Queen Elizabeth “Jubbly” Souvenirs Prove Importance of Spellcheck
Spelling mistakes can be embarrassing, but they can also be a goldmine for collectors. At least that is what the Wholesale Clearance Center company in England hopes is true. This week, Queen Elizabeth II is celebrating 70 years on the throne. But a translation error by a Chinese company has resulted in 10,000 mugs, tea sets and decorative souvenirs celebrating Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum “Jubbly” rather than her Platinum Jubilee. The souvenirs have an illustration of the Queen surrounded by images featured in her coat of arms—as well as the misprint.
Wholesale Clearance, which deals in bankrupt stock, is trying to sell for $44,000 all the misprinted souvenirs as collector’s items. The company said they were approached by a Chinese manufacturing company. The pitch is for a reseller to make a “potential profit” of nearly $400,000.
“There’s a market for everything,” a spokesperson for the company told the BBC.
It takes 10 to 20 years for typos to become valuable. First the entire production must be sold out and there must be a limited quantity. Then, there must be continued demand for the items either for the humorous or historical value of the mistake. So, buy them for their decorative value but don’t expect a return any time soon.
Photo: Wholesale Clearance UK
2 responses to “Queen Elizabeth “Jubbly” Souvenirs Prove Importance of Spellcheck ”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Featured Articles
Whoever contracted for the production of these should have seen a sample before “okaying” the final fulfillment of the order (if they had any clue what they were doing). The client should have “signed off” on a final sample of each piece. If the delivered order was different than the signed-off-on sample then the fault is the manufacturers and they have to eat it. If the client signed-off on a sample with the misspelling, then the fault lies with the client who placed the order and “okayed” the sample. Good luck with that expected return on investment.
So who made the error? Was it the one in England who ordered the items? “Jubbly” sounds like the way someone in England would pronounce “jubilee”.