Antique DOLL Collector May 2015 Vol. 18, No. 4
The Complete Guide to Antique, Vintage and Collectible Dolls
May 2015 Volume 18, Number 4
29
About The Cover
Our cover, a magnificent large china, is a product of Denmark’s Royal Copenhagen porcelain factory. In her article Laurie Christman discusses the history of the company which began making dolls around 1840. Around 1977 the company decided to reissue some of the dolls using the antique molds. You will learn how to distinguish between the antique and the reissue in this well-researched article. Collection and Photo Kirsten Johansen.
20
“TO BE, OR NOT TO BE” – AN ANTIQUE OR REISSUE ROYAL COPENHAGEN DOLL – “THAT IS THE QUESTION!”
12 14 56 60 63
BORN WITH A NEEDLE IN HER HAND – SEVEN FASHION GOWNS BY CARRIE HALL
by Laurie Baker A 28” F.G. gets an amazing wardrobe made by Carrie Hall, a notable high fashion designer.
Auction Gallery Mystery Emporium Calendar Classified
by Laurie Christman
48
43
MUSEUM DER DEUTSCHEN SPIELZEUGINDUSTRIE
37
by Dominique Pennegues Rare catalogue photos from the first French Lenci-type doll maker, Denis Giotti, the maker of Magali dolls.
MORE SENSE THAN SENSIBILITY – LADIES’ FASHIONS IN THE EMPIRE & REGENCY PERIOD (1790-1820) by Alicia Carver
6
ANTIQUE DOLL COLLECTOR
by Susan Grimshaw The author discusses rare examples inspired by Mt.Vernon, Spanish and Chinese-style furnishings, custom pieces and more.
58
MAGALI LENCI-TYPE DOLLS
MAY 2015
RARE AND UNUSUAL TYNIETOY FURNISHINGS
Photos taken during the 2014 TLC grand tour
10.5” Swivel Neck Cabinet Parian - miniature perfection in this delicate 1870s work of porcelain, probably Early Halbig, with compelling facial artistry and mint parian limbs. A confection in the pastel shades of her fitted antique silk gown! Mesmerizing! $1695
13.5” Early Bru with Wooden Arms - but really graceful, shapely and beautifully made arms with thin wrists and long and perfect fingers. Scintillating 1860s expression with blue/grey pw eyes with flawless tender bisque that compliments her feminine vintage floral day dress and the original boots! Unusual gentle size! $4200
(212) 787-7279 P.O. Box 1410 NY, NY 10023
Quality Antique Dolls by Mail Return Privilege • Layaways Member UFDC & NADDA
matrixbymail@gmail.com
Important 14” Haute Couture Bru “Smiler”- perfect ‘Maison Bru’ styling with the legendary ‘Bru Blue’ Factory Original Ensemble including chapeau and side button blue leather bootines; plus elaborately braided original coiffure, earrings and opera glasses! Her radiant blue eyes glow in a bed of snow pure bisque. Such rare & sumptuous elegance is completed with her luxurious ‘chien de promenade‘... while strolling the Champs Élysées. $4250
16” Ultra Rare Socket Head Gibson Believe your eyes! A Gibson Girl with a Jointed Lady Body! She is also mint, with splendid features, Kestner Factory Pate and the mint classic wig, rare signed shapely Kestner body with original leather boots, and beautiful clothes, More rare than a Jumeau jointed lady! $7500
18” Rare Halbig Lady ‘970’ This never seen 1887 patent is one of Halbig’s earliest and rarest characters with the ‘smile’, square cut teeth, glimmering pw eyes and shaded lids. She is all original in stylish heirloom ensemble from wig and hat to fancy shoes! This twin mold to the very costly ‘969’ is museum rare and important! And just $2750
“To be, or not to be”
An Antique or Reissue Royal Copenhagen Doll
D
“that is the question!” by Laurie Christman
enmark has been voted the happiest place on earth for several years in a row. We always thought Disneyland had a death grip on that appellation but Denmark seems to have successfully wrested away the title in recent years. This is understandable considering that Denmark is the home of Hans Christian Andersen, Tivoli Gardens, Legoland, and Danish pastry. We must concede that Hamlet was one miserable Dane, and that rampaging Vikings practically invented looting and pillaging, but The Little Mermaid was created there along with Danish butter cookies. Come on, what could be better than that? You guessed it: a Royal Copenhagen doll! Although we collectors naturally gravitate toward the photos in an article, it is equally important to understand the makers of the dolls we love. While collecting china dolls, I was never able to unearth much information about the Royal Copenhagen company. So, I feared there wouldn’t be much background or history available about this factory which produced so many interesting and beautiful dolls. Luckily, my friend Christiane Gräfnitz rode to the rescue, putting me in contact with Kirsten Johansen who generously offered me her photos and background knowledge. Kirsten spent innumerable hours providing me with historical information as well as donating many of the photos in this article. Without her help, this article would not have been possible. Kirsten’s collection of Royal Copenhagen dolls is seen in Photo 1. Denmark, which has the world’s oldest uninterrupted monarchy, has produced some of the most intriguing and attractive china dolls to be found. Although porcelain manufacturing began in China, Europe produced a very high quality porcelain beginning in Meissen around 1710. Then, in Denmark, somewhere between 1772 and 1774, a certain Frantz Heinrich Müller, a chemist or pharmacist, used his mixing skills and a small porcelain kiln to come up with a concoction of quartz, kaolin, and feldspar, yielding a porcelain competitive with what was being imported. Through 1774, he attempted to convince wealthy Danes to invest in his new, Danish porcelain company.
20
ANTIQUE DOLL COLLECTOR
MAY 2015
Müller was able to attract some private investors, but still needed the support of the royal family. Crown Prince Frederik helped with some of the practical arrangements, but ultimately Müller received the most beneficial support from Queen Juliane Marie. Miraculously, she joined with Müller to establish Denmark’s royally chartered porcelain factory in 1775. The queen may have had many reasons for wanting to start a porcelain factory. It appears that she felt it would be excellent for the national economy and was in accordance with her natural desire to support the development and production of useful and decorative arts. In addition, some think that she was a bit competitive with her brother who started a successful porcelain company at Schloss Furstenberg on the River Weser. A Danish porcelain factory could definitely do as well or better than the company started by her brother in Bavaria. So Juliane Marie supported this endeavor and did have a true personal interest and involvement with the company. Yet, there were many hurdles and difficulties. Some of the difficulties were financial and others were based on production issues. The debts were incurred while the company struggled to produce enough stock so that it could actually begin selling. As the bugs were being worked out regarding refining the porcelain process and producing sufficient stock, some investors became anxious about their investment and the idea sprang up to invite King Christian VII to take over. On April 21, 1779, King Christian accepted and assumed financial control. Shortly thereafter, the company’s name became The Royal Danish Porcelain Manufactory (Den Kongelige Danske Porcelains Fabrik). The royal family continued its involvement in the company until 1868 when royal companies were privatized. It was later bought out and merged with the faience company, Aluminia, and was moved from Copenhagen to Frederiksberg. In recent years and for a period of time, the company absorbed Georg Jensen Silversmiths, Holmegaard Glassworks and Bing and Grondahl. This conglomerate became known as Royal Copenhagen.
Photo 1 Kirsten Johansen has assembled the most exquisite collection of antique Royal Copenhagen Dolls. Each doll is a prime example of its particular size. What a beautiful doll family! Kirsten Johansen collection.
ANTIQUE DOLL COLLECTOR
MAY 2015
21
Rare and Unusual Tynietoy L
ast September, I was invited to give two presentations about Tynietoy at the venerable Handicraft Club in Providence, RI – the true birthplace of Tynietoy. The converted stables attached to the historic Truman Beckwith house is where Marion Perkins and Amey Vernon first opened the Toy Furniture Shop in 1920, and upstairs, Miss Perkins first undertook the bulk manufacture of Tynietoy furnishings. Although the offices and workshops eventually moved to more spacious quarters, the Toy Furniture Shop continued to operate in this humble and quaint venue for several
The wing chair copied from one in George Washington’s bedroom differs from the chair familiar to most collectors, and this one was purchased from the family of the original owner. In this rare example, all four legs feature threedimensional cabriole legs rather than the typical flat legs, and are attached with stretchers. The arm detail is quite different as well. I’ve seen only two other examples of this Mt. Vernon chair in person. It cost $4.50 in 1935 when the usual example was priced at $2.75. Perhaps the rarest of Tynietoy furnishings, this replica of Washington’s bed at Mt. Vernon features a hand-embroidered candlewick bedspread and a canopy with individually knotted fringe. In 1935, this example was purchased from Tynietoy for $20, the equivalent of $345 today, and it was a true extravagance during the Depression. It was the single most expensive piece of furniture listed in a catalogue and I’ve never seen another example. This old postcard photo of Washington’s bedroom at Mt. Vernon shows the chair and bed that Tynietoy replicated with such care. 48
ANTIQUE DOLL COLLECTOR
MAY 2015
more years in the historic College Hill neighborhood near Brown University. The Handicraft Club purchased one of my Tynietoy Colonial Mansions in 2013 and made arrangements with the neighboring Rhode Island School of Design to provide archival storage for a growing collection of historical artifacts related to Tynietoy, including original blueprints of the Mansion, catalogues, drawings, correspondence and even old metal dies used for production of the furniture. I also donated materials related to Tynietoy employee George LeClerc that were
Furnishings
by Susan Grimshaw
This side chair from a Mt. Vernon parlor is not quite as rare as the wing chair but is still quite difficult to find. The seats may be painted a solid color or in imitation of brocade. George LeClerc also made ribbonback chairs but his backs are usually very flat where the original Tynietoy design curves backward realistically.
featured in my previous ADC article such as his personal portfolio of drawings and photographs and numerous newspaper articles. Now the delicate artifacts will be preserved and made available to serious researchers in the future. And the Mansion is on public display in the very place where Tynietoy was born! Many of the Tynietoy furnishings encountered by collectors are easily identified by the corporate trademark stamped on the undersides of furniture, from the catalogue illustrations so often reprinted in books and magazines, and from old magazine advertisements. Once the more commonly found furnishings have been attained, truly avid collectors may spend years seeking the more elusive examples of furniture and accessories, some of which never appeared in catalogues or were advertised for only a brief time. My morning lecture at the Handicraft Club examined some of these rare and unusual examples of Tynietoy furnishings. Some of the more desirable furnishings are those inspired by iconic examples in George Washington’s Mt. Vernon. Production of these rare items was very likely begun around 1932 when America celebrated the bicentennial of Washington’s birth, and Tynietoy did its part by producing just a few pieces replicating his bedroom furniture and furnishings found in the the more public rooms at Mt. Vernon, including the pleasant room where his step-grand-daughter, Nellie
Tynietoy copied their impressive harpsichord from the one that Nellie Custis played at Mt. Vernon. It was an expensive piece at $10.00 and it seems they continued to make them into the 1940’s when the purplish-red stain was used. There was no stool or bench made just for the harpsichord. It is a somewhat large piece that can be challenging to place in the dollhouse, but its rarity makes it desirable.
This very rare and handsome chest of drawers features wonderful brass batwing drawer pulls and escutcheons. It was not pictured in catalogues but appeared in a flyer featuring “special” furniture with other Mt. Vernon pieces and was advertised as a “scale reproduction”.
ANTIQUE DOLL COLLECTOR
MAY 2015
49