QQ: A Storage Question About Kirsten's Trunk

A Quick Question for Poppets & Posies today. Can Kirsten's Trunk hold both the trundle bed and a sleeping doll? This is the promise given in the catalogs of this treasure from the past, but how does it play out in practice?

Ingabritta has volunteered to be our Houdini to test out the insides of Kirsten's Trunk for storage capacity. She has jumped into the new Playful Polar Bear Pajamas for this experiment.

The trunk pictured is Pleasant Company and the trundle bed is the earlier version as well but possible not as old as the trunk. The red-and-white striped tufted mattress itself is tagged Pleasant Company, but I am unable to verify the age/era of the bed other than the curved top is the older style.

Ingabritta (#56) absolutely fits on top of the trundle bed and mattress with no problem.

The issue seems to be that the poppet's head rises a good inch above the top of the trundle bed's headboard. Already it seems that the lid will not close properly once placed.

Oops! The lid now rests on Ingabritta's head and not the trunk and trundle as designed. The lid rocks back and forth and one can see a considerable gap where it is not closing completely. (Don't worry, I put Ingabritta face down against the tufted mattress so the wooden lid would not scratch the vinyl of her face or nose.)

For contrast, above is the trunk with trundle bed inside--there is no gap. A close up of the same view follows below.

If one *removes* the red-and-white tufted mattress the trundle bed is deep enough to store a Pleasant Company/American Girl doll. However two issues arise from this arrangement. First, the poor doll must rest on the bottom of the wooden bed--this will not harm the doll, but it takes all the magic and fun out of storing and resting a doll in the trundle bed and mattress portion of the trunk. Second, the tufted mattress if removed from the trundle bed now needs to be stored in the limited space below the bed, reducing the available bottom storage area by a full third. 

Another potential issue is if one chooses to store the mattress below the trundle bed is that the mattress must be folded as the 3-compartment arrangement of the bottom area of the trunk does not allow for it to be be stored flat. This may not be an issue for some collectors, but for those looking to preserve Kirsten's items with great care, folding the mattress and storing it in the bottom of the trunk might not be the best option.

So in response to today's QQ (Quick Question), Ingabritta says that technically yes, a poppet can be stored inside of Kirsten's Trunk in the trundle bed, but not in an optimal way. Between the discomfort of the poppet having to lay on mattress-less bed and the loss of storage below to accommodate the dislocated mattress (and all the folding and squishing of the mattress!) the trunk is only moderately useful for doll storage.

Edited to add: I have recently seen other pictures of a doll fitting into the top space *with* the mattress in place. It seems in my case if the mattress was a bit less fluffy that a doll would still just barely squeeze in under the lid, so I am uncertain at this variation as well as why even with a flattened mattress the fit would still be so tight.

Voila! Ingabritta has escaped the trunk safe and sound and plans to sleep on the trundle bed *and* mattress only when they are displayed separately from the trunk and to use the trunk itself for other kinds of storage.

A Lori Case: Isabelle's World in Miniature?

My poppets love the new LORI line of 6" dolls and accessories and we continue to be surprised and delighted by the constant stream of new releases. The new LORI case with accessories is sweet and sophisticated and basically irresistible!

On the shelves pictured above is partial view of the ballet studio with a grand piano that has been on the shelves since late summer. Maybe I should have seen the connection before today, but much of the LORI line dance clothing and accessories evoke American Girl's GOTY Isabelle (2014) and her ballet theme.

The dance case is pretty much a dead ringer for GOTY Isabelle's Dance Case. The case is somewhat smaller and comes with different accessories than Isabelle's Dance Case, but it is impossible to see the Lori Case and not think of Isabelle!

The LORI line offers the choice between a darker salmon-pink colored case or a lighter blush-pink case.

The accessories for the 6" Lori dolls that come with the case include 2 pairs of glasses, 1 pair of sunglasses, 1 bracelet, 2 rubber band bracelet set, 2 headbands, a necklace and a hair bow.

Interior of the salmon colored case--there is a pocket sleeve on one side of the interior for accessories and glittery elastic band that can secure a 6" doll inside for travel or storage.

The vinyl case is subtly and elegantly embossed with the LORI logo.

The interior of the blush-pink case is sheer bliss. The case appears sturdy and well constructed with a metallic closing clasp and the carry handle is riveted in place.

Maybe the best part of this Lori case with all these included accessories is the price:  $16.99. I know! These should rightly fly off the shelves!

Three LORI dolls in their dance clothes show off the new accessories from the case. Thank you to the kind friend who allowed me to share her photos of this terrific find so that we could all enjoy a quick peek together of the new LORI case!

Grace's French Bakery SOLD OUT

French Bakery - Gone!

The sell out date for Grace's French Bakery has been on my mind every week now for over a month and I honestly felt a bit sheepish for voicing my doom and gloom predictions, but even I was shocked to see confirmation this morning from American Girl on Facebook that indeed the French Bakery would no longer be available.

Today American Girl confirmed via Facebook that “Grace’s French Bakery has sold out and is no longer available.” They later added that “The popularity exceeded our expectations and sold out more quickly than anticipated.”

While confirmation of the sell out was not until this morning, I am recording the online sell out date as October 3rd as the French Bakery changed from its online backorder status to its final "No longer available" status sometime on Saturday.

Note that as of 12 pm (noon) today a few of the AGP stores have the bakery in stock, but I anticipate these will be gone in a matter of days.

Charlotte – Available
Minneapolis – Limited (Unavailable as of 1:30 pm Monday)
Nashville – Available
Orlando - Available

Call and jump into your cars now, because once these last few French Bakeries are gone from the physical AG stores the only place left to find the bakery will be on the secondary market--but even there the inventory is low and the prices are high.

Since this *morning* alone on Ebay 5 French Bakeries have already been sold (completed auctions) with the selling prices ranging between $750 - $815. Before this morning, only one or two a week or less were being sold on Ebay and generally for $650 or less. I now expect the prices on Ebay for the French Bakery to jump upwards and exceed $1000 from here on until the supply on the secondary market is depleted or the Christmas season passes.

The early sell out certainly is a game changer for GOTY collectors. Last year I waited until the last minute to purchase Isabelle's Studio (I bought it within one or two days of both online and in store sell out dates). Amazingly, a year later one can still purchase Isabelle's Studio on Ebay for approximately original retail price, so one can hope waiting out the secondary market holiday frenzy on Grace's Bakery could yield a better deal.

But my new rule of thumb for GOTY is if I want something from the collection, assuming no budgeting issues, that I better not wait too long--AG is running a much leaner ship in terms of supply chain management and "while supplies last" is not merely advisory, it is simply reality.

I realize many collectors were never considering purchasing the bakery, but if you were thinking about it...Are you relieved to have this item preemptively taken off your list knowing the temptation is gone? Turning to the secondary market? Changing how you collect for GOTY and other limited edition items?

The next big question about Grace's Wonderful World will be how long her doll stays in production--will she survive until mid-December? It seems like in order for Grace's clothing and accessories to sell that AG needs to keep Grace the doll in stock--so I imagine AG will try to keep her available until at least December 20th. But Grace has certainly broke the expected patterns already. Also, William Sonoma has another cross promotion with American Girl Grace Thomas rolling out this week so stay tuned for some talk about that here as well.

Looking forward: It seems time to begin a proper welcome for GOTY 2016 Lea Clark! There have been many leaked pictures of prototypes over the past two months, so we can start filling in the gaps here at Poppets & Posies with our own speculations.

Additionally, while I passed over blogging about the stunning debut of Beforever Maryellen, I am definitely interested in taking a look at what we know so far about Beforever 2016 and to ask the tantalizing question (based on rumors and early cues) if if BF 2016 will debut side-by-side with GOTY 2016 Lea Clark on January 1st, 2016.