They are here!! All the way from the United Kingdom!
Front row: Treefellow Owl family
2nd row: Spotter Meerkat family, Bullrush Frog family, Vandyke Otter family
3rd row: Mr. Clearwater the dentist, DeBurg Penguin family, Waddlington Duck family, Tina Wildwood of the Wildwood Brown Rabbit family
4th Row: (not from the UK but new arrivals just the same) Dale Sheep family, Friesian Cow Family
Last December, I found out that a friend's sister who lives in London is coming home to the Philippines this January to visit. I asked if it's ok for her to bring some stuff home for me and my friend said ok. I was elated! My initial plan was to buy from www.sylvanianfamilies.com whose store is in London. However, each family costs around 16 British Pounds. So I tried scouring ebay.co.uk and found a lot of Sylvanian Families items for sale. I started bidding.
I was only looking for families which I know are hard to find here in the Philippines. And I scored my first win with the Bullrush Frog Family. Winning that bidding was a turning point. I was a new ebay buyer with no track record. I know some sellers ignore wins by new buyers like me. But thanks to Paypal, I was able to credit payment within a few hours of winning. I got the frogs and that got me started on a bidding spree.
The items are used... and some are not perfect. Mr. Treefellow has lost his cap and Mrs. Waddlington has lost her bonnet. The Bullrushes are a little faded and there are a couple of discoloration spots on Mrs. Bullrush's face. Mr. Waddlington has a broken and badly glued leg, which the seller "forgot" to mention in his description (deep breaths), but I let it pass and refuse to let that mar my happiness at meeting his family. There were also some GREAT deals. The dentist set with Mr. Clearwater, the Vole, was complete and in excellent condition! I can't wait for him to go home to Mrs. Clearwater and their daughter Stephanie. Both the Spotter and Vandykes are also in excellent condition. I had no plans to bid on the Vandyke family, but I noticed there was little bidding activity so I figured I might get them at a bargain and what do you know... I did! The best deal was with the Treefellows. They were part of a set and they came with the brown rabbit sister and the Maple Town furniture I posted about
here. They also came with a small bed and dresser made of wood, and a really nice Barbie-sized, elaborately embellished wood chair. I will feature them soon.
There were a couple of families I was hoping to get but I ran out of time and I hope to get them somewhere else next time. Here are the families that are still on my wish list:
The Bamboo Panda Family
The Beaufort Polar Bear Family
The Bouquet Skunk Family
The Buckley Deer Family
The Hamilton Hamster Family (no photo)
The Lopez Chihuahua Family
The Moss Reindeer Family
The Neptune Sea Otter Family
The Nettlefield Goat Family
The Tuxedo Cat Family
The Puddleford Duck Family (no photo)
The Plume Owl Family (no photo)
These are my must-haves. The others I don't have, I will probably get, but I don't really like them that much.
Anyway, the welcome party is happening soon!
