The year started off with the announcement on January 10th by Playboy that they have accepted Hugh Hefner’s offer to buy the company and take it private.

The deal is expected to close sometime in the first quarter.  See more information on our GiveAshare blog.  What does this mean to us?  Basically once Playboy goes private the stock certificates are gone.  It’s created a bit of a buzz among collectors, and we are definitely seeing an uptick in Playboy stock sales on our GiveAshare.com website.  But once it’s gone, it’s gone for good.

Last weekend we participated in our first Bridal Show.  What an event!  We had a great time, met lots of brides and grooms, and realized once again how popular and how much fun our caricatures are! 
Everyone who stopped by our booth (and there were a lot), walked away laughing…and I can’t count how many times I heard the comment: “We’ve definitely got to do that for our wedding…” as they walked away.

We’re looking forward to another busy wedding season.  Our newest offering – Save The Dates definitely garnered a lot of attention, as did the Groomsmen caricatures, Bridesmaid caricatures, and the Wedding Couple caricatures with the signable mats.

But first…Valentine’s Day is coming!  We have lots of awesome personalized gift ideas…why don’t you stop by and check them out?  www.LeadingEdgeGifts.com

Playboy stock certificate

Hef wants Playboy.  On July 12th, Hugh Hefner made an offer to buy the 30% of  Playboy Enterprises shares he doesn’t already own and take the company private.  He offered $5.50 a share and then four days later, the owner of Penthouse joined the fray with a higher offer.

Leslie Roman, founder of  GiveAshare.com says that “in either case, Playboy will no longer be a publicly traded company so people will not be able to buyshares once the transaction occurs” .   GiveAshare.com  offers true ownership of one share of Playboy stock as a unique gift.  “Playboy stock is one of our most popular stocks  for grooms buying gifts for their groomsmen and for wives giving an anniversary gift to their husbands. ”

Playboy stock certificates have always been popular collectibles stemming from the days that a naked Willy Rey, Miss February 1971,  graced the vignette of the stock certificate.   This risque version of the stock certificate was later changed to a version with more clothes but the original collectible is still available at Scripophily.com for $395.    The current version of the Playboy stock certificate still has Hugh Hefner’s printed signature which adds to the value.

We will keep you up to date on any developments but in the meantime, you better buy a share of Playboy stock while you still can.