Antique DOLL Collector May 2014 Vol. 17, No. 4
The Complete Guide to Antique, Vintage and Collectible Dolls
May 2014 Volume 17, Number 4
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SOCIETE DES BEBES JUMEAUX
By Dominique Pennegues To be competitive in the cloth doll market, S.F.B.J. created a new company. Surviving examples of these dolls are difficult to find.
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THE HOUSE THAT CRIED “RESCUE ME!”
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THERIAULT’S TO SELL THE HELEN WELSH COLLECTION
By Susan Grimshaw Although purchased in careworn condition, the author was charmed by this British dollhouse and its original features.
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DRESSING DOLLS IN THE SONNEBERG AREA OF GERMANY PART II
May 24 and 25 in Las Vegas
By Mary Krombholz All original dolls from this former doll and toy making capital in Germany.
The elegant Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas will be the setting for two important private collections to be sold by Theriault’s May 24 and 25. Our article features rare and varied treasures from the Helen Welsh collection.
About The Cover
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CREATING A BODY FOR MY DE FUISSEAUX
By Sherry Smith The oldest known doll factory in Badour, Belgium produced bisque doll heads for only a brief time.
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A COVER GIRL
By Ursula Mertz “Sis,” an adorable doll designed by Grace Drayton, was sold by the Averill Manufacturing Company.
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Auction Gallery Mystery Emporium Calendar Classified
A ROOM OF THEIR OWN
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By Laurie Baker Easy to follow directions on how to create an elegant salon for your fashion dolls.
1. Beautiful selection of important half dolls – some on original mounts. Call. This one on original mount shown in a full page photo in Marion/ Werner’s Encyclopedia.
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3. Call for large selection of cotton batting die cuts.
2. This sumptuous and regal beauty, the 16” Block Letter F.G. is a glamorous bebe in the league of Bru, PD and Schmitt et Fils. The most desirable of all Gaultier dolls, she is a very important model having a rare fully jointed composition body by Gesland, with powder fine quality bisque, shaded lids and soft brown PW eyes which complete this ultimate image of regal grace. $4700 4
4. 16” All Original Jumeau Fashion w/Bisque Arms – straight from a two generation family held collection, she is all factory original in rarified silk couture with elaborated braided wig befitting her aristocratic French heritage. Her graceful bisque arms are so rare and mint with blush and tinted nails, as is her flawless scintillating bisque – an eloquent host to her captivating beauty! $4250
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5. So expressive is this coquettish 16” Unique and Romantic Fashion Heirloom from hat to signed shoes in her 2-part French blue gown w/ silk trim train, signed French leather body and shoulder length ringlets… so lithesome! $2600 8
8. Luxurious Dressel and Kister Half Doll – aristocratic portrait of grace and style – plus others. Call
6. 22” Lavish E. J. Bebe – earlier gentle face model with the early soft brows, shaded lids, glowing PW’s, orig. 8 ball stiff wrist body also signed; and wearing luxurious silk period clothes and shoes! Breathtaking! $6200
(212) 787-7279 P.O. Box 1410 NY, NY 10023
Quality Antique Dolls by Mail Return Privilege • Layaways Member UFDC & NADDA
matrixbymail@gmail.com
7. For the Dressmaker! A rare 11” Jumeau Fashion ‘size 2’ cabinet gem, perfect and petite w/ factory wig, pate and blue PW’s – you need a ‘little sister’ doll – worthy of your talents! $2100
Theriault’s to Sell the Helen Welsh Collection May 24 and 25 in Las Vegas A
The very rare 21” Simon and Halbig 150 model is featured in the Helen Welsh collection.
Dainty, demure and ever so beautiful is the 11” Bebe Bru Brevete with original costume and signed Bru shoes.
He’s a fan of Colonel Teddy Roosevelt so he must own a teddy bear. The two models are fine examples from the K*R art character collection of Helen Welsh. 18
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s a young girl, Helen Welsh played endlessly with her toy kaleidoscope. She did not know that the kaleidoscope had been invented more than 150 years before by a Scottish astronomer, Sir David Brewster, not as a toy but as a scientific instrument. She did not know that the Greek word ‘kaleidoscope’ meant “observation of beautiful forms”. But she did know that she loved the way colors and shapes and elements of beauty could shape and re-create themselves over and over in an endless panoply of images. So it is little wonder that when the Pennsylvania woman took to doll collecting she was drawn to the dolls of Lenci, themselves a kaleidoscope of vibrant colors and patterns; over the next 20 years she assembled more than 60 rare examples. And it is little wonder that dolls of every genre - gorgeous French bebes, colorfully-costumed Kathe Kruse dolls, Steiff dolls and animals, German bisque art dolls whose varied faces were a veritable kaleidoscope of expression - intermingled with them. Sizes, shapes, colors of all kinds melded together in the Welsh collection, filling every room of her home, and given flavor by her related collections of antique purses, trinket boxes, and dainty accessories. All of these rare treasures will be presented at an important catalogued auction in Las Vegas on Saturday and Sunday, May 24 and 25 at the Bellagio Hotel. Appropriately titled “Kaleidoscope”, the twoday auction features more than 700 lots of dolls and related childhood ephemera. Many of these dolls were featured in an article in this magazine in January 2012, highlighted by the rare Simon and Halbig boy, model 150, in larger 21” size which appeared on the cover of that issue. A family of art character dolls by Kammer and Reinhardt are included in wonderful original costumes, among others a large model 114 boy whose rare antique pin proclaims his support of Colonel Teddy Roosevelt and a model 107 boy who solemnly awaits his wedding day, garbed in original formal attire including top hat. K*R models with unusual variations include the brown-complexioned 101 Marie, and the flocked hair 101X, Peter. Other rare characters include German bisque googlies such as all-bisque with jointed elbows and knees, Kestner models such as the elusive and endearing 239 toddler, and rarities from Simon and Halbig and Gebruder Heubach. French bebes include an all-original 11” Bebe Brevete by Bru, as well as a petite size 3 classic Bru Jne in wonderful Scottish costume, and a stunning 28” classic Bru Jne model. There are early-period fine bebes by Jumeau, Schmitt et Fils, Steiner, Gaultier, and Petit et Dumoutier, each in wonderful antique costumes. Allbisque dolls include rare mignonettes, as well as early German models including jointed knee models by Kestner. In her Pennsylvania home, Helen displayed
Left: He’s been waiting for his bride for more than a century. Some call him Karl, he’s the very rare 107 model by Kammer and Reinhardt, circa 1910, still wearing his original bridegroom costume. Above: Two’s company, but in this case three is not a crowd, for you can never have too many of the sought-after Series I Kathe Kruse dolls.
Stylish children of the late 1920s and 1930s were a highlight of the Lenci firm, as evidenced in this trio.
A Scottish lass? But wait, she’s French. A wonderful size 3 classic era bebe by Leon Casimir Bru. ANTIQUE DOLL COLLECTOR
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The House That Cried
“RESCUE ME!” By Susan Grimshaw
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first saw this careworn British dollhouse a couple of years ago at the same auction where I purchased my Edwardian Villa featured in the July 2012 issue of this magazine. Due to a family obligation, I was unable to bid in person and I later learned it had been passed over. Since I knew the consignor, I attempted to purchase the house directly from her after the auction but because she had overpaid for it in the first place, her asking price was too high for me. Last autumn, it was offered again at the same auction house and I was the only interested bidder, so I took it home for less than $100. I understand why it had few admirers. It is somewhat large and bulky, which makes it less desirable to some collectors, and it was in pretty poor condition with missing or damaged windows, and at some point in its life, a quantity of blood red alkyd enamel paint had been spilled throughout all the rooms of the house. It was not a fixer-upper for the casual restorer but it seemed to cry out for someone to rescue it. I was charmed by the original wallpapers, the picture rail moldings, the generous size of the rooms and the wooden staircase, although at some Still awaiting further restoration, the exterior is covered with its original brick paper and cardboard slate shingles, but has lost some gutters and I believe there was once a thin garden wall encasing the front of the base. This front façade is fixed in place, leaving the back open, and the small oriel window above the door is a feature seen in dollhouse plans from the 1920’s and ‘30’s. I’ve seen some other dollhouses with this feature, but none exactly the same. This “before” photo only hints at the vandalism to which the house had been subjected in the past. You can see the broken upstairs windows and just a hint of the red paint disaster awaiting clean-up. But one can also discern original mellowed wallpapers and the generous number of Victorian fireplaces – no central heating here! The newel post and railing are missing in the foreground, but they left “shadows” that helped me replace them. I do love that little turn of the steps. 26
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The interior of the house features rooms that are spacious enough to easily accommodate typical 1/12 scale furniture and also pieces a little over that scale, although the stairs and hallways are a little narrow. It’s always pleasing when a dollhouse has a realistic, practical floor plan and for this period, it was still traditional to site a family parlor upstairs. I really like the cozy warmth that envelops the whole of the house and revealing the golden glow of the original oak floors and exposed ends of the walls enhances the effect.
point between the two auctions, it lost its newel post. I felt it was very evocative of the period between the two World Wars and it would provide a nice setting for some of my vintage furniture that was slightly larger in scale and didn’t fit in my other vintage English dollhouse. My first task was dealing with the splattered paint. Surprisingly, I was able to carefully chip it off the papered walls of some of the rooms, but the hallways and bedroom were too damaged to save. So I removed those damaged wallpapers and painted the walls of the hallways as a temporary measure until I find the right vintage paper. I also re-papered the bedroom with some vintage Laura Ashley wallpaper I had purchased a dozen years ago in England. I was able to chip the paint off the papers that were used as carpeting in the hallways and kitchen, with some areas of loss tolerated, but the floor papers in the other rooms were beyond saving. When I started removing those damaged floor papers in the other rooms, I was surprised to find the floors, as well as the walls, were made
I used old cigar box mahogany to replace the missing stair railing in the foreground. It was just too difficult to save the floral paper that covered the stairs while removing the paint, so I stripped it down to the bare wood and gave it a coat of satin varnish afterwards. The inner walls of the house are made from thin plywood which has warped a little with time, but the floors and outer walls are solid oak and yes, it weighs a lot!
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