF community should consider as a good example of a grail (other pins with similiar criteria as I mentioned would fall in same category)

It's Limited Edition to 100 - 3 people are trading it - 341 people wanting it - it easily sells in the multi-hundred dollar bracket

Pin 39958: Disney Auctions - Elizabeth Gomes Signature Series (Sleeping Beauty)


pin39958


Hence folks a grail pin.
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This one is mine.
 
I am very new, so you can take that into consideration... and I do agree that it is annoying when people put "grail" in their auction/sales/trade titles JUST to get their post noticed... but other than that-
who cares what someone else consider's a grail? if it's important to them, it's important to them. i wouldn't put limits on trade/want ratio's or cost or LE size for anyone else's grails. Some people can't afford a lot of basic traders in the first place, much less buying rarer/more expensive pins for their collection straight out. So if it's hard for THAT person to obtain, it should be able be a grail for THAT person and nobody else's opinions should matter.
wow. I didn't know I had such a strong opinion on this!
 
nblaughs said:
I am very new, so you can take that into consideration... and I do agree that it is annoying when people put "grail" in their auction/sales/trade titles JUST to get their post noticed... but other than that-
who cares what someone else consider's a grail? if it's important to them, it's important to them. i wouldn't put limits on trade/want ratio's or cost or LE size for anyone else's grails. Some people can't afford a lot of basic traders in the first place, much less buying rarer/more expensive pins for their collection straight out. So if it's hard for THAT person to obtain, it should be able be a grail for THAT person and nobody else's opinions should matter.
wow. I didn't know I had such a strong opinion on this!
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+1
 
Just the other day, I started to put my opinion in a sale thread where the seller advertised as selling "Grails". I wanted to say... how do you KNOW this is a grail? Is it YOUR grail? I changed my mind because I was afraid I was too rude, but I totally agree that it drives me crazy. :nono:

TheOtherSteve said:
Grail: the object of an extended or difficult quest - doesn't say anything about value or rarity, after all "One man's trash is another man's treasure"...a grail pin is something that has special meaning to a specific person and they have decided to try and find the pin that would become a centerpiece of his or her collection
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But ^ this ^ is what I believe. My grail isn't going to be your grail. The Minnie as the Queen of Hearts and Minnie as Alice were my grail for years because only 2-3 people were trading each of them and 200 or more were wanting them. They sold for WAY more than I could afford to purchase them on ebay the couple of times I would see one (like maybe once a year). Most people on here could care less about Minnie as anything. :) And that's ok.

I don't think it matters if it's an LE of 100 or 2500. If it's difficult for THAT PERSON to obtain (maybe a poor college student) and they desire it over all other of their wants, it's their Grail. Who am I to tell them it's only a want?

Remember the recent thread asking if you could only obtain one more pin....EVER...what would it be? That's a Grail....IMHO. :angel:
 
To me. A grail pin/s are the ones I want the most. I would literally cry for joy at receiving one as David (Docfish2u) has seen and a few others (EchoHarmony and Dawny) have not seen. :)
 
Like a lot of people here have said, a grail for me is just a pin that is hard to get whether is to buy, trade and even find. I disagree that a pin has to be LE 300 or below because there are some grails that are LE 1000 and are still hard to get like the Opening Day Rapunzel, the Kiss the Girl DA, and maybe even LE 500 like the Seasons Ariel. I do agree that some trade auctions say "grail" and it's not.. but it depends if the person thinks they are a hard pin to come by.
 
Something almost impossible to obtain . Like the Designer princesses, Tangled Marquue, etc. We have come to terms that there are some pins we will never own. I sure hope the bottom never drops off on the market for people that spend $$$ on pins. :)
 
We have two...one fairly obvious, as I'm sure most would agree...and the other, not so obvious. See if you can guess which is which...lol!

pin81948
pin22191


Anyway, I feel the person wanting a pin should decide if it is a grail, but certainly pins that are more difficult to obtain (whether high $, low LE, high positive trade ratio, etc.) would be included in my definition of a possible grail.

shooting4ownhand said:
For me a grail is a pin I have an incredibly hard time obtaining either because I have nothing to trade for it, no money to buy, constantly get out bid for it, etc. My current grail sells from between $40-60. It's not an expensive pin but I've lost the auction each time its come up on ebay. I've tried trading everything I own for this pin and I still cannot seem to get my hands on it. It does have a fairly good wants/trades ratio but even if it didn't, I still cannot seem to get my hands on it. To me that makes it a grail. It's a pin you have a hard time obtaining for any number of reasons.
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What pin are you referring to?
 
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To me, at least, I know something is a "grail" when I see it in a lot of people's signatures. Something can be a grail for one person but not qualify as something you'd label a grail in general. So I really think the grail title, at least for auctions, should be reserved fors pins that many people would consider a grail, not just one or two. But, of course, your personal grails can be anything and everything
 
My younger sister asked me this question, and I explained it kind of like this: A grail is a pin that if you managed to find, you would be content not to collect any more of that particular theme of pin, possibly for good - but usually for a while. (Being a multi-themed family, and with her disability easier to break it down into categories) An uber-holy-mother-of-god-it's-the-fricken-holy-grail is one that you would be content to not to collect pins anymore, also usually for a while. . but a bit longer than if it were a grail. She has yet to tell me which ones her grails are, I think for fear that she would then have to stop collecting that theme - LOL.
 
Hmm to me..... a grail pin is a pin that I really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really REALLLLLLLY want for my collection. Sometimes the pin is a VHTF/ollllllld one, and other times it's not; it just depends on the pins I like (which are ALOT) and also the ones that hold a sentimental value/meaning to me. I notice I am also more prone to using the term grail if the pin continues to elude me on several occasions and/or I don't have enough money to buy it/pins to trade for it. My grail PoDM scenes are a prime example of this for myself :lol:

Although I have noticed that the term grail is thrown out alot, so I have been using the term most wanted more to be more politically correct, because my grails may not match another person's grails.

There are however, for every ________ collector, a pin or pins that we as ________ collectors as a whole, consider a grail or holy grail (as in like stupid hard/darn near impossible to obtain/spend an obscene amount of money on). Pin-A-Colada gave a great example of the Sleeping Beauty Gomes (which is a Sleeping Beauty grail for me; yes I have grails via categories LOL) and another great example is the Ariel Art Nouveau 36939. What Ariel collector DOESN'T want that pin? hehe
 
For me, I don't use the phrase "grail" just "most wanted" as you can see in my sig. But, of those pins listed in my sig; some are there because they just are around but I'm just waiting for the price/trade to be realistic for me.

Others are possibly what you would describe as a grail. I think Pin 77724: Chip and Dale Adventure - Star Tours Attraction (Completer Pin) is my no1 most wanted, plus it's LE 300, plus 150 people wants and zero people trading. I've never seen it come up on eBay and I can't imagine the cost if it did. To me, that's a grail although I don't often use the term.
 
Because everyone has a different definition of what a grail pin is for them, it doesn't bother me when people use the word "grail" in their sales. For all I know it's a grail to someone...
 
To be honest (don't hate me), I find the word "grail" a tad melodramatic when referring to something like a pin. As for its use in the pin world, just reading through this thread shows us how subjective the term is.

I do agree that it is being over-used in auction and sales threads. Yes, whether a pin is a "grail" is subjective, but when you post an auction or sale as a "grail", that obviously means you are advertising it as a pin which other people (ie. potential bidders/buyers) see as a "grail", so it should be a very hard-to-get pin and/or one you would see in multiple signatures. (While we're on the topic of sales threads, I'd really like to see a date when sellers say "new pins added" in a thread's title ...after I've checked a couple of times and seen no more new pins, I'm going to stop checking and I won't see new pins when you do add them. I'm not saying we need a rule about this, just that the effect may be the opposite of what the seller intends.)

Sorry to hijack the thread, but on the subject of "grails", "most wanted", etc.: I've been collecting for less than a year, so I can't speak to how pin trading has changed over the years, but I do see a lot of comments about what's wrong with pin trading these days. Personally, I think there is far too much emphasis on having certain types of pins, stressing to obtain certain pins, etc. I'm not saying that members here look down on people with small collections ...I've heard that allegation in the past, but I haven't seen it myself. I do think, however, that sometimes new traders come here and hear about all these wonderful highly-sought-after pins, and they feel like they must have every low-LE pin they like. They "need" a pin, they need it now, and they are/will be horribly unhappy without it.

I look at members' trades and wants list all the time ...to check for matches, to pick PIF/RAK gifts, out of curiosity when they post that they really want to trade for a certain pin, etc. It amazes me how many people, who still have fairly small collections and trades lists, have wants lists comprised almost entirely of LE100s, LE250's with crazy trade ratios, etc. I'm not saying that they shouldn't want those pins, I just find it very odd that there aren't any other pins they want. We fall into the hype. Instead of looking for pins we like, we get caught up with chasing only the ones we can't have. There are so many great OE and high-LE pins out there. I have quite a few pins, and there are some very high-end pins that I very much want, but there are still many many "lower-end" pins that I want. The "grails" should be the few pins that we hope to own some day ...having a few of those possibly-unattainable wants makes the hobby more interesting ...but if agonizing about obtaining a handful of pins, that hundreds of people want, becomes the "be-all and end-all" of your pin hobby, how can you be having any fun?
 
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I hope this doesn't sound rude or anything, but...

A grail is the legendary cup or dish that is said to be used by Christ at the Last Supper, and is said to have appeared in other events in Biblical history.
 
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While I appreciate that the term "grail" holds religious significance for many people, the term was in use long before it was incorporated into Christian beliefs/mythology and equated with the cup of Christ. I am certainly not an expert in this area, but it is my understanding that the word does not appear in the bible.
 
imp said:
While I appreciate that the term "grail" holds religious significance for many people, the term was in use long before it was incorporated into Christian beliefs/mythology and equated with the cup of Christ. I am certainly not an expert in this area, but it is my understanding that the word does not appear in the Bible.
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you are correct, which is why I said "legendary" and "is said to". I only said what I did because I have very close friends that are religious and would have taken offense to the term and would find it blasphemous. I am also aware that there are members here who are religious and feel the same way.
I did not mean to cause trouble, and I will edit/delete my comment if need be. I was only trying to answer from the point of view of a religious being, as I before mentioned, I know of many members and people who have stated that they do not like the overuse of the phrase.

As for myself, I try not to offend people, and try not to use the phrase for that reason, but if someone asked me what a grail was (referring to pins), I'd say it was your most wanted pin. I do not believe value has anything to do with it.
 
LumpyLover says: but if someone asked me what a grail was (referring to pins), I'd say it was your most wanted pin. I do not believe value has anything to do with it.

And I totally agree! Very subjective...and that's ok!
 
Hmmm I don't think anyone thinks of the word "grail" with negative or blasphemous connotations in relation to Christianity though. For me, I'm Lutheran, and I was never taught about this Holy Grail of Christ. When I think of the Holy Grail cup, I think of the film "Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail" !! :facepalm: There are people from all over the world here, with all different religious backgrounds or lack thereof, and I certainly hope no one is using the word in a derogatory manner to offend someone! If that is the case then yes, we would have to re-evaluate its usage.

I'm sorry that it comes off that way to you LumpyLover (and anyone else who feels this way)! :( *hugs* I can assure you that myself and others may not have known about the usage of the term in the religious manner, and by no means meant to offend anyone.

I personally believe racial and religious sensitivity is extremely important on a forum full of friends such as this. I for one would be willing to change my signature to read "most wanted" instead of "grails" if it made someone more comfortable.

Unfortunately no one can stop anyone from using a word here, unless its profanity, but some of us are willing to stop using it if it makes people sad. I'm off to change my signature now! But I think it will take me some time to stop typing it out...seeing as I've been doing it for so long! But I will try my best! :)
 
starry_solo said:
I think of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade!
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me, too!

I come from a very strait-laced religious family, and none of us would have ever taken offense at the term grail. I think of it as something separate from value, more of a nearly unattainable object/feat.

my husband always says that his Disney grail is eating at Club 33. some people are members or know people who are, so for them, its silly to have this as a grail, but for us, this is an unattainable dream and thus remains our grail. :)
 
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