Discontinued rare items

Discontinued items and holiday drops are items that can no longer be obtained through the game and, therefore, their numbers are not increasing. However, some of these items may still be obtained through trading with other players. These items are now very few in number and are very expensive. Most of these items are holiday drops that were released years ago.

These rares are also a very important part of RuneScape's economy, many players work hard with skills to achieve a long-term goal of owning a rare and discontinued holiday item. For the most part rares either hold their value or grow, like that of a stock. In some special occasions, such as the "Unbalanced Trade Removal" update the price of rares will drop, but players can be certain that if they hold a rare long enough it will eventually be worth it because no more rares will ever enter the economy. Items such as Armadyl Godswords and Divine Spirit Shields have high prices compared to other non-discontinued items, but will eventually fall because it is possible to get more of them, and in the case of tradeable holiday items, this is not a possible reason for the price to decrease. A big concern that some players have about buying a holiday item is that in the future Jagex might release an update to make them untradeable or even remove them. It is unlikely that Jagex would ever do this because wealthy players have bought rares to show off their wealth and removing them from the game would eliminate the show of wealth and be extremely detrimental to players merchanting rares.

Holiday drops
Holiday drops are items that are dropped on certain holidays, such as Christmas or Easter. These items are also few in number and have become very expensive over the years. Holiday drops that are wieldable are often worn by players to either show their wealth, for fashion, or to show how long they've played. Previously, holiday items were tradeable. However, to prevent players from holding onto the items and selling them for a small fortune, Jagex currently makes new holiday items UN-tradeable except for the past years. Such as the Scythe and the Rubber Chicken.

Before 22 December 2003
When RuneScape Classic was still known as RuneScape, Jagex decided that they would drop items randomly across RuneScape on certain holidays.

On Easter, Halloween, and Christmas, Jagex would drop a certain item. For example, in December 2001 during Christmas, Jagex dropped 'Christmas Crackers'. These Christmas crackers could only be obtained during a certain day during December. When a player walked around RuneScape, they may have seen a Christmas cracker pop up out of nowhere on the ground nearby. This was how the items were dropped.

Originally dropped for fun, Jagex kept this going on for a few more years. An item would be dropped every Christmas, Halloween, and Easter. Unfortunately, players began to notice that these items could not be obtained any more unless they were bought from other players. Seeing this, players began to buy the holiday items low, and then sell them at an incredibly high price. This started the rise in the prices for holiday items. Players were also angry that they missed the drops. Players would complain to Jagex demanding that they redo the drop. Jagex decided to make the next few drops untradeable. However, this only enraged players even more.

Jagex, realising what was happening with the Christmas cracker, decided to stop holiday drops, as players were becoming too greedy. On 22 December 2003, Jagex put an announcement on RuneScape's main page, saying that they were ceasing holiday drops. From then on, items were not dropped on holidays.

After December 22, 2003
A year passed and no holiday drop was made. However, on 21 December 2004, Jagex changed that. Santa Claus was placed in the game and gave a Yo-yo to players who talked to him (They were untradeable). After the Yo-yo, Jagex introduced tasks players had to complete to obtain the holiday item, starting with the Rubber chicken.

Replacing Holiday Items
If you have lost your item or destroyed it, you may be able to get it back if it is non-tradeable. Ask Thessalia in the Varrock clothing store south-west of the main fountain for your Bunny ears or Scythe back and she will happily oblige. If you have lost your Zombie head, you can dig in the Lumbridge Swamp with a spade to obtain another. If you have lost a Marionette you can get another in a box near the entrance to the Christmas workshop of the Christmas 2005 event and Halloween 2006 event. All other such items can be obtained by speaking with Diango in the Draynor Marketplace. Diango will replace most non-tradeable holiday items, including:

To reobtain the Zombie Head, one must dig with a spade in the lumbridge swamp.
 * Yo-yo
 * Bunny ears
 * Rubber chicken
 * Hats and scarves
 * Easter ring
 * Skeleton set
 * Jack o'lantern mask
 * Reindeer hat
 * Wintumber tree
 * Chicken set
 * The Grim Reaper's hood
 * Snow globe
 * Chocatrice cape
 * Warlock sets and Witch sets
 * Cornucopia
 * Santa suit
 * Ice amulet
 * Easter carrot
 * Eek the Spider
 * Web cloak
 * Magnifying glass
 * Ghost costume
 * Candy cane
 * Squirrel's ears
 * Investigator's outfit
 * Mysterious book
 * Bone brooch

Discontinued items
For a list of Holiday rewards, click here.