Antique DOLL Collector September 2014 Vol. 17, No. 8
The Complete Guide to Antique, Vintage and Collectible Dolls
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THERIAULT’S ANNOUNCES THE ESTATE AUCTION OF THE BLACKLER COLLECTION
by Jan Peterson Do you name your special French dolls? The author, a retired French teacher, has some great suggestions for names and how to pronounce them.
About The Cover The antique doll world is abuzz with the extraordinary
news of Bonhams upcoming auction, September 24 in London. Rare character dolls include the doll seen on our cover, Kammer and Reinhardt’s 108, the only known example, and another never before seen character marked 11 (possibly for mold 111). In fact every model of the company’s ‘True to Life’ series (excepting mold 116) will be offered at this extraordinary event. Photo courtesy Bonhams.
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Book Review News Emporium Mystery
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IL MUSEO DELLA BAMBOLA E DEL GIOCATTOLO COLLEZIONE BORROMEO
WILLIAM BLAKE LUCE: HINGHAM MINIATURES FROM THE ARTS & CRAFTS PERIOD
The Museum of Dolls and Toys of the Borromeo Collection by Lynn Murray Housed in a medieval fortress on Italy’s Lake Maggiore, this is one of Europe’s leading doll museums. ANTIQUE DOLL COLLECTOR
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A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME…
BONHAMS SEPTEMBER 24 AUCTION – RARE CHARACTER DOLLS
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September 2014 Volume 17, Number 8
by Derin Bray An extraordinary archive of miniature wooden toys and photographs celebrates toy making in Hingham, MA. SEPTEMBER 2014
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UFDC NATIONAL CONVENTION SALEROOM… A SHOPPER’S PARADISE
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4TH ANNUAL
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BACK OL O H C S TO EVENT!
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Any Fine Quality Doll on this page is priced at $150 to $350
matrixbymail@gmail.com Call 212-787-7279 for information!
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Theriault’s Announces the Estate
Itinerant folk artists traveled from village to village in 19th century America, making their living by painting wall-hanging portraits of family members. It is possible that these same folk artists painted the flat-dimensional oil-painted canvas faces of dolls, which were then formed by mothers and fathers into actual play dolls, with simple stuffed cloth bodies and handmade costumes. In other cases, the family may have created the entire doll, with stitch-shaped and painted faces.
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ANTIQUE DOLL COLLECTOR
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hen the Blackler twins of Southern California entered an auction room, a sales room, or any marketplace in their quest for revered objects of past childhoods, heads turned. Their blonde bouncy ponytails, exuberant costumes, and wide beaming smiles drew one’s attention even before their enthusiastic zest to find and win another great treasure won you over completely. For more than 30 years, the prescient pair, Valerie and Diane Blackler (and in this case, one and one was way more than two) sought, gathered, cherished and then filled every nook and cranny of their California home with the dolls of American childhood. Call the collection “Americana, the 1800s”. Think folk art, think dolls that little girls carried across the plains during pioneering days, imagine cozy. And then, think big, because once they began collecting, it never stopped. Literally, thousands of dolls, teddy bears, and childhood folk art filled their home. The entire collection is now coming to auction
SEPTEMBER 2014
Auction of The Blackler Collection
by Theriault’s with a cataloged estate auction on Sunday, October 5 and Monday, October 6, followed by a Discovery Day on Monday, October 6 at the Universal Hilton in Los Angeles, California. “The collection is immense, yet it is anything but casual. Carefully organized in every room of their home, it appeared at first to have many duplicates - more than 20 Martha Chase dolls, for example - but it has proven to be much more than that, for each doll is different, with variations of production, style or model”, said Florence Theriault, chief cataloger at Theriault’s. “Clearly, they quested with focus. Valerie and Diane Blackler were truly collectors with a vision”. Handmade and commercial cloth dolls including an outstanding collection of black cloth dolls, paper mache and porcelain dolls with lovingly sewn mother-made costumes, hundreds of wonderful early teddy bears and friends, carved wooden folk dolls, and a veritable stable
The extensive collection of black cloth folk dolls ranges from early and very rare oil-painted examples to those dolls with embroidered or pencil drawn features. The dolls are notable for original costumes and accessories, too.
ANTIQUE DOLL COLLECTOR
SEPTEMBER 2014
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