Limoges Boxes Boutique Questions and Answers

Limoges Boutique is a vendor and works with distributors working with 8 ateliers in the city of Limoges France. Each atelier has their own collection and style, so how Limoges Boutique selects the finest of their collection and for each Limoges box and negotiates upon the quality, the details, and different designs with their own unique goodies etc... The pieces from the Limoges Boutique Collection are signed Peint a la main, dated and made of limited edition.


QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:


A. - What if you don't have the limoges box I ordered? 

- A . -  We bring up to date our inventory daily, so 98% of our inventory marked "In Stock" featured on the Internet is available for immediate shipping. Artoria is the only company you have to watch in regard to stock as some of their pieces are back order only. In regard to the other inventory, we may be short on some models temporarily or a piece may be sold out or retired within 24 hours during business hours, but this is very rare. We will send you an e-mail within 24 hours to advise you about the status of your specific order if it's not available, if your selection is available, and you don't hear from us, your order is on its way. We ship UPS standard Ground with Confirmation Delivery and Insurance for the full amount of your purchase or USPS Express Next Day Delivery in the United States only.


B. - What if the Limoges box(es) I ordered arrived broken? 

- B. - We prepare your shipment very cautiously, as each Limoges box is carefully gone over and verified as perfect prior to shipping. We abundantly bubble wrap your chosen piece and place in a gift box and then we carefully double boxed with chips or bubble peanuts. On the outside it's taped "Fragile handle with care".  All shipments are fully insured for the amount of your purchase, so, in case it arrives broken, you must contact immediately the carrier, UPS or USPS. We have less than .05% of our boxes arrive with problems, as problems during the shipping procedure are extremely rare. 

If you receive a broken box with UPS call 1 800-742-5877 to let them know of the damage and arrange a pick-up of the damaged piece, in the original packaging. Keep all of your original packaging as you will need this to show UPS.
With USPS, fill a claim within 48 hours at your local post office with standard report claim, bringing the broken Limoges Box(es) with copy of your order in its original package to show the damage to the post office manager. The claim is filled by you and you request on the claim form that refund is made to us, the sender. Your local post office should keep the broken piece and the package and give you a copy of the claim Stamped with the date. We will refund you and as soon as we receive copy of the stamped claim or we will send you a new Limoges box, same model as your order for replacement. 
Attention do not send back to us anything without the claim form and insurance, otherwise you will be held responsible for the breakage and NO REFUND WILL BE MADE TO YOU!

Please call us if you need help:   simply email us with the contact us link above.


C.  What if I change my mind when I receive the Limoges box I ordered? 

- C. - You have a 3 day Full Money Back Guarantee (except shipping both ways), so if you change your mind for any reason, contact us and let us know and return the Limoges box as well wrapped as you received it, insure it for the full amount and send it with confirmation delivery, and you will be refunded within 7 days less the amount of shipping we pay for. If you decide before 30 days but after three days of delivery that you do not want the piece, we will charge a 15% restocking fee for a return or allow you to do a full credit exchange for another piece. 

- D - What forms of payment do you accept? We accept the following major credit cards: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover. 

- E - Is my payment secure? Yes. Our online shopping cart is absolutely secure. We use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and encrypting) security measures to protect against any data loss or misuse in our systems. 

- F - Is my personal information confidential? Yes. Any information you provide to us will never be shared to any other entity. 

More Questions :

   1.  Could I visit your place?  Limoges Boutique works with a shipping warehouse in Texas, Florida, and New Jersey and they are not open to the public, but order online and we will be glad to ship your order M-F until 2PM eastern standard time. Returns are accepted up to 3 days after delivery. 

   2.  Do you have a large inventory of Limoges boxes immediately available?  We update our inventory every day, and on the bottom of the description, you have an "In Stock" which indicates that the item is available. You can be 99% sure that your order will be available. We may be short on few items, only when we receive numerous orders of the same model the same day. In this case, we send the pieces or first order, first served. We have more than 30,000 genuine Limoges boxes from Limoges France in stock and about 3,800 different models, and if we are out of a model (which is very rare) it may take 2 to 16 weeks to get it in (if it's not a retired piece).

   3.  What is "Limoges"? Is it a brand? Limoges is a city in the center of France 400 kilometers south of Paris, near the Volcano area of the Massif and the Limousin region. Limoges is not a company it's a “region name label" for the type of porcelain the people of this region create. Only companies or ateliers located in the territory limits can use the name "Limoges-France".
The Limoges Porcelain industry started In 1764. The city of Limoges was early on titled to be the only City to Produce Fine Royal Porcelain for the kingdom of France.  The Empress Josephine, wife of Napoleon, started to collect those intricate little treasure boxes, which made the Limoges Porcelain boxes instantly fashionable all over Europe and used often as snuff boxes. Today, Limoges porcelain is collected globally, and also used as a message box to celebrate any occasion in our life. Limoges Boxes are still in production, and there are a few medium sized (50 people) artisan factories, and many small independent Artists ateliers (10 or less Artist-craftsmen) working in Limoges France.  Each of these factories has their own collection of molds and boxes.


   4.  I have a Limoges Box; could you give me an estimate? Do you have a piece our of my dinnerware set I am missing?

 We are specialized in genuine Limoges boxes from Limoges France, hand painted porcelain figurines boxes hinged. We carry also a few Limoges jewelry Chests and Limoges Dinnerware but not much.  If you have plates, miniatures, tabletop, dinnerware, collectibles plates, ashtray, tureen of anything signed Limoges but not a BOX, we can't help you. (There are some very good books that you can research on your own though. If you go to Amazon and type in Limoges they will come up. 
If you need money and want to sell your Limoges boxes, Limoges Jewelry Chests, Limoges Plates, or your Limoges old service of 12, we suggest you to place your items on auction on Ebay or craigslist. If you are looking for selling fast you Limoges dinnerware, or find a replacement of your service, you may want to take a look at replacements (dot) com as they carry 300,000 patterns of old dinnerware and may carry the piece you are looking for.


   5. On a Limoges Box Appraisal from us , How do we estimate the value of the box?  If you have Limoges boxes, E mail us a picture of the box and the signature, we will be glad to help you and give you an estimate of your box with an appraisal order.

 If you want a Limoges Appraisal Click on one of these links ~

Quick Appraisal

Official Papered Appraisal for Insurance

   6.  How do I recognize a real Limoges box from a fake and what distinguishes the best or better quality from the bad? 

All genuine Limoges boxes made in France are signed "Limoges-France" that's the minimum requirement, and if it's not signed, if it's just signed "limoges" or "Limoges-China" it's a fake!
Limoges boxes have different detail in quality so to distinguish "the Finest" the "Very reputable" from the "respectable "to a "not too decent", you have to combine your own personal judgment with the following particulars to decide upon any of the categorizations above. At the initial consideration, your box has to be considered in the markings as below:
Name or logo or initial of the artist or company: (ex: Rochard, Artoria, PV, GR, Haviland etc...) 
The box indicated where it has been made: Limoges- France.
The box indicated how it has been made: Peint main, Rehaussee Main (which means hand painted by hand)
When you have all of these elements understood, you will know about the kind of paint and quality of work and then proceed with your own personal taste and judgment on the piece, the quality of the painting, the details, the goodies, the design, the interest of the subject in term of numbers of Collectors and of course, the very important fact, if you personally like the piece, what it means for you. Like a piece of art as a painting or a sculpture, you have to choose a Limoges box for your pleasure and personal taste or for the personal taste of a dear friend or family member and that's the most important. A Limoges box has a symbolic meaning, as a gift and representation for all the events in your life, valentine, Easter, Mother's day, Father's day, Independence day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and for all your birthdays, graduations, weddings, anniversaries, celebrations, a Limoges box will give you this little delicate touch of representation that will make each event of your life you most cherish.


   7.  Are there real Limoges boxes on Ebay ?  There are a lot of boxes on E bay and other auction sites, but rare are sold by respected antique dealers and collectors. BE VERY CAREFUL. A greater many of the "Limoges" boxes sold on these auction sites are faked. ("Limoges style" Limoges" Limoges China" etc...)on sites such as Ebay.  I would estimate only a percentage of the Limoges I have seen on Ebay are real. So, if you buy on EBay, you may find a wonderful deal and once in a blue moon luck out with a rare piece, but pay for it with your credit card and reserve a 7 day money back guarantee. Ebay doesn't have the ability to control what's real or not, so research the piece well and make certain it is not a piece from China before you agree to purchase. Our appraisal fees are $12 per piece. 


   10.  What about discount stores and wholesale clubs?  (these clubs do carry some real Limoges boxes at very low prices) To be completely honest, sometimes you may find a decent box at really fair prices at discount stores, but pay attention, as none of their boxes are Limited Edition and dated. Mostly because they order by the thousands and keep ordering, and ordering so you have a nice box selection, which can be found everywhere. Often, they buy the second quality box which are painted carelessly and quickly to keep up with production. They often come from a series and have little imperfections so they are declassified in Limoges as second category or second choice Limoges boxes. If you have the chance to compare 2 of the same boxes, you will see that the colors are fading away, the details are not good, and you will see little careless imperfections, as they are rarely signed either by the company or the artists. In the end, as with most things you purchase in this world, you get what you pay for mixed with the hours you might spend hunting for a deal. Though we do realize that sometimes hunting for a spectacular deal can be a enjoyable hobby for some people with the time to do so.

11 - Will I have to pay customs and duties?
If you live outside the United States of America your shipments are subject to import charges applied by your country.   You will have to check with your local customs officeas to what these charges may be.  

12 - Will the item I am shipped be the same as the picture?
All lines are photographed once as all of the pieces in a line  are very similar but not always exact because of artistic painting and mold cutting. If you are particular about the piece you recieve please contact us and let us know. Though we always carefully inspect every piece we sell to the market.

13 - Condition of Limoges Boxes
All Limoges boxes are hand-made and individually unique so two pieces of the same line can be slightly different another made from the same mold. There could  be very minor color variations or slightely different features on two identical Limoges boxes. All of our Limoges boxes are hinged and mounted by hand, so  the hinge can be slightly mounted differently. We guarantee our Limoges boxes to be without any cracks, hairline cracks, chips, breaks, and brand new.