Swarovski Budgies Crystal Bird Figurine 680627 – Retired Pair On Frosted Branch, Sapphire And Peridot Tails, Swan Mark, Austria 2000s

A pair of budgerigars in Swarovski crystal, sitting side by side on a frosted branch, a shade over three inches tall. The bodies and heads are cut as separate faceted forms and joined; the beaks are fire opal and sun, the eyes small jet beads, and the two long tails run light sapphire on one bird and peridot on the other.

The colour is the thing to look at, because it is in the crystal and not on it. Light sapphire, peridot, fire opal and sun are separate formulations, each cut as its own component and set into the bird, which is why the tails still read clean rather than faded. A painted finish would not have lasted this way.

Count the parts and you get some idea of the work: two heads, two bodies, the wings, two long tails, the beaks and the jet eyes, and the branch beneath, each faceted separately and joined so the seams do not show. The branch is left frosted rather than polished, so it carries the birds without taking light from them.

The mark under the branch is the swan, with its registration symbol beside it. Swarovski changed its mark exactly once — an etched SC block logo until 1988, the swan from then on — so this sits after that line. The model is Budgies, 680627, in production through the 2000s and retired in 2016.

Michael Stamey designed it; Swarovski names the designer of every model, which few giftware firms do. Budgies belongs to Feathered Beauties, the bird group beside the main Silver Crystal line. Retired models are never reissued, and two birds in coloured crystal are the harder half of that group to find. Stand it where the morning comes in and the blue and green go across the wall.