The Magic Key Mansion and the Mysterious Hanging Basket Part 2

In my previous post The Magic Key Mansion and the Mysterious Hanging Basket I wrote about this flower basket from the Bedroom furniture set:

The basket had always confused me because I couldn't find any place to attach it to the Magic Key Mansion bedroom ceiling. However, in the comments section my post, I had two readers who offered their suggestions as to where the basket might go, and I wanted to share those suggestions with you.

My first anonymous reader said this:

I have the Baby Cottage Nursery (it's a 2 story house with little side yard attachments) and there is a hole in the ceiling of the little victorian outcropping upstairs and I'm confident the flower basket was intended for this space, not the Mansion. :)

When I read this, I had to laugh. Of course there is a hole in the ceiling of the Baby's Nursery Cottage, it's where the little mobile goes, but why couldn't you switch it out for something else? I can't believe I never thought of that! And even if you don't want to remove your mobile, you could hang the basket in the turret of the Country Kitchen Cottage. They used the same molds for both townhouses, so there is a hole in the ceiling of that set as well.

Naturally, I had to try it out, and what do you know, the basket fits nicely in the hole and it looks really cute too!

My second anonymous reader had this to say:

I know the hanging basket goes with the Mansion because when I was little I owned the mansion and the hanging basket came with it. I think the basket went on the outside of the house under the roof on the porch. If you look under them there are little spaces to wedge the basket into.

When I read this suggestion, I was very excited. How adorable would the front porch of the mansion look with a basket of flowers hanging from the ceiling? I think we could all agree that the answer is super adorable!

However, after examining both of my Mansions, I was unable to find the little spaces to which the commenter referred. The only slots I could find underneath the porch roof are the slots for attaching the gingerbread trim. Of course, the commenter may have a slightly different Mansion than either of mine. I have noted in several posts that various small things seem to have changed over the brief Precious Places production period, and it certainly is possible that we have just discovered another one.

Also, I wanted to clarify that, according to all of my research, the only furniture the mansion originally came with was the grandfather clock and the piano that is attached to the living room wall. In fact, I have the box for the Magic Key Mansion and it says right on the front "Furniture Sets Sold Separately".


While most people probably did buy the furniture sets to furnish the Mansion rather than the Cottages, it is interesting to note that they were marketed as being for all the PP buildings. To illustrate, here is a picture of the back of the Living Room furniture box:


While I still wish there were a spot to hang the basket in the Mansion bedroom, it is nice to know that there is at least one spot where the basket can easily be hung and look great! And thank you to both of my anonymous commenters for your suggestions!

Sidewalk Connector Hearts

On thisoldtoy.com (TOT) it says that the following sets all came with two heart-shaped sidewalk connectors: The Baby's Nursery Cottage, Best Friends Pet Shop, Blue Ribbon Pony Stable, Country Kitchen Cottage, Pink Slippers Ballet Studio, Silver Bells Wedding Chapel and the Twirling Melody Gazebo.

This is what the heart-shaped sidewalk connectors look like:



I am wondering whether these sidewalk connectors were something that may have been included in the sets when they were first produced, but later removed from production. I'm wondering about this for a few reasons:
1) Most e-bay auctions do not have these pieces. Granted they were small parts and would have been easily lost, but it still seems like there ought to be more of them if there actually were two of them in every building set sold.
2) As a child I had the Best Friends Pet Shop and I don't have any sidewalk connectors from that set. Now I can't be absolutely certain that I didn't lose them as a child, but I definitely don't remember them and I have every other part of the two sets that I owned, even the tiny pieces.
3) The most compelling reason I have for doubting that every Precious Places building set sold actually included two sidewalk connectors is that I have asked two e-bay sellers of "New in the Box" sets whether there were heart-shaped sidewalk connectors in the little plastic bags of parts in their auctions. Both sellers said they couldn't see anything like that in the bags of parts.

Anyone out there bought a "New in the Box" Precious Places building recently? Did it come with sidewalk connectors? I'd love to know if you found them in your set.