GroundStrike Collectibles Newsletter
Vol. 4 No. 1
January 2003

Hi Limoges Collectors!
Happy New Year!  We hope you are having a great 2003.  We're busy trying to restock and add new boxes to our web store.  Thanks to you, GroundStrike had another record year in 2002.  In fact, we were so busy during the holidays that we built up a huge backlog of new boxes, so watch for them over the next few weeks... always check out our New page at:

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

to see the latest additions to our online catalog.

To celebrate GroundStrike's success during 2002, and to get 2003 off to a rousing start, we're having a Subscribers-Only 15% Off Newsletter sale beginning today and running through midnight Sunday, January 12.  Jump to the end of this note to read all the details.

Limoges News: Parry Vielle
As many of our serious collectors know, Parry Vieille Limoges boxes (marked "PV") are some of the best-made boxes available.  Rochard, Chateau, and several other importers sell their boxes.  The quality of their porcelain, painting, glazing, and handwork is second to none in the Limoges business.  We have a number of PV boxes both in our inventory and our personal collection.  So, it came as a painful shock to hear that they were shutting down their business.  We've heard various versions of the story from our suppliers, but it appears that the two principals of PV decided to go their separate ways.  Soon the PV mark will be a thing of the past.

We've had numerous questions about whether the PV boxes are now more valuable and whether they should be purchased as an investment.  My answer is simple:  buy the PV box if you love it, and don't buy it if you don't.  I would never recommend buying a Limoges box that you don't like just because it may become scarce.  We believe that the PV assets will be divided and PV box designs will continue to be available, perhaps from two separate, new companies.  At least, we certainly hope so, and we hope too that they will continue to be made with the high quality standards that PV boxes are known for.

That said, if you want to see our selection of PV boxes, you can perform a search on our Complete Search engine at:

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

Search for PV and click the button to search "All Descriptions".  Or, simply click here for the search.  As of this writing, there are 70 items displayed.  If you want a PV box it wouldn’t hurt to purchase it as soon as possible to avoid frustration later.

More Limoges News: Artoria Disney Boxes
For several years, Artoria has produced a line of licensed Disney character Limoges boxes.  These have been hugely popular and are typical of Artoria’s high quality and attention to detail.  Several months ago, Artoria notified us that the Disney license was being negotiated and the Disney boxes would not be available through them until the terms were settled.  As of late December, the boxes still were not available from Artoria, and there have been no promises that the boxes will become available again soon.

We don’t know what’s going on – we’re not privy to the negotiations – but we do know that the few Disney boxes we have left are going fast, and we cannot restock them.  We’ve had to take a number of these boxes off our web site because we sold out well before the holidays.  This has been frustrating to our customers because the Disney boxes are very popular during the holidays.

We certainly hope that Artoria again will be able to produce and sell the Disney boxes.  We have an entire web page devoted to the Disney boxes;  see:

http://www.groundstrike.com/limoges/artoria/1disney.htm

We’ve added disclaimers to the page to indicate the ones we are out of and cannot restock.  If you have been thinking about purchasing a Disney box, we suggest that you act very quickly because the few remaining pieces will sell out soon.  We don’t know when (or if) they’ll be available again.

Catalog Shopping
We have had incredible response to the Rochard and Chateau Limoges box catalogs we’ve added to the web site, so watch for more catalogs in the future, along with updates to the current catalogs.  Here’s a recent comment from one of our regular customers:

“The Chateau Limoges Box catalog is a delight.  Thank you for making this available.  The pictures are so clear and the boxes are just breathtaking.  I’ve already spent hours looking at the catalog and I’m only up to page 36!  This is so much fun!”

We’d love to hear your comments about the catalogs and any suggestions you may have for improving them.

Our Customers Share their Ideas
Speaking of customer comments, we're starting a new feature in our newsletter where we share our customers' ideas with you.  We're giving $25 gift certificates to our readers whose comments and suggestions are printed in the newsletter, so send us your thoughts!  Here's the first batch:

• Some display cases can be real expensive but I've found that the cabinets sold for displaying golf balls are fairly inexpensive. Those little indentations across the shelves help to keep the boxes from moving around, too. Probably wouldn't work for the larger boxes, but for a collection of mini's, it's perfect!
   

• I buy a Limoges box after I get back from a vacation, to help me remember it in the future. I always pick something that was special about the trip.  Like the last time my boyfriend and I went on a cruise, we visited Grand Cayman and went to see the giant sea turtles. They were so amazing I just had to buy a sea turtle Limoges box to remind me of that wonderful experience.  Now every time I see my turtle Limoges box, I think of that glorious time.
   

• I have a lot of Limoges boxes and my collecting interests have changed over the years, so I display them in "themes". I started out as a "Fruit and Vegetable" nut, and I have all of those on display in my kitchen. Then I went "Hat and Hatbox" crazy, and I have those displayed in my guest bedroom.  My current theme is "Shoes!"  I am running out of wall space now, but I'm still buying boxes!

To Our AOL Customers – Again
Some of our AOL customers are still experiencing problems completing their purchase with our shopping cart.  Although we do receive the order, the customer does not see an order summary page as he should, nor does he receive the automatic email confirmation.  We’re working on a whole new shopping system that we think will greatly improve our web site, and should certainly fix the AOL problem.  In the meantime, we suggest that AOL users use our “Toll Free Phone or Fax Credit Card Information” payment method.  This avoids the problem and ensures that you see the summary and receive your order confirmation email.

The "You've Made It to Here" Reward!
For those of you that made it to here, here’s the “You Made It to Here” reward!  Starting now, we have a 15% off sale going on at GroundStrike, exclusively for our newsletter subscribers.  Use the promotion code january (all lower case) in our shopping cart where it asks “Enter promotion code”. No other discounts apply, and it is not valid on items that are already on sale, but the code IS transferable, reusable until expiration, and does apply to all special orders.  You must be a current newsletter subscriber to receive the discount.  This sale will run through Sunday, Jan. 12, so click over to our web store and get started now!

One more time:  Happy New Year!  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 our email list, simply click here to unsubscribe.