Announcements

BONHAM’S AUCTION HOUSE - London

I think I have just opened Pandora’s Box!

As I registered my disappointments in services at Bonham’s, mail came flooding in that aired some of the same complaints. One gets the feeling that some of these large well known auction houses feel that everyone has to conform to their standards of operation, that we don’t have choices, and without other major auction houses for competition, we must settle for their unfair ways! I remember the good old days when Sotheby’s and Christie’s had doll, toy and miniature sales, but those days are gone.

I soon realized that these major auction houses have a tendency to have overloaded staff, too many “Generals” managing the fort, so you find yourself repeating the same problems to several staff people. My immediate reaction was “Do these people really know what they are doing?” One such feeling was when I wanted to sign up to bid on line. I spent hours trying to get a simple task accomplished only to find that the person setting this up could not make it work. It seems that if you were a former customer from way back and you changed your residence and your email address, their system could not be altered to accept the new documentation. So in frustration, I left bids, which is not something I ever do. Too many auction houses will start the bidding at your left bid.

Now if you are lucky enough to win a bid, the next step is payment. (Bonham’s has a 25% Buyer’s Premium and a VAT tax- so now we are up to 30%) If you are not present at the auction, you can wire the money or put it on a credit card. I like credit cards for one very good reason, and that is if you have any disagreements, your credit card will back you up to get the payment returned. (I came very close to doing this and I had the full support of my credit card).

The next big hurdle is shipping. Get ready, because you will be shocked by the outrageous sum which is what I was charged to mail a small package. I bought one item that I could hold in the palm of my hand at a value of $700. To ship this to the U.S. was going to cost me $455.!!! Yes, you heard me, $455. Well, since this was beyond ridiculous, I looked into other shippers- UPS, DHL, and Mailboxes etc. The prices were better, but still really high!

I thought of another idea! I knew a good toy collector/dealer who said he was going to bid at Bonham’s, so I was able to contact him and found out that he had purchased 13 lots! His shipping costs were $1000. That sounds like a lot of money but the price meant he was paying less than $100. per item. So why was I paying $455. for one item? It obviously shows that the more you buy, the cheaper the rate. But this doesn’t make any sense to me.

So then I thought, perhaps I could get my tiny item to join this shipment.

Here is where we get crazy, so many staff people have to become involved. There is one person who must get approval for me to do this, the shipper now has to bill me for getting into a shipment, the head of the department has to give his approval, and it just goes on and on. Days go by between each staff member’s involvement. It really becomes a fiasco! I had to wait for a bill and finally I had to pay $129.

For people who live in the London area, picking up the item is the logical thing to do in order to avoid this huge expense. For overseas buyers, I strongly recommend that you find someone in London to do a pick up for you. Pay that person for their time and let them pack it for you and send it on its way! To do business with the shipping department at Bonham’s is something you really want to avoid.

UPDATE: I have just received my copy of the book, Family Dolls’ Houses – by Liza Antrim. What an amazing collection! So many wonderful photographs with extra photos pulled out of the main photo and placed around it. This book covers the furniture that is very early, many pieces are one of a kind, homemade and of various scales. The wallpapers are just breath-taking and the dolls are mostly the wooden dolls. The research is incredible and shown by dates at the end of the book! Here are a couple of photos from the book never seen in any other book!

The cost of the book is now on the website of Liza Antrim. It is £60+ £27 p&p to the States, Japan, and anywhere else except UK and Europe, making £87 in all (that is about $135, depending on the rate of exchange that day). I think the easiest way to make payment is by Paypal. If you click on "contact me" on ciderhousebooks.com, Liza can send a request for payment with her details. The books should be arriving here next week, so they can begin to send them out the following week- October 3.

I am very excited about receiving this book as it is about the collection of the author and not just another book on miniatures that has has been covered so many times in other books. This vast collection will be well documented and will be like touring a museum. This is an opportunity to study and learn from a collector who has a great deal of knowledge on dolls' houses and their furnishings! How fortunate we are, to have Liza share with us and to have it recorded so that we may place this book in our reference library to refer to as one of the best texts ever written. Remember, purchasing a good book on antique dolls' house miniatures is like giving ourselves a gift of knowledge on a subject we love!

Liza Antrim, a well known collector from Great Britain, has just published a book of her collection of antique dolls’ houses and their furnishings. It is not often that one has the opportunity to see an extraordinary collection assembled by a devoted collector of 50 years!! Her knowledge, perseverance and dedication to collecting has amazed all of us!

The book, Family Dolls’ Houses of the 18^th and 19^th Centuries, is being published now and will be released shortly. You may order it in English or German. Follow her website at: www.ciderhousebooks.com for more information.

How Boulle Dolls’ House Furniture Was Made

As a collector and dealer of dolls’ house miniatures, I have always admired and tried to collect and sell pieces of this furniture. At first, I always was aware of scale, but now I appreciate it in all scales. The photo above has several sizes of Boulle furniture. (The sideboard with fruit is 14” tall, the bed is 15-1/2” long, the canopy bed at the bottom of the page is 6-3/4”h.)

Some collectors may ask, “Why do you call it Boulle?” I really like the way Swantje Koehler who has written books on the subject of dolls’ houses, explains it this way:

'During the Biedermeier era, there was a particular kind of furniture being made in France that was highly decorated in brass, tortoiseshell, silver, and gilt with beautiful inlaid woods. The cabinet maker was Charles Boulle. When people referred to the dollhouse furniture with gold decoration, they referred to it as furniture like Boulle. Boulle was a technique of making furniture, not a style! “Biedermeier” was a time period and not a style! So calling these pieces “Biedermeier” is a misnomer. Just like the word “Waltershausen” is a misnomer too as a name for this furniture. “Waltershausen is a village in Germany and there were several people making furniture in this town, so one cannot identify it by a town’s name.'

In the last ten years we have learned that certain makers of dolls’ house furniture have been connected in some way to the Boulle furniture. One such word was “Kestner” which has always been associated with dolls. In 1845, Kestner began to make dollhouse furniture in three different colors- a red color, a soft golden color and an ebony color.

Photo by Christian Gramatzki Photo by Ann Meehan

Kestner Soft Golden Furniture Kestner Ebony Furniture

Photo by Swantje Koehler

Kestner Red Furniture

If you look underneath the furniture you would see a capital letter which designates the category of furniture. (A- chairs, music stools, B- chest of drawers, C- tables etc.)

Numbers placed to the right of the capital letter could mean a run on that particular piece and then a number on the other side of the capital letter signified the size . (Knowing there were six sizes of Boulle furniture, a number 2 could mean not the smallest size but the next size of the six sizes). So could see this written under the furniture – 2B3 – So we have a chest of drawers, taken from the third run in size #2.

The Kestner Company was owned by Johann Daniel Kestner and he was the uncle to Johann Daniel Schneegas! Eventually the companies merged and now we can see numbers added to the markings of Kestner’s:

View of a factory working on orders of dollhouse furniture - Photo by Swantje Koehler

Photo of Johann Daniel Kestner

A Sample Book was made as a way to advertise the Boulle dollhouse furniture. Large sheets of paper were painted in one of the colors of the wood – soft yellow, red, or ebony. Then it was put under a lithographic press to print the gold decoration onto the paper. The sheets were then cut out and were glued on the pages. To make them three dimensional, an artist would paint in the missing parts and decorate them with original papers and fabric. The Sample Book shows how the litho stone pressed the gold decoration on to the thin pieces of wood which were then cut out and glued together. This was a simple way to produce the furniture we call Boulle!

In discussing the way the Boulle furniture was made, this information was written by Swantje Koehler for Doll News. This magazine is for UFDC members (United Federation of Doll Collectors) and will be published in an upcoming issue. To view the article and see the photos, you must borrow a copy from a UFDC member. Her photos are magnificent and you will enjoy the article.

About 25 years ago, I had a well known artist from New England hand draw many of the familiar floor papers and wall papers found in dolls’ houses by Christian Hacker and Moritz Gottschalk. I am sure collectors and dealers have been frustrated with finding one of these dolls’ houses with missing or badly stained papers in them. It is time to let go of some of these things found in storage and hopefully find the right home for them. I have photographed these papers and will show a portion of them here.

If you are interested in buying these papers, I am selling them as a collection and am not selling them individually. You may request to see all the papers and make an offer on them. Please contact me at: antiquedh@comcast.net or dollhouseann@gmail.com

Thanks, Ann Meehan

Embroidered, Beaded and Petite-Point Rugs for the Dolls’ House

Needlework has always been a part of my life. In the 1970’s I studied with a well known person in making petite-point rugs. Her name is Judy Gaillardetz of Marlboro, MA. Together, we designed several rugs for my dolls’ houses.

This was my collection back in 1978 and over time, I sold all of these houses. An article had been written for Yankee Magazine back in December of 1978. The photographer who took photos for the magazine did this oil painting which measures 42”x 54”. It was from this exposure in the magazine, that I received 50 letters a day for three months! People were wanting to sell antique dollhouse furniture and then others were wanting to buy. I had suddenly become a dealer overnight!

Then while living on the seacoast in NH, I worked with a great teacher, Annie Spring, of Amesbury, MA. in learning rug hooking. I would spend a few hours in class each week color coordinating a rug. Planning the colors and the shading was as important as doing the actual hooking of a rug. For several years, I became an avid rug hooker, dying my own wool, cutting the wool and hooking a rug for each room in my home. I did what they call “Fine Hooking” as opposed to primitive hooking which does not involve shading and is hooked on a larger hook so that a rug could be completed in a much shorter time. Dying wool involves using a combination of dyes in specific measured amounts which were placed in jelly jars with certain amounts of water and cooked on a stove. After the wool was dried on racks, one would use a cutter to make fine strips of wool. Then, with a rug hook, one would hook the wool into a canvass or a softer material called monks cloth. A large rug, like a 4’x 6’ could take 2-3 years to complete. Here is one of my rugs below.

Years later as I spent more time studying needlework, I began to hunt for embroidered pieces that I could use for rugs, coverlets, and pillows in an antique dolls’ house. It is amazing how scraps of needlework show up at flea markets and auctions, One begins to hunt for clothing, mats, table runners, purses- anything with fine embroidery and bead work.

At a recent antique show, I found this piece of petite-point and beading that would make a fine dollhouse rug. I like the combination of using more than one type of needlework in a piece of work. The center has a medallion of petite-point flowers and then has a border of white beads around it. The border, known as a “Grecian Key” design, is done in bead work too. If you look closely, you will see that part of the canvass is bare, giving it a neutral beige color. A close up photo shows the detail work below. There are a few examples of beaded rugs too. Some were originally placemat, a purse or a part of some clothing.

The red beaded rug above looks splendid in a dolls’ house that has a room of gray and red antique wallpaper. When you turn it over, you can see the beads were sewn on the back of a croqueted doily.

The last beaded rug shown below goes well in a dolls’ house that has a room 28” deep and is 20” wide. The shading in the flowers and leaves is amazing!

Embroidery work which includes crewel work involves learning a number of stitches and is usually found in bed dressings and chairs. It is very hard to find in miniature. However, at a recent antique show I came across some 18^th century French fabric which has embroidery work done on silk. If you study the back of the fabric, you can see that is mainly the “tent stitch” that is used through the entire piece.

Here we have the fabric as I unfolded it and then a close up of the pattern. Below we can see close ups of the needlework and then the underside to see the tent stitch. These fabrics were deconcessioned from the Rhode Island School of Design and sent to a Boston auction house.

Wonderful petite-point rugs can be made from antique purses as shown in the rug above. The shading and intricate work is blended beautifully! It measures 7” x 4-1/2”. Below is another petite-point rug made from a purse. It measures 7”x 4-3/4”

The fun of hunting for fabrics is you never know what you will find!

The varieties are endless and the treasures immeasurable.

The Sale of the Old Salem Toy Museum

On November 19^th & 20^th, the Old Salem Toy Museum was sold at Noel Barrett’s Auction house in New Hope, PA. In my discussions with collectors and dealers gathered to view the items, I have attempted to collect and share with you some of their thoughts and comments on this collection.

As I walked down the long aisle to view the showcases of miniature furniture, accessories and dolls, it was obvious to me that we had a lot of pieces that had been enhanced by over-painting. I thought of the phone bidders and the internet people who would not have an opportunity to view these items. The catalog was not specific on what items had been altered in each lot, so it made bidding difficult. So many pieces of the Rock and Graner furniture had been repainted and lacquered, with the exception of the large piano with the music box. Many lots that consisted of food platters, plant stands, birdcages, chandeliers, lithophanes, picture frames, umbrella stands etc. were over-painted in gold paint or had a glazing compound with black paint. An asphaltum finish should be a brown wash that is somewhat translucent and has a warm mahogany look to it.

While looking through the lots of chandeliers, I saw that some had dolls’ eyeballs for globes!

Over-painted items and a “Fantasy” piece of a globe on a stand with a chain and magnifying glass. Fantasy pieces are created after the fact and were never sold as original miniature pieces.

The Rock & Graner Piano with music box

Another observation made by collectors was what I call the “Fantasy Pieces”. This means that the piece was all made up, that it never existed or was made by commercial companies that made dollhouse furniture. If you look closely, you can actually look at the various components to see what was put together. Besides the globe on a stand with a magnifier, the embroidery stand with a wheel attached on top to provide thread for the embroidery work is also a “Fantasy” piece. Pieces and parts to other objects can be rendered into a complex piece. This item sold for $1900.

As I looked through the lots, there were always some pieces that had been enhanced or repainted which made it impossible for me to buy as they were not appropriate for my own collection nor did I want to offer them for sale.

What was astounding to me were the prices paid for redressed dollhouse dolls! Here we can take a look at a few. They are beautiful, but if you are a true collector of authentic antiques, how could you buy them?

The dolls shown on the left sold for $850! All accessories with the dolls were newly made too. The dolls in the photos on the right sold for $4000. The bidding on the dolls was very inconsistent! One lot had three dolls and nine pieces of luggage which sold for $9000.

Probably the greatest disappointment to me were the dolls’ houses! The Christian Hacker, the Regency dolls’ House, and the Spanish brick dolls’ house were completely restored. That meant that the exterior is entirely over-painted; the interior wallpapers are newly hand painted and of course, are not original.

Let’s take a look at the Spanish Dolls’ House!

The interior of the house has all new hand painted wallpaper! The floors have all been redone and the kitchen set up is not original. In other words, the house is no longer an antique! When you make radical changes and remove all the old wallpapers and floor papers, you have destroyed the value of what was once a great house.

The previous owners had given me photos of the house along with the original furnishings. They wrote a booklet on their houses and this one is documented with several photographs.

The exterior of the house which was so spectacular had repainted balconies that once were gray and are now green, and the staircase had the steps redone from the original gray color.

This dolls’ house sold for $14,000. which was less than the house was worth in its original condition when I saw it back in the 1970’s. You might ask, why would anyone make these changes? Is it an ego thing to think you could make it better or is it to make more money???

The most spectacular dolls’ house was the English Van Haeften Dolls’ House made in 1740-50. It was purchased by Vivien Greene in 1966 from Baroness Ann van Haeften and then was sent to Bonham’s auction house in London to be sold in 1999. Its history and documentation of professional restoration work to remove over painted surfaces can be found in the Barrett catalog. It sold for $115,000. to a collector attending the auction.

Once again another toy museum has closed its doors and been sold at auction. This is always a sad moment for collectors to see yet another one disappear and to know there are only a few specialized museums of this type left in our country.

NOTE: More than half of the lots on the sale of dolls’ houses and miniatures were sold below the estimates in the catalog.

Auction Catalogs- Reading Between the Lines

It is that time of year again, when all of us look forward to the upcoming auctions for antique miniatures and dolls’ houses. This year in particular, there are many auctions back to back. Finding a special treasure can be difficult as we scrutinize each catalog.

Each auction house distributes a catalog much to their own design, meaning they can write descriptions at their own discretion. Some will go to great effort to make an accurate and detailed description, while others just name the object, give a measurement and an estimate. One of the biggest problems is giving an accurate condition report. Why is this so difficult? This is because telling all the problems a piece has may reduce the chances of getting a high price for it. An auction house knows they want to get the best prices for their consignor and thus make more money for themselves. Then there are always people doing descriptions and condition reports that are poorly done due to lack of knowledge. Some auction houses hire a specialist to catalog so that collectors will have more trust in bidding at the auction. The question comes down to money, do they want to spend the money or do it themselves? This also gives a way to avoid mentioning all the flaws found in a piece.

Of course, the best way to avoid mistakes is to be at the auction in person. Pick up and examine each piece. Look for missing parts, restoration work which includes repaint and damage. You may find problems that are not stated in the catalog. When they use the phrase “possibly repainted, assume that it is”! Always be diligent in looking at a piece and never rely on an auction house. Look for what is “NOT” written in the description. If the writer does not say “original or authentic” in a description, do not assume that it is, especially when something looks too perfect to be true. When something is 100 years old and just looks perfect, you can’t trust photography. Restoration is very possible when something of that age doesn’t have a crack, a smudge or a mark on it. You certainly can’t see repaint in a photo very well. I love it when they say, “possible restoration” when the whole interior of a dolls’ house has reproduced wallpaper! Remember, original condition is important. Don’t be satisfied with repaint or changes in the piece, you can always find a better piece later. Don’t buy just because you love it, know that you don’t want pieces that have been tampered with! Also make sure an auction house stands behind its descriptions. If you buy a piece that has major problems and it is not stated in the description, you may have trouble getting your money back!

I think all of us have been burnt one time or another, so if I am not present at an auction, I will have a knowledgeable person examine items for me. I do not mind paying a fee for this service as this keeps it more professional and tends to eliminate asking for favors.

If you have comments or questions to add to this article, please forward them to me at antiquedh@comcast.net or dollhouseann@gmail.com

Making Bed Hangings for an 1840 Canopy Bed

For about a year and a half, I have been searching for early glazed chintz for an 1840 canopy bed that is in my Regency Dolls’ House. Having 24” ceilings, I had to find a large bed of the period of the house. When I finally came upon a bed that was the right size, I had no idea of where to find the right fabric of this time period. The 1st photo below shows how the canopy bed looked on the day I purchased it. As you can see, a piece of lace was nailed to the narrow space below the canopy top. Next is how the bed looked in the bedroom while I looked for fabric.

At the Deerfield Antique Show in New Hampshire, I found some beautiful glazed chintz fabric that had colors of a tan background that went well with the veneered walnut wood of the bed. The branches of teal blue and rose flowers set against a cream patch around the trees. There were birds perched amongst the trees while other birds flew between the flowers.

As I studied books on the design of bed hangings of the early 1800’s, a friend sent me a photo of an amazing bed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. I thought this design would work well as I had a wooden canopy on top and the valence hanging at the top of the canopy bed would work perfectly with mine. I used the photo below to help me set up the form.

Before dividing the fabric into four equal sections to hang on the corners of the bed, I cut a piece of the fabric to make the band at the top of the bed. As I viewed the bed, I became aware that I did not want to nail this fabric to the bed as there already too many nails in this space. So I had the idea if I could get some elastic to pull over the bed and cover this space, I could sew the fabric onto the elastic band.

I took each piece of fabric and pleated it at the top and then began to hem the sides and the bottom.

I made four of these pieces to be hung on each corner of the bed. Then I sewed each piece on the black elastic band.

I would now like to show the top of the bed and how the four corners are draped in fabric.

I have placed the bed in the bedroom of the Regency House! Now I have to do something about a coverlet on the bed!

The Mildred Mahoney Dollhouse Museum - Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada

About fifteen years ago, I visited the museum of Mildred Mahoney's collection in Fort Erie, Ontario in Canada. It is just a few miles from Peace Bridge which crosses into the U.S. It is only about ten miles from Niagara Falls and Buffalo, New York.

The museum was housed in a brick Greek Revival home with large white columns on the front. The Niagara River was right across the street which added much charm to the location of the museum. The building was known as Bertie Hall and was leased from the town.

My first impression of the collection was that the houses were not in good condition and many were missing their fronts. (This had reminded me of Mrs. Strong's collection in Rochester, NY where the fronts were removed for viewing in the museum). I also remembered that houses were furnished with a mix of items, some fairly new and then other pieces were much older. I also encountered a lot of restoration and although the houses were electrified, the wiring was exposed on the sides of the houses. To hide the lighting, a string of tassels was placed across the top of each room!

The houses had information and dates displayed in front of each house. What was very confusing was the date of the house was not actually the age of the house but the time period of the style of the house. Almost every house had new wallpaper up to the period of when the museum opened in the early 1980's.

On August 14, 2010, the museum was to be sold in its entirety. All the houses would be sold furnished with a mixture of furnishings and accessories that spread over a period of time. As I viewed the collection to be sold by Plato Auctions, I began to search through the houses and record pieces of value. Due to time restraints on selling this collection, a catalog with descriptions and condition reports was not available. I felt it was very necessary to be there in person to view the size, condition and quantity of furnishings. It is too difficult to view only by photos on a website, especially when plexiglass was placed in front of all the rooms. To my surprise, I found more quality furnishings in back corners or inside bay windows that obviously did not show in photos on the website.

One house, the Kensington-Kerr House, had an attractive front of brick paper with a spectacular entrance with columns. One could identify this house as Silber-Fleming as it has been documented in books and was seen at auction. But one could not see how all the white brick work and columns were all over painted, how the windows were new and black electrical tape was placed on the glass to look like panes. As you opened the front doors to view the interior, one could see contact paper all over the back of the doors. Floors had thin pieces of balsa wood placed over them. Huge new fireplaces were found in most of the rooms.

Although the condition of the houses and furnishings varied greatly, there were many bargains for the novice collector as well as for the advanced collector. What was amazing was that you got to buy a house and all the furnishings at once! I saw people leaving the museum with four and five houses! Getting them back to the U.S. and through Customs didn't prove to be as difficult as anticipated.

The Responsibilities of Packing and Shipping

Have you ever received a package only to be disappointed by its contents that are broken and destroyed?

I recently had a shipment from overseas arrive to find delicate objects split into pieces and furniture pulled apart or torn from poorly packed boxes. It makes it especially difficult if there is a language problem and you can't seem to get your point across that the boxes sent with high quality items are worn and old. They blame it on the mail carrier, the post office, etc. For many years, I remember an auction house in Switzerland that actually sent expensive furniture in cereal boxes! The boxes I received were soft from wear and when you see them squashed, you know there were not any strong boxes inside the box to help support the outer box. A box should be so well packed that you can sit on it!

Another time, I spent a great deal of money at an auction house overseas and when this large box was taken out of the truck by UPS, I saw one side of the box all dented, then you know something is wrong! I had this big butcher knife in my hand as I approached the truck and the man said, "It is not my fault, I didn't do it." I opened the box and there before me was $16,000. worth of miniatures and accessories all broken. Nothing had been double boxed and all I saw was newspaper inside the box with the miniatures. Newspaper provides very little protection on delicate pieces being shipped. It's dirty and when you unpack it, newsprint comes off on your hands. Objects can just move around in the box as it is not secure.

Let's pack a box of miniatures for shipping! Select good strong boxes and new ones are best! Go through the Yellow Pages in your phone book and look under "Boxes" and you will find a distributor. Boxes from the post office are free, but they are not the strongest! If I have a large expensive order to ship, I make sure I have new boxes for shipping.

1. I pack up all the items first, using tissue and small bubble wrap and I put one piece of tape across the bundle. I hate it when a delicate object has tons of tape sealed all across and around it. It is not easy to open this bundle without destroying the object. Legs on furniture should be protected by adding tissue or bubble wrap under the table. See photos below. I use small boxes or containers to hold the more delicate accessories.

2. I put a few large pieces of strong butcher paper crumbled up on the bottom of the box. This provides a good cushion for the bubble wrapped pieces to rest on for a comfortable and safe journey!

3. Since I have selected a box that is the perfect size for the number of objects to fit inside, I fill the inside of the box with additional bubble wrap! The box can be taped. This is an inner box! We must build another box!

4. Now we need to build the outer box. If you buy a 10 cube box, then a 12 cube box fits perfectly over it. Tape the box together. Next put the crumbled butcher paper down in the bottom of the box. This cushions the box that sets on top of it. Now you see you have 2" to insert some kind of packing material to stabilize the box. In this case, I used "peanuts" to push down on the sides and this inner box cannot move around!!!

5. We now have a double boxed package! Let's compare it with the box I received in the mail last week! The box is worn and soft, it is not durable and the inside of the box did have some small thin boxes for small items. Again these boxes were too thin and not effective for shipping.

Last week was not a good week. I received another small box in the mail. Inside the box was this thin, small box which reminded me of a checkbook box! Sticking out of this small thin box inside was a broken bone desk! There was a thin piece of styrofoam in the box. That was all the packing in the box. Do you wonder why the piece was broken? I told the seller the piece was broken due to poor packing! I received a paper from the headquarters of the post office in St. Louis, MI as an insurance claim had been made by the seller of the bone desk! How can she expect to collect when she did such a poor job of packing? No wonder the post office is bankrupt! Who would ever refund her money????? So although you may insure a package, if it is not packed properly you may not be able to collect insurance.

ADDENDUM:

I buy something on EBay for $1.50 with Buy it now! So I see that I will be charged for a "Flat Box" rate. Why would anyone put a piece of dollhouse furniture in a Flat Box? Those are for heavy objects when it is worth paying $8. for a box. So I show the lady all my photos and I say- just a hard sturdy box and pack it well and put it in another box and pack all around it. She orders a double flat box...costs me $25.00 to ship a $1.50 object. Does that make sense? When I bought a very delicate rare ormolu lamp last week for over $500., I also wanted to make sure it was properly packed. I sent her the photos and she knew just what to do and how to pack it. We are best friends now, we write everyday and she is now a customer of mine. She lives on the gulf in Alabama so I am getting all the info on the oil spill first hand.

It Rarely Happens...............Finding Early Wallpapers!

I went to a general auction recently to look at some early wallpaper that might be appropriate for a dolls' house. I was amazed to find something that I liked and felt was definitely within the scale of a large dolls' house! Each piece was rolled in newspaper ( dated 1960 and was from France). I also knew this came from the household of Mary Merritt who had the museum in Douglassville, PA.

I remember attending a seminar on "Historical Wallpapers" in Boston with Richard Nylander back in 1985 where there were 250 participants! I gathered my notes and information to see if it would help me in dating this wallpaper.

First, I loved the colors; a soft blue background with a stripe of dark tangerine flowers with matching lines on the sides, but then I saw these light white lines crossing through the background of the stripe. Outside of the stripe borders were white dots and then we see this lacey white scroll design interlaced and running on each side of the stripe. The tangerine dots are placed between each white scroll. This repeats itself until we now can see a pattern.

To find papers that are not bold with strong colors or have these over-sized designs is difficult. I was enthralled with the colors and the overall pattern. I could tell that this was not machine made so that it had to be older than 1840. Between the stripe and the lacey white scroll work, were little imprints of a darker blue alternating between a series of dots around one large dot and then a star like form with two dots at the bottom and two lines above with a dot. This seems to alternate in a pattern. These shapes seemed somewhat primitive in their form and reminded me of a child's art work in doing sponge painting!

After I bought the wallpaper and brought it home to examine how much damage I would have on all the pieces, I was amazed at how many large pieces were bundled in the newspaper. We have to expect some staining and some paint loss in the design, but I would hope I could measure out some of the better areas. I love wallpaper that shows its age and it doesn't bother me if there is some fading and a little paint loss. It just adds character to the room!

In the earlier papers, a black printed outline was often embellished by applying color with a brush. A stencil could be cut from leather which was cheaper than carving a block. Blocked wallpaper was used during the late 18th century and early 19th century. A photo enclosed shows how blocked wallpaper is done today. People who own early houses, who want to copy original wallpapers, will have it hand blocked. I remember a friend doing this and the first roll cost him $3000. Of course, it was cheaper as he had more rolls made to finish the room.

On the back of one large piece of wallpaper I bought, there are black inked numbers that read "1796"........is this the date of the paper or a file number? More research may give me the answer! I already have plans for this wallpaper which will appear in a dolls' house in the near future.

The Long Island Dolls’ House

A spectacular dolls’ house is found in Long Island!!

The house is from around 1890 and was kept in a garage on Long Island for 47 years before the owner decided to part with it. Her father, Michael Trotta , had given it to her when she was four years old! He had found it abandoned in a house fire in which he was hired to clean out the home. His business was called Joe Trotta and Sons in Glen Cove, Long Island.

The dolls’ house is heavily carved with brackets and fine design work under the roof, medallions are found between windows, and fine bead work appears around windows and columns. The house is painted in three shades of old green paint with mahogany stained windows. The color combination creates a façade that is soft and beautiful. The windows were made to go up and down! These were damaged when a group of boy threw balls at the dollhouse for target practice.

The base of the house has painted brick work and on each side is an awning, which if you looked closer, is really a handle for a drawer. So if you pull on the awning, out comes a drawer. The drawer on the right had a complete hook up for a door bell, so that, when you pushed the drawer shut, the doorbell would ring! A similar drawer on the left has some wooden parts that go in the house.

Ceiling wallpapers are beautifully painted with borders ( a couple of these have to be glued back in place) and beaded trim work, along with wooden crown moldings can certainly make an impressive design when painted to go with the original wallpapers! The wallpapers are all small prints and the paper has a sheen to it which gives a very elegant feeling to the room. The window frames are carved and have rosettes in each corner.

There are six rooms in the house so that the main four rooms have hand carved fireplaces with beveled mirrors and carved columns under the mantle. (The other two rooms are a bathroom and kitchen.) One fireplace has figurines carved to hold up the mantle. Finely turned posts are found on top of the mantles that connect up to the tops of the mirrors. A large opening between the dining room and parlor has a finely carved piece of decoration up at the ceiling which needs to be attached along with a column to connect it to a base. ( The pieces are in a bag in the drawer of the house on the left side.) Quite unbelievable, when you think of the time it must have taken to build this house!

The kitchen has wonderful built in double sinks in metal with wooden stained covers that are hinged to the back. A large metal black stove has a hot water heater that is connected with pipes to the double sinks and another metal sink. The other sink could be used to wash mops or be used for other kitchen chores. The kitchen floor is carved and painted with a border that looks like linoleum. The most amazing piece in the kitchen is the dumb waiter that begins in the kitchen in the left hand corner of the room. A beautifully carved door opens and a series of shelves to transport food is elevated by a string on a pulley which is operated to stop at each floor. That pulley is on the third floor, on the partition to the right side room. One can see it on the partition, up at the top!

The bathroom has a great large cast iron tub on paw feet. What is really unusual is the fine painting on the back and side of the tub; there is a cupid holding a garland of flowers. I have never seen a piece like this nor have I seen the cast iron sink that has a porcelain bowl in the center. There is a drain in the sink which connects to pipes underneath it. The high tank toilet is quite unusual with a blue and white porcelain bowl molded in various curves to make it more of a decorative urn!!! The floor in the bathroom is scored to look like tiles and is painted cream with a border in a soft mauve color.

The front entrance has two doors with glass windows with the name “Elsie” written in script on the glass. The doors have incredible detail of carved wood, tiny bead work and very special door knobs and escutcheons. Above the glass doors are glass transoms with black and gold numbers; one door has “1900” and the other door has “1901”. It almost reminds you of a New York brownstone.

The house opens from the front in an ingenuous way…the carved moldings on the roof are about four inches deep, you raise the roof which unclamps the front façade and then lay the roof back down. (The roof is hinged from the back). It eliminates hooks and pieces that would never be seen on a real house! This is truly one of the best architectural dolls’ houses I have ever seen.

(Note: I have some historical data given to me by the owner which I need to substantiate before making it public) The exterior has now been completed with all the working windows and pieces like the balcony railing, railings to the exterior stairs are in place and the second front door can be seen now.

The interior has not been photographed until we can place some of the missing trim work in place, fix the ceiling papers that are beautifully hand painted and get the dumb waiter working etc.). It all takes time and patience, but I wanted to share with you that the exterior is completed! (I do have to wash the windows and put up some old lace curtains).