GroundStrike Collectibles Newsletter
Vol. 3 No. 1
April 2002

Hi Limoges Collectors!
I apologize profusely for taking so long to send out our newsletter.  This is, in fact, the first one we’ve sent this year and it is nearly 3 months overdue.  What can I say?  I promised I wouldn’t overuse your email address!  Speaking of which, the removal instructions are at the bottom of this note if you would like to remove yourself from our newsletter distribution.

Mother’s Day!
Sunday, May 12 is Mother’s Day.  As I write this, Mother’s Day is only 14 days away.  A lot of Moms would love a new Limoges box to add to their collection… or to start one!  Check out some of the newest boxes we’ve added to our collection in the past 30 days, at:

http://www.groundstrike.com/new.htm

With prices ranging from $45 to over $350, there’s sure to be a perfect gift for Mom in your price range!

Rochard Crystal Boxes
As many of you may know by now, Rochard has retired their beautiful series of crystal Limoges boxes, and they are no longer available from Rochard.  We are sad about this, because they are very unique and exquisite, and are a wonderful addition to an advanced collector’s collection.  When the word got out that they were being retired, some pieces on the Internet auctions went to very high prices (see the story below) despite the fact that they were still available from us!  We purchased a number of Rochard’s remaining pieces, and are making them available to our customers at their pre-retirement prices.  Some are pictured on our web site at:

http://www.groundstrike.com/limoges/rochard/1rochard.htm

We also have the following still available: sitting cat, rabbit, cherries, snowman, and witch.  These are not pictured on our web site because we are down to our last one or two of each piece (write us at order@groundstrike.com if you’d like a picture and price).  If you are interested in these unusual boxes, we urge you to act quickly as they will disappear forever any day now.

Are You A Limoges Lover?
You probably know we have a discount club for our customers who have spent over $1000 with us over the years.  We call them our Limoges Lovers and they get, among other benefits, an automatic 10% discount on all their orders.

Now, we are adding free shipping to the Limoges Lovers benefits!  Any Limoges Lover order of $50 or more will receive free shipping.

Could you be a Limoges Lover?  We urge you to contact us at order@groundstrike.com if you think you are, or are getting close.  We have to use a manual process to scan our database to qualify customers, due to variations in names and email addresses, but we don’t want our customers to miss out on benefits that they have earned!  In fact, if we find that you have passed the $1000 mark, we will issue you an immediate credit for any discounts due.  See our Limoges Lovers web page at:

http://www.groundstrike.com/info/limoges_lovers.htm

Don’t Get Auction Fever!
You can get some great deals on items in the internet auctions.  We participate as both buyers and sellers in the various auctions (our user ID is "groundstrike").  We've made some great deals and great friends through the auction process.

But you can also get taken!  As I've warned in past newsletters, there are some unscrupulous sellers that sell fake Limoges boxes as authentic because they have the word "Limoges" on them.  We've complained to the auctions many times about this practice, and even though they seem to be vigilant about removing fake "Louis Vuitton" and other unauthorized knockoffs of trademarked items, they have not taken action against sellers of fake Limoges boxes.  This may be due to the legal gray area surrounding the Limoges name.

Can you be taken by legitimate Limoges box dealers?  Yes, you can, if you let yourself get caught up in "auction fever" and don't use common sense.  We've seen hundreds of examples where people were carried away in a bidding war and ended up paying much more than the retail price for boxes.  What's even more surprising is that some of the high bidders are our regular customers!  We have no idea why they didn't comparison-shop with us before placing such high bids.

Here are some examples that we've seen over the past few months:

• Rochard Tang Dynasty Horse sold for $165; our price is $150; buyer overpaid by $15.
• Paris Newsstand box for $165; our price $145; overpaid by $20.
• Artoria World Trade Center box for $269; our price $230; overpaid by $39.
• Chamart Green Parrot box for $312; our price $235; overpaid by $77.
• Mother and Baby Koala Bear for $205; our price $120; overpaid by $85
• Grapevine Champagne Bucket box for $200; our price $110; overpaid by $90.
• Rochard Crystal Horse box for $410; our price $300; overpaid by $110.
• Rochard Crystal Lion box for $510; our price $260; overpaid by $250!
• Rochard Red Amaryllis Flower box for $635, our price $150; overpaid by a whopping $485!!

And of course this is compared to our standard prices.  If the buyers were Limoges Lovers, they'd have saved an additional 10%!  The point is that it's easy to get swept up in the excitement of winning an auction, but you can easily overpay... sometimes by a LOT!  It's up to you to exercise due diligence and compare prices before you bid.

Your Reward!
As usual, for those of you that made it to here, here’s the “You Made it to Here” reward!  From now through midnight Friday, May 3, you will get a FIFTEEN percent (15%) discount on all purchases if you use the code:  news04  in our shopping cart where it asks “Enter gift certificate number, then click Apply”.  No other discounts apply, and it is not valid on items that are already on sale, but the code IS transferable so you can send it to anyone you like!    

Thanks for being our customer!  Take care.

Sam and Susan Juliano
GroundStrike Collectibles
http://www.groundstrike.com

PS. We don't want to offend you with our email... so if you'd like to be removed from all our email lists, simply go to:

http://www.groundstrike.com/mailinglist.htm

to unsubscribe.