Fisher Price Toy Catalogs

Hey Everyone,

Sorry for the long break.  Life has been crazy for a while now, but things seem to have slowed down for the moment, so thought I'd toss up a quick post to let you all know that I am still here, I have not given up on this blog and I'm thankful to all of you who have stuck with me through my severe writing drought.  I am amazed at how many hits my blog gets every month, even when I'm not posting.  Thanks guys!  You rock!

I also have good news: over the past non-writing months, I managed to acquire both the 1989 and 1990 Fisher Price Toy Fair Catalogs.  These are the 'dealer catalogs' that This Old Toy periodically refers to in its Precious Places listings. 

The 1989 catalog has 10 pages of Precious Places including the gorgeous 2 page spread everyone loves.

The 1990 catalog has only 5 pages of Precious Places, but two of those pages are the County Fair Sets, so that makes it worth owning in my book.

There is some stuff in them that my Precious Places obsessed self finds interesting.  I'll try to post about it soon, but in the mean time, if any of you are interested in getting your hands on your own copy, I recommend eBay.  They come up at regular intervals, and it just so happens that they are both currently listed for sale.  Just go to eBay and search for "Fisher Price Catalog" and they should come up.

Do any of you have the Toy Fair Catalogs?  If so, what is your favorite page?  Anything that you find intriguing?  Let me know!

Rugs, Rugs, Rugs

So, here's a question I could really use some help answering... You know how some of the furniture sets have rug stickers (lithos) pictured on the front of their boxes?  Well, what I'm trying to figure out is, which of the furniture sets came with rug lithos?

Here's what information I have so far...

Of the eight Precious Places furniture sets, five of them have rugs pictured with the furniture on the front of their boxes.  These sets are the Bedroom, Bathroom, Baby's Nursery, Living Room and Canopy Bedroom.  The website ThisOldToy.com (TOT) includes the rug sticker in the parts list for each of these sets, but says about the lithos: "This rug is pictured in the Fisher-Price dealer catalogue, but we are not sure if it was ever included in the sets sold in stores."

When I first began collecting PP several years ago (and was addicted to reading the TOT parts lists), I thought that I ought to investigate whether there were any rug stickers out there, so that I could add them to my collection if they existed.  There seemed to be a pretty simple way to answer the question, i.e. just buy an unopened furniture set and see if there was a rug litho in the box.  So that's what I did.  I found a fairly inexpensive, never-been-opened Living Room furniture set on eBay, bought it, and with great anticipation, I opened it... only to discover that there was no rug sticker in the box.

"Case closed," I thought, "Furniture sets did not come with rug lithos." 

And so for a couple of years, I had no reason to look any further into the mystery of the rug lithos.

Then one fateful day last August, I noticed this picture on a completed eBay listing:

 

Unfortunately, I didn't see the listing until after it was over, so I didn't get a chance to bid on this item, but as the picture clearly shows, there was an octagonal rug included with the Living Room furniture.  I contacted the seller who told me that a) it was indeed a rug sticker, b) she believed it originally came with the Living Room set and c) it could not possibly have come with the Mansion, since these were her childhood toys and she'd never owned the Mansion.

This got me on the hunt for rug lithos and what do you know, they are rare, but some of them can be found.  So far, I've got two in my collection, those from the Baby's Nursery and Canopy Bedroom sets.

Baby's Nursery Rug:

Canopy Bedroom Rug:

Now, you might be thinking to yourself, "That Canopy Bedroom rug sure looks familiar."  And you'd be right.  It is the same rug litho that was included with the Mansion set itself.  But I have four reasons to be fairly certain that the one I have originally came with the Canopy Bedroom set.  

1) It was sold in an eBay auction with the Canopy Bedroom furniture

2) It is just the rug sticker by itself and as far as I know the Mansion lithos always came on a large sheet like this:

3) I later saw another Canopy Bedroom set listed with the same rug litho.

4) Most importantly, the rug litho has the numbers 5177 on the edge and that is the Fisher Price item number for the PP Canopy Bedroom set.

So put it all together and it means that I am nearly 100% positive that the Living Room, the Baby's Nursery and the Canopy Bedroom each have a rug litho that was included with some (but not all) sets sold in stores.  

Why wasn't a rug litho sold with every furniture set?  I really have no good answer to that question.  It is possible that only sets produced in 1990 had a rug litho.  Or maybe only sets sold in a certain location (the United States, Canada or Europe for example) had rugs.  I have so little information to go on, it's quite likely that we will never know the answer to the 'why' question.

One question I am still hoping to answer (and here's where I could really use your help) is...

Did the Bathroom and/or Bedroom sets also come with rug lithos?

I have not as of this moment, been successful in locating a rug litho (or picture of one) for the Bathroom or Bedroom sets.  It would be really helpful to me if anyone out there has more information.  Do you have any new in the box furniture sets?  If so, did they come with rug stickers (lithos)?  

I'd really love to get as much information as possible about these stickers so that we can all know what to look for when we're bidding on furniture sets!  Post your comments, please!!!!

Instruction Sheets: The Magic Key Mansion - Page One

As I'm sure you already know, the website ThisOldToy.com is a fantastic resource for all things Precious Places.  There is no way I could ever have put together the database of parts that they have so kindly published for all of us collectors out there.  However, one thing they are lacking is pictures of all the different instruction sheets for PP sets, so I thought I'd start a  new series of posts and give you as much information as I can get a hold of regarding those instruction sheets.

I do not yet have all of the instruction sheets, but I have a couple, and most importantly, I recently acquired the instruction sheet for the Magic Key Mansion.  Because it is a large, four page document, I'm going to split up the instructions into a mini-series of four posts (one for each page).

So, without further ado, here is the Magic Key Mansion Instruction Sheet, page one:

And because I know it's hard to read such tiny print, I've taken close-ups of the top and bottom halves of the page.  Here's the top (click on the picture to view a larger image):

Since it's still hard to read, here's what the top of the page says:

Fisher-Price

Instructions                                                            Magic Key Mansion

ADULT ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

(2 "D" batteries are required, alkaline recommended.)

CAUTION: This product contains small parts which may pose a choking hazard to children who still put objects in their mouths.  Keep all plastic bags out of children's reach.

PARENTS, PLEASE READ THIS FIRST!

No tools are required for assembling the Magic Key Mansion; however, the assembly instructions are very specific and need to be read carefully and followed exactly.  Because there are many pieces we suggest using a large clear work surface.

DO follow the steps in order.  Use the check-off boxes as you progress from step to step.  The pictures will help you recognize the various pieces.  DO take time to make sure all the snap-fits are secure.  When you have completed the mansion you should be able to lift it by the floors or by the base, but not by the roof!

IMPORTANT! FOLLOW STEPS IN ORDER!

Check off steps as you complete them.

IMPORTANT! APPLY LABELS BEFORE ASSEMBLY!

Labels are to be applied to the GREEN BASE (not bagged) and to the BEDROOM and BATHROOM FLOORS (found in Bag 5).

Step-By-Step Assembly Instructions

Find Label Sheets.
Find Green Base (Not Bagged).
Apply Labels To Base.
(Bedroom And Bathroom Floors Also Require Labels.)

To Apply Labels:
Refer to label diagrams to apply labels correctly.
Be sure the areas where labels will go are clean and dry.
Remove labels from sheet and apply as indicated.
Carefully position each label and press in the center, smoothing outward toward edges to get air bubbles out.

Okay, me here again.  This is what the diagram on the bottom of the page looks like closer up (click on the picture to view a larger image):

Besides the amusingly schizophrenic use of bold, CAPITALS, and even an occasional underline, the most interesting part of this first page to me is that there is no mention of a label (or litho) for the Magic Key.  You would have to assume that with these "very specific" instructions, they would have mentioned the litho if there was one.  I'd like to be wrong, but it seems to me that it is yet another strike against my hope of ever finding the Magic Key Mansion's Magic Key litho.

I really am disappointed that the instructions don't say anything about a litho, I was so hoping they would, but I am still excited to share more of these and other instruction sheets with you.  So, stay tuned for more posts in my Instruction Sheets series!

The Sets That Never Were

Lately I've had several questions and comments about the County Fair Sets, so I thought I'd write a post compiling what little information I have about the non-production of these sets.

First of all, if you haven't read it yet, you should check out my post Introducing: The County Fair Sets.  There you'll find the photos and complete descriptions of the sets from the 1990 Fisher Price ToyFair Catalog.  Those two little pages are the best and most complete information that I have.  Moving beyond that though...

Most of you probably have already read the descriptions of the different County Fair sets on ThisOldToy.com.  There they put so well what we already know, "The Ferris Wheel is also the most heart breaking of all the Precious Places sets because it was never mass produced nor sold to the public."  I can't say how you might feel, but I know my heart is broken.

Thus far we have established that 1) The County Fair sets were fabulously fantastically awesome and 2) They were never mass produced.  So, what happened?

Unfortunately, there isn't much information you can find on the internet that specifically mentions the Precious Places sets themselves.  However, a couple things were going on with the Fisher Price company in 1990 that may have affected the production of these sets. 

The Fisher-Price company (and toy companies across the board) were facing increased pressure from consumer advocacy groups to increase the safety of their toys.  Evidence of this can be seen by the fact that in 1991 the Fisher Price Little People line was changed from the classic cylinder shape to the bigger 'chunky' style figure.  Could it be that Precious Places (the County Fair sets included) were another victim of the 'potential choking hazard' movement?

Another factor may have been the restructuring of the company that occurred in 1990-1991 at which point Fisher-Price Inc. became independent of the Quaker Oats Company.  The focus of the company narrowed from toys in general to infant and preschool products.  Perhaps the Precious Places sets were deemed 'too old' for their new marketing focus.  Of course, this is totally speculation on my part, but it seems possible.

I know it's not much, but these are the only possible reasons that I've been able to find for why production of Precious Places didn't continue past 1990 and why the County Fair sets were never mass produced.  If anyone has any other ideas or information, please feel free to leave me a message in the comments section of this post.

Precious Places Most Wanted List

Here is my top 5 list of Precious Places sets I still need for my collection:

5) The Pretty Penny Wishing Well - Aqua Well with Pink Roof

Okay, so I know it's rather greedy of me, but even though I have a complete Wishing Well set (pink wishing well with aqua roof), I still want the variation with the aqua well and pink roof.  I haven't seen it on eBay recently, but I think I saw it once a long time ago, maybe...  Hopefully it will come up again soon so I can be sure it does truly exist.

4) Wendy and Her Ice Cream Cart with Aqua Wheels

In my attempt to get every Precious Places piece in every color, one particular figure has been the most difficult to find, and that is Wendy and her Ice Cream Cart with aqua wheels.  The particular cart I'm looking for is featured prominently on Wendy's personality card, but does it ever appear on eBay?  No, it does not.  Why not?  This may be one of the great mysteries of the universe.  Hmmmm...

3) The Mother and Baby Pony in Pink 

I've got a complete Mother and Baby Pony set with a white baby pony, but I cannot for the life of me seem to locate the pink baby pony.  She's on the front of the Mother and Baby Pony box and ThisOldToy lists her as a variation, but I haven't seen her.  Have you?

2) The Dining Room 

I agree with ThisOldToy where they say this set is so rare that they've never seen any of the parts to the set.  Where oh where art thou, my elusive Dining Room furniture set?

1) All the County Fair Sets

Now I know these were never put into mass production, but there must have been at least one prototype made of each set since they took pictures of them.  What research I've done indicates that there were probably several prototypes at some point.  Where are the prototypes now and how can I get one?  I haven't been able to make much progress in getting answers to those questions.

If you have any of these sets, please contact me.  I would be more than happy to buy them from you.  And even if you don't want to sell them, please still contact me so that I at least know they exist!!!

The Sunshine Country Picnic Parts Pictures

One of the more rare Precious Places sets is the Sunshine Country Picnic.  Since the website ThisOldToy.com doesn't have pictures of the individual parts I thought I would post them here for everyone.

Here is the base:

Here are a couple shots of the basket and lid:

I've previously posted pictures of these other Sunshine Country Picnic parts (click on the name of the part to view images)

Figure: Jennifer
Swing Set
Key (with Basket Litho)

The Picnic also included a set of pink dishes and a pink pie (the same dishes and pie that came with several other sets).

Finally, here is a picture of the whole set all together:

I do still have a few questions about the set, but I think I'll save those for another post, so in the mean time, enjoy the beauty of this springtime scene, even if the view out your window is a bit more dreary!

Amanda's Personality Card

A while ago I finished my series of posts on personality cards NOT found on ThisOldToy.com (TOT).  However, it has occurred to me that I might as well go ahead and post the personality cards that ARE on TOT, just to have a 'complete collection' somewhere for everyone to look at. 

Without further ado, here's Baby Amanda's card -

Front of card:

Back of card:

And here's what the text says:

Baby Amanda 
Meet Baby Amanda! She's a happy baby who wants to do everything her older brothers and sisters do.  She likes to do silly things to get attention - like blowing kisses, banging pots and pans together, or, on occasion, even turning a room upside down!  She's as cute as a button! Amanda loves music and claps along with every song she hears.
Birthday: February 14
Favorite Food: Ice cream with chocolate sauce
Favorite Toy: Fisher-Price Security Bunny

Me here again.  Has it occurred to anyone else that a crawling baby probably shouldn't be eating ice cream with chocolate sauce?  It seems to me that if Precious Places were being made now, Amanda's favorite food would probably be bananas or something healthy like that.

Pretty Penny Wishing Well Accessory Variations

As promised, I have one more post to write about the Pretty Penny Wishing Well and here it is! On ThisOldToy.com they say that the Wishing Well came with a pink bucket, pink ladle and a purple watering can, with no color variations. And those are indeed the colors of the accessories that came with my new-in-the-box set.

However, I recently noticed this picture on an eBay listing:



Notice there is a purple bucket and a pink watering can in the center of the photo. Since there aren't any other sets that come with a watering can, I think it's pretty safe to assume that these parts were from a Wishing Well set. Thus leading to the conclusion that sometimes the Well came with a purple bucket and pink watering can.

Now, there wasn't a ladle in this auction as far as I could tell from the pictures, but I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to guess that the ladle may also have come in purple as well. I'll have to keep an eye out for one to be sure though.

Alright! I don't think I have anything else to write about the Pretty Penny Wishing Well, so if you have any questions about the set (or if you spot a purple ladle somewhere), please let me know, or I may never write about it again!

Sara's Personality Card

At last, here it is, my final post in the series of personality cards not found on ThisOldToy.com. This is Sara's:

Front of card:



Back of card:



And here is the text:

Roller Skating Sara
Meet Sara! She's very athletic and loves the outdoors. Sara is good at all kinds of sports - softball, soccer, kickball! She wins all the school track meets, too! In the winter, she spends hours practicing her Figure Eights at the ice pond and tobagganing in the park. She loves to wear exercise clothes and jeans.
Birthday: March 7
Favorite Sport: Gymnastics

Me here with just a quick comment that I think it's hilarious that Sara's personality card says she loves to wear exercise clothes and jeans, but her figure is dressed in a frilly pink dress! She must have to wear the casual clothes when she leaves Precious Places village, because around here, even Dad at Work wears a sweater vest when he mows the lawn!

The Sunshine Country Picnic Swing

I know I've written a lot of my recent posts on the subject of the Pretty Penny Wishing Well, and I still have at least one more post on that topic that I intend to write, but for the time being, I'd like to change direction and talk about another of the rare Precious Places sets: The Sunshine Country Picnic.

Specifically, I want to write about something I've been wondering for some time. What colors were the different pieces of the picnic swing? Now according to ThisOldToy.com (TOT) the Sunshine Country Picnic came with a pink swing seat and a three-piece pink swing frame. Also, they say that the set had no variations.

However, I am pretty well convinced that the swing set DID have variations, and here's why:

This is a picture of the swing from my personal collection:



As you can clearly see, the swing has a white seat (not pink). To be fair, my Sunshine Country Picnic was not a new-in-the-box set, so I guess it is theoretically possible the white seat came from somewhere else, but where? The only other PP set that has a swing is the Twirling Melody Gazebo, but it is well documented that the Gazebo's swing seat was always purple. So I think the most likely option in this case is that the swing seat did come (at least sometimes) as a white part.

To be honest, given that the swing always seemed to appear in eBay auctions with a white seat, for a long time I had actually thought that the listing on TOT was mistaken in saying the swing seat ever came in pink. I thought perhaps that instead, the swing frame was pink and the seat was white with no variations, but then I saw this photo on eBay:



Here you can see that this auction contained several Picnic parts, including the base and key, as well as a pink swing seat and part of a white swing frame.

And although I don't put too much stock in the 'official' photos from the Village Map, it is interesting to note that on the map, the picture shows that same pink seat with white frame:



All of this taken together seems to indicate that the Sunshine Country Picnic swing came with either a white or pink seat and either a white or pink frame. You do tend to find the white seat with the pink frame and vice versa, but I wouldn't put it outside the realm of possibility that some sets could have been sold with an all pink or all white swing set.

Do any of you have the Sunshine Country Picnic set? If so, please tell me about it. Did you get it new in the box, have it as a child or buy it on eBay? What color is the swing seat and frame that came with your set? I think it'd be great if we all work on figuring out these rare sets together!

Pretty Penny Wishing Well Parts Pictures

I have no idea how I could possibly top my last post, so I'm not even going to try. Just know that I do realize this isn't as fabulous as the County Fair Set pictures, but being as I don't have any more information on those, I'll be continuing my series on the Pretty Penny Wishing Well.

The fantastic website ThisOldToy.com (TOT) has great pictures of many Precious Places pieces, but they don't have pictures of the Wishing Well parts, so I thought I should post them here.

This first one is a picture of the entire contents of my new in the box Wishing Well set:



Here is the base:



Here is the arbor (note that it is the same as the one for the Twirling Melody Gazebo):



This is the fence (note that again, it is the same as the fences from the Gazebo set):



Here is the 2 piece well (roof & base) along with the key and litho sheet (two lithos for the well, one for the key):



These are the three small accessories - the bucket, the ladle and watering can:



In addition to these parts there was also a Village Map, a cardboard filler piece, and the figure Michelle (whose picture I posted here) in the box.

Finally, this is a photo of the complete set all put together:



I have to say that while this set is cute, I was just slightly disappointed that the only thing the key does is move Michelle around. Doesn't it seem like there should be more to it than that? Maybe that's why it was only produced for one year.

Andy's Personality Card

Yet another post in my series of personality cards not found on ThisOldToy.com. Here's Andy's:

Front of card:



Back of card:



And the text says:

Skateboarding Andy
Meet Andy! All the kids like him because he tells the silliest jokes and pulls the funniest pranks! One time he let a frog loose in the middle of a birthday party. It jumped right in the middle of the cake. It made all the kids laugh, but what a big clean up job! Andy spends most of his time outside practicing tricks on his skateboard. He's so much fun!
Birthday: April 1
Favorite thing to do: Speeding past the girls on his skateboard.

All About Key Lithos

I just received this question from an anonymous reader, and since it was a topic I was planning on writing a post about anyway, I'm answering the question here, rather than in the comments section of another post.

Here's the question:

Do you have any idea how many keys there are in total? I know I don't have them all but I am confused by the number of blank ones. Some of them I have I know are missing lithos but are there some that really are blank?

To answer your first question, there is one key per Precious Places set: 4 shops, 2 cottages, the Gazebo, the Mansion, 8 furniture sets, 6 outdoor scenes, 9 figures, and 4 mother & baby sets. That makes a total of 35 keys.

However, as far as I can tell, the Dining Room set was never sold to the public, so chances are you'll never get that key, which would make the number of available keys 34.

Of the 34 remaining sets, 28 definitely had key lithos. These are the 4 shops, 2 cottages, the Gazebo, the Canopy Bedroom, the Playroom, the 6 outdoor scenes, the 9 figures and the 4 mother and baby sets. (You can find pictures of some of the key lithos on my blog in other posts and more on ThisOldToy.com.)

That means that the sets that are not known to have had lithos are the remaining 5 furniture sets and the Magic Key Mansion. (To read my post discussing the furniture set lithos, please click here.)

Now why the Mansion wouldn't have a key litho is beyond me. It's the crowning jewel of the Precious Places village, was the most expensive set when it was sold in stores and clearly is the set with the biggest 'wow' factor. However, ThisOldToy has no picture of a litho, I've never seen a litho for it on eBay and both of the Mansions I personally own came to me with a plain pink key... thus I am sadly forced to conclude that the Magic Key Mansion's Magic Key didn't have a litho.

That said, I'm always happy to be wrong about things like this and if anyone has seen a key litho out there for the Magic Key Mansion, I would love to know about it. Please leave me a note in the comments section of this post.

So to summarize: as far as I can tell, there were 34 Precious Places sets (each with one key) that were sold to the public. To the best of my knowledge there are 28 different key lithos available, which means that there were 6 sets that came without a litho for the key. Hope this helps!

The Wishing Well Watering Can

Continuing my series on the Pretty Penny Wishing Well, I wanted to highlight one particular hard-to-find piece: the watering can

In particular I wanted to address the listing on ThisOldToy.com (TOT) where it states that the watering can is a "purple garden watering [pitcher] with a handle and a round white pour spout". As you can see in the above picture, it is indeed a purple watering pitcher with a handle and a round pour spout, but the spout isn't white.

I think the misunderstanding comes from the pictures on the Wishing Well box. In the picture on the box front, it does appear at first glance that the watering can has a white spout:


However, if you look closely, you realize that the white color is merely a result of the light coming from the left of the picture which then reflects off of the flat spout.

In case you still are unconvinced, check out the picture on the back of the box:


Here you can see that the watering can does indeed have a purple spout.

Well, that's all for now, but stay tuned, because I have a few other Wishing Well posts yet to write, plus lots more on other Precious Places sets!

The Pretty Penny Wishing Well Parts List

At last, the moment you've all been waiting for (or at least, the moment, I've been so excited to write about)... The complete and verified Pretty Penny Wishing Well parts list.

Before I begin however, I need to be sure and let everyone know that the part numbers and most of the descriptive content for this list has been borrowed from the website ThisOldToy.com. The changes I've made to their list based on what I found in my new-in-the-box set are in red. Here it is:

The Pretty Penny Wishing Well Accessories List:

* FPT6741 - Round yellow base with a ring in the center for the wishing well. There is a litho with fish swimming in water inside the wishing well circle. There is a litho walkway around the circle with pink hearts, yellow dots and blue triangles and flowers on a purple background. The base has a little entrance area with a slit on each side for the accessory lattice-simulated arbor. The opposite side of the base has several little holes for the accessory fence.
*FPT? - Pink wishing well base with a hook in the middle for the accessory water bucket and a hook on both sides for the accessory ladle and two pegs on top to attach the roof.
*FPT? - Aqua scalloped wishing well roof. There are two holes on the underside to attach it to the wishing well base. It has a half-circle shaped litho on either side showing a pink heart in the center with flowers to either side on a purple background.
*FPT6614 - White soft plastic lattice-simulated archway that attaches to 2 holes in the FPT6741 base. The archway has pink flowers and green leaves on it.
*FPT6617 - White soft plastic ornamental railings/fence that fits into holes along the side of the base.
*FPT6743 - Pink watering bucket with a hinged (removable) handle.
*FPT6744 - Pink watering bucket handle.
*FPT6745 - Pink ladle with a curved handle that fits on a hook on the side of the well.
*FPT6746 - Purple garden watering can with a handle and a round (not white) pour spout.
*FPT6748 - Precious places figure - Female (Michelle) wearing a pink dress with yellow trim along the bottom and a yellow flower in the center of her chest. She wears yellow gloves, has blonde hair and has a pink flower in her hair. She is holding a dark pink umbrella (folded up, pointing down across her dress).
*FPT6747 - Aqua key with a magnet on one end and a handle on the other end. The handle is marked "Precious Places" on one side and has a litho showing a pink heart with a circle of flowers on a purple background on the other side.
*Decal sheet with the three lithos to complete the set.
*Map - a 16.5" x 11" fold out "village map" that has full color pictures.


There you go... Now you know just about everything I know about the Pretty Penny Wishing Well. In a future post I will be addressing my remaining questions about the set, as well as posting pictures of the different pieces, so stick around for that! And of course, please let me know if you have any questions about the set that you'd like me to try and answer.

The Pretty Penny Wishing Well Box

Hello everyone, I'm baaaaaaack! I'm sure anyone who ever checks this blog thinks I forgot about it a long time ago, but that is not the case. I have a whole bunch of things that I've been meaning to write about, but first I had to take pictures of some of my PP sets and that's what the hold up was. But now I've taken the pictures and we're ready to go.

On to my post for the day...

Back before the new year began (yes, that was a while ago) I was fortunate enough to acquire a new in the box Pretty Penny Wishing Well. I was particularly anxious to get this set since it is one of the most rare PP sets, so rare in fact that the listing for it on the very thorough website ThisOldToy.com is labeled as "Missing Information or Given Details Have Not Been Confirmed". Well, folks, I'm here to fill in the information and confirm all the details.

In this first post, I'll just be covering information on the box. Here is a pic of the box front:



The front of the box says "Fisher-Price", "Pretty Penny Wishing Well", "Ages 5 and up" and "This package contains small parts which are not intended for children under 3 years."

Here is the top flap of the box:



It says "Precious Places Pretty Penny Wishing Well", "Bring Michelle and the Wishing Well to life with your Precious Key." Notice also that it is labeled as 5186 (its set number) as well as 5185 ASST. which means it was part of the Outdoor Scene Assortment. The price tag on my box indicates that it was originally priced at $6.99, although I suppose the price may have varied some between stores/regions of the country. You can't tell this from the picture, but on the top of the box it says "Welcome to Precious Places, a special collectible village where you control the fun with your own Precious Key."

Here is the bottom of the box:



It says "Proof of Purchase 5186 Pretty Penny Wishing Well", "1988 Fisher-Price, Division of The Quaker Oats Company, East Aurora, NY 14052. Figure made in China. All other components made in Macao. Product specifications subject to change without notice. Package printed in Hong Kong." and finally "Fisher-Price products are made to the company's traditionally high standards of quality, comply to all applicable government safety regulations and conform to the Safety Requirements of ASTM F963."

Sorry, I know that wasn't very interesting. The back of the box is a tad more exciting:



It says "Fisher Price 5186 5185 ASST.", "Precious Places" and then "Welcome to Precious Places, a special collectible village where you control the fun with your own Precious Key. Use your Precious Key to walk Michelle to the Pretty Penny Wishing Well. Can you help her make a wish? Includes Precious Key, Michelle, wishing well scene, arbor, watering can, bucket and ladle."

The labels on the photos say (from top to bottom): "Precious Key moves Michelle around the wishing well." "Includes watering can, bucket and ladle." and "Precious Places Village - Collect all the Precious Places and create your own special village."

The sides of the box don't have any text or photos on them.

Okay, so I know this isn't the most thrilling post of all time, but since the Pretty Penny Wishing Well is such a rare set, I wanted to give all of you collectors out there very complete information. In the next few weeks I'll be writing several Pretty Penny Wishing Well posts in which I will cover what was inside the box (including a little surprise I found) as well as the mistake in the ThisOldToy.com parts list for the set (yes, there is one). Stay tuned for more!

Wendy's Aqua Wheeled Cart

So here's something I've been wondering for a while:

Did Wendy's Ice Cream Cart really come with aqua colored wheels?

I know that it came with purple wheels (with a purple roof and yellow lid), because I have that one:



I also know that it came with yellow wheels (with a yellow roof and purple lid), because I have that one too:



So I know for sure that Wendy's cart came with yellow and purple wheels.

However, on Wendy's Personality Card she is pictured with a cart with aqua colored wheels, which agrees with ThisOldToy.com (TOT) where they say that she comes with a cart with aqua wheels.

The thing is though, I have never actually seen an aqua wheeled cart for sale on eBay or anywhere else for that matter. So I started wondering, did Wendy's cart actually come with aqua wheels or was that only how it was made for her personality card photo?

Anyone out there have an aqua wheeled ice cream cart? Please let me know if you do so I can keep a look out for it and add it to my collection.

Lindsay's Personality Card

I'm back! Sorry for the long break, everyone! Hope you found all the Precious Places sets you asked for under the Christmas tree this year.

I've got some big new posts that I'm cooking up for the big New Year, but first, a continuation of the series I started in 2009, "Personality Cards not found on ThisOldToy.com". Up next is Lindsay and Her Scooter.

Front of card:



Back of card:



And here is the text:

Lindsay on Her Scooter
Meet Lindsay! She's really a fun friend. She's always the first one to raise her hand in class and always knows the right answer to every question. (She is pretty smart!) Lindsay can blow the biggest bubbles with her gum and do the most cartwheels in a row without stopping. (One time she did 12!) Lindsay got a scooter for her last birthday, and she loves to ride it every day. She's really good too!
Birthday: May 1
Favorite Color: Purple

Me here again. I think it is interesting to note that on the front of the card it says "Lindsay and her Scooter" and on the back of the card is says "Lindsay on Her Scooter". Not a huge deal, but it just illustrates some of the inconsistencies that I've noticed while collecting Precious Places.

The Sunshine Country Picnic Key Litho

The website thisoldtoy.com (TOT) has a great collection of Precious Places photos, but is missing some pictures of key lithos, one of them being the Sunshine Country Picnic key litho.

Here is what I believe to be the key litho for the Picnic set:



I'm pretty sure it is the right key since it has a basket on the litho and because I don't know of another set to which it might belong.

Anyone want to confirm or dispute this claim? Please let me know!

Ashley's Personality Card

Continuing my series of posts on personality cards not found on thisoldtoy.com, I now give you, Ashley the Model.

Front of Card:



Back of Card:



And here is the text:

Ashley the Model
Meet Ashley! Ashley is very pretty. She's been in fashion shows at the local department stores and had her picture taken for the town newspaper. Ashley wears beautiful clothes and always has a bow in her hair - even on gym days! You always know when she's around because of the sweet perfume she wears. Birthday: December 25 Favorite Outfit: The blue velvet skirt and white satin blouse she wore last Christmas.