Oversized TSR D6 - Where did they come from?

[Cynge]

I recently bought a set of three of these from EBay:
Special Edition TSR Dice

The seller has had them for a few years and had purchased them originally from Ebay as well, so wasn't sure of their origins. I can't seem to find anything on Google...

They are about 2" D6 dice with the TSR logo in the location of the 1. Has anyone seen these before or know where they originated (I'm assuming a con of some sort). I purchased only the dice, the treasure-chest like box this one is in was something I picked up to display them.

[Joey Virtue]

No but they are cool how much did it run you on ebay

[kmal2t]

I would hold on to those. IN good condition I could see them being worth something some day.

[Cynge]

Joey Virtue wrote:

No but they are cool how much did it run you on ebay

21 for the three of them.

kmal2t wrote:

I would hold on to those. IN good condition I could see them being worth something some day.

I still have one. The other two were put into the same style box and given to gaming buddies.

[Vic Wertz]

I have one, but I don't recall with certainty exactly where it came from. If I had to guess, I'd say Origins or Gen Con in 1993 or 1994. I'll poke some folks who might remember better than I.

[Vic Wertz]

I asked all of the former TSR employees in the building.

Pierce Watters says they're unfamiliar to him.

Rich Baker says he's seen them before, but doesn't remember what they were for.

Sean K Reynolds passed the question on to Jim Ward, who says that they were a promotional item, and that he didn't get one... so I'd say they're probably pretty rare.

(Apparently, Lisa acquired the one we've got when she went out to the old TSR offices after Wizards bought them.)

[Bellona]

I have (somewhere) a red one from Gen Con 1992.

[Chris Mortika]

I have a couple. As I understand it, they were a donation from TSR to a local gaming convention for fund-raising through an auction.

[Kajehase]

Here's what I got from asking over at the Candlekeep forums:

The Hooded One wrote:

Kajehase, Ed* and I both remember those dice as being GenCon "giveaways" from years back, in the Milwaukee era (one d6 in a tiny sealed plastic baggie, presumably factory-bagged to guard against blemishing), and Ed thinks he has one . . . SOMEwhere. :)

*Ed being Ed Greenwood, and the Hooded One being his "gatekeeper" at the question and answer thread he has there.

[Vic Wertz]

Bellona wrote:

I have (somewhere) a red one from Gen Con 1992.

I'm pretty sure the TSR logo used on the green one makes it no earlier than 1993.

[Cynge]

Thanks all!

[Digitalelf]

Vic Wertz wrote:

I'm pretty sure the TSR logo used on the green one makes it no earlier than 1993.

Well, if TSR's own product catalogs are any indication of what logo was used when...

TSR's 1993 product catalog had the rectangular logo, and the 1994 catalog had the circular logo used on these dice.

[Vic Wertz]

Round logo on several different 1993 catalogs/ads.

I *think* that the round logo debuted that summer. (Note that first catalog at that link has the round logo on the front and the rectangular one on the back.)

[Digitalelf]

Vic Wertz wrote:

I *think* that the round logo debuted that summer. (Note that first catalog at that link has the round logo on the front, and the rectangular one on the back.)

You know, the sad thing is, I have that 1993 hardbound "collector's edition" catalog (I have TSR catalogs from 1992-1996). And it was the back, not the front of the 93 catalog that I looked at for the logo.

Don't mind me; I just can't see what's clearly in front of my face... ;-)