Rarest Citadel Paints? (Pics)

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**Cruentus**

These are all I have remaining, and the Blue is still full and sloshes when I shake it. The washes even still have wash in them.

I liked these bottles so much I had started switching new paints into these old ones. I found a bottle of black in the hex that I had put Dark Angels Green into.

**A.D.**

Zombiemann73 wrote:
So, I came across this and decided to chime in since I actually have some artifacts of the old Citadel paint line.

When I first started out, I bought sets like crazy! Here are the remnants of the Citadel Ork and Eldar, Creature, Expert, Monster, Metallic and Space Marine paint sets. Plus some I picked up individually. The first pic from left to right is: Imperial Purple, Worm Purple, Fire Dragon Crimson, Hobgoblin Orange, Go Fasta Red, Terracotta, 2 pots of Blood Angel Orange and Sunburst Yellow (I think) Second pic has, from left to right: Chaos Black, Salamander Black, another Black, probably Chaos, Codex Grey, Ghoul Grey, 2 blues that might be Enchanted Blue or Moody Blue, Marine Dark Blue or Midnight Blue (I honestly don't know any more and they aren't labeled!) Spearstaff Brown, Snakebite Leather, Hawk Turquoise, Bilious Green and Scorpion Green. The third pic are the metallics, left to right: Chainmail, Polished Blue, Glistening Green, Beaten Copper, Dwarf Bronze, Burnished Gold, Shining Gold and 2 pots of Mithril Silver. The last pic are the inks, from left to right: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Brown, Chestnut and Black.

Before you ask, some of the old colors just didn't last through storage (probably because I didn't store them correctly also! ) Bleached Bone, Goblin Green, Blood Red, Skull White, Orc Brown, Bad Moon Yellow, Titillating Pink, Elf Grey, Beastial Brown and *sigh* Tin Bitz! (Oh, I gave away Amethyst Purple to my Eldar playing friend back in the day) I mourned every one that didn't survive...but thankfully, there's alternatives out there that replicate those colors and I've replaced some already. The only P.I.T.A. about them are the metallics clumping up after all this time and they take forever to shake to a usable condition!

Impressive think that's the best so far. Shoulda' stacked them on top of eachother

**Cruentus**

Man, now you all have me digging into the depths of my paint drawer. I also found Vermin Fur, Nauseating Blue, Regal Blue, and Blazing Orange hex pots. All of 'em still working!

**bubber**

& i have many round pots but with naming labels on them (the very early gw paints didn't have labels on them).
I think i may have some of the coloured metallics somewhere

**R0!andtheheadlessthompson**

anyone with any thoughts on what is the rarest?

Shameless plug - posted an advert in the swapshop if anyone is hunting that "elusive snark!"

**A.D.**

We have a rough idea, the rarest are the old round pots I believe from one of the sets like the expert range (i think that's what it was called) which was the set that sold the lowest volume.
Rarer still are the pots with no label however because these have no branding and can be faked they're not desirable.

**R0!andtheheadlessthompson**

Axel Dale wrote:
Yeah the rarest are the old round pots and anything from the expert range (i think that's what it was called) which was the set that sold the lowest volume.

I'd be really curious to know
Is that anecdotal?
Or is there a source with somebody quoting numbers.
As it certainly wasn't the last set to be released.

Definitely as time moves forward, the hobby grows, larger-scale production runs, old stuff is rarer than new stuff.
Label changes, name changes, paint reformulations, slightly different colours keeping the same name, identical colours using different names, its a rabbit hole this subject!

What do you reckon - the paints found in the box sets were more common than the paints sold individually?

**A.D.**

Check my edit as I'm not entirely sure. We just have a rough idea. My guess is the particular set contained inks and washes which people didn't really know how to use back in the day so they weren't picked up as much, and so there's probably certain products in that set which people didn't buy individually because they weren't desirable. That said because they are less popular there could be more available as people who bought them might not have used them up, but then again if they're not being used up the GW probably wouldnt order more in. I think that's a good rough starting point. But nobody knows for sure. The mystery continues. I know if I had more money than sense I would be buying these sets for decoration.

**R0!andtheheadlessthompson**

all part of the collecting hobby - nothing sweeter to a collector's eye than 30 year old shrinkwrap!

Automatically Appended Next Post:
The expert set is also pretty interesting because it went through several different packaging phases. Different variations of labels, black lids and even a change in bottle style - early sets used the circular pots, later sets were switched to dropper bottles!

**insaniak**

R0!andtheheadlessthompson wrote:
anyone with any thoughts on what is the rarest?

Likely either the glazes (because nobody bought them when they were available) or Ghoul Grey, which was dropped early enough to not be included in the Coat D'Arms legacy range.

**bubber**

insaniak wrote:
R0!andtheheadlessthompson wrote:
anyone with any thoughts on what is the rarest?

Likely either the glazes (because nobody bought them when they were available) or Ghoul Grey, which was dropped early enough to not be included in the Coat D'Arms legacy range.

i have a full set of the glazes

**A.D.**

insaniak wrote:
R0!andtheheadlessthompson wrote:
anyone with any thoughts on what is the rarest?

Likely either the glazes (because nobody bought them when they were available) or Ghoul Grey, which was dropped early enough to not be included in the Coat D'Arms legacy range.

Somebody has a pot of ghoul grey ey

bubber wrote:
insaniak wrote:
R0!andtheheadlessthompson wrote:
anyone with any thoughts on what is the rarest?

Likely either the glazes (because nobody bought them when they were available) or Ghoul Grey, which was dropped early enough to not be included in the Coat D'Arms legacy range.

i have a full set of the glazes

Yes you also said you had orc flesh wash, but you are yet to bless us with evidence of these holy waters.

**R0!andtheheadlessthompson**

And of course, there was Dalling Road back in the day... we're into the games workshop pre-warhammer age now...

**A.D.**

Saw these paints on ebay. And these are half full. So they definitely are holding some value.

Also an empty box from 1 of the og sets going for 12 quid! If it wasnt for the postage I wld probably buy that.

So for a full set of OPENED paints ur looking at around 70 quid. Unopened who knows? Maybe like 200?

Edit: And this is the regular paint set not the expert.

**Argive**

I have a pot of guiliman glaze which I only break out in the even where I know exactly what Im doing as not a single drop can be watsed... its pure gold dust.

**insaniak**

Axel Dale wrote:
Saw these paints on ebay. And these are half full. So they definitely are holding some value.

Not necessarily. Those are Buy It Now prices, not bids. As in, that's how much the owner is asking for, not necessarily how much anyone would actually pay for them.

eBay listings are a poor indication of how much anything is actually worth.

**A.D.**

True, but it's the same with OOP miniatures too I guess, you're always going to get them cheaper in auctions than at buy it now price. If you go in to an antique shop the sticker price is always inflated. Depending on supply/demand there's always one who will pay top dolla, I'm sure you're right but atleast it's a good indicator that people are trying to push the value of these things atleast.

**R0!andtheheadlessthompson**

And the lovely thing about these old paints of course, they date from an era where 'designed obselence' was not so prevalent.

We understand; we're not debating companies have to sell new product. And the new stuff is marketed as the new shiny bee's knees. This is true for every company that makes a product. The money has to flow! So perhaps the real paint rarities are from the dark ages of GW when costs were cut, boxes were shrinking, models were becoming less durable, shareholders circling overhead...

**insaniak**

Axel Dale wrote:
True, but it's the same with OOP miniatures too I guess, you're always going to get them cheaper in auctions than at buy it now price.

Not always, no. I've picked up quite a few rare minis in bundle deals with low BiN prices, where the seller didn't know what they had.

But it's less about the actual amount as the fact that, whether it's higher or lower, a final auction price is a better indicator of what people (at least two people) will pay for it then a price set by the seller, which might not ever actually sell.

Of course, the auction price is also somewhat unreliable, since you have no way of knowing from looking at the listing whether or not the high bidder actually followed through with the sale and paid for it. People do sometimes just bid listings up for the 'fun' of it, and sellers have been known to bid up their own auctions to artificially inflate the price.

**A.D.**

Technically a lot of the most expensive stuff would be in auctions too which is the opposite of what I said but you get the gist. To be honest those prices were just the first thing I saw I kind of thought 70 was a bit steep for opened paints doubt anyone would buy that.

**AegisGrimm**

I always show my age by still calling modern paints like Armypainter's "Gunmetal", "Boltgun Metal" instead.

**Zillian**

I have 22 of the hex bottle paints that are still good, plus 3 washes including Orc Flesh Wash. Gimme cookie!

Wait! Just found 3 more.

**OrlandotheTechnicoloured**

I've got a bunch more in storage, but these are still in active use

although the chainmail & blood red are pretty much dead

and i've just run out of the bolter shell scorched brown (a lovely glossy chocolate brown, they reused the name for a very different brown in the later range), sob

**insaniak**

I still have a whole bunch of the bolter shell paints in my paint box that I haven't been game to look at. I'm eclectic that they're mostly dried out by now.

I did make the mistake of using my bolter shell red ink a few weeks back, and now the lid is quite firmly glued in place with dried ink.

**A.D.**

My ultramarines blue bolter was so dry it turned in to an actual ultramarine. :/

**Zombiemann73**

For those curious, the paints that do not have any labels are essentially the oldest paints since they were sold as part of now defunct paint sets by Citadel. While those paints were sold individually with proper labeling of their names, but in the sets they had no label. So, anything from the sets I mentioned before, Creature, Monster, Space Marine, etc. etc. will be the oldest paints. How valuable that makes them is anyone's guess really...personal preference in all I suppose. The paint comparison chart that goes from old Citadel to new Citadel to Vallejo Game and Model Color, etc etc that's around here in one of the other forums doesn't even include some of those paints from the sets. They are simply forgotten, which sucks for this old fart who still has those paints but only has a vague idea of what a newer brand and color might look like in comparison. Oh and for the record, the old Terracotta does NOT look anything like XV-88!!

**Arakasi**

Such nostalgia. Alas, any of these older paints I may have once owned got cleared out when I moved to the UK for a stint in 06. Such poor life choices on my part. I would have started purchasing originally back in 92-93. Now my paints only go back to the previous set...

Carry on!

**A.D.**

Don't worry Arakasi that's just part of life. I probably have a lot of rare miniatures from when I was younger that have just got thrown or lost or broken over the years and now that I'm back in the hobby again i'm like trying to find every last little bit I can find. I found the old LoTR metal Gollum the other day which is funny considering i'm rummaging around looking for precious models from LoTR.

**catbarf**

Argive wrote:
I have a pot of guiliman glaze which I only break out in the even where I know exactly what Im doing as not a single drop can be watsed... its pure gold dust.

6 parts VGC Blue Ink, 1 part VGC Red Ink, 14 parts water. It's a dead match.

**gorgon**

I have quite a few hex bottle paints. These are unopened.

Here are some open round bottle paints that are still intact, along with what might be a couple rarer hex paints.

Like I said, I definitely have more of the open variety. Guess I might be more of a paint hoarder than a minis hoarder...