Queen Victoria's Little Dolls - Part II

Following my blog post earlier this week, my friend Edel commented that she was lucky enough to own a copy of a book called 'Queen Victoria's Dolls' by Frances H. Low.

The book, was written in 1894 and each of Queen Victoria's dolls is beautifully illustrated in it by Alan Wright.

Edel was kind enough to send me photographs of the relevant illustrations from the book so that I could identify the dolls that I photographed in the Museum of London:

Mademoiselle Sylvie Leconte

Mademoiselle Leontine Héberle

Lady Sedley

Mademoiselle Proche

Mademoiselle Euphrosine Ancilin

For me, both the dolls and the illustrations are a feast for the eyes. Thank you very much, Edel!

[Added 8th January: You can see an interesting short video about the conservation of these dolls, posted on YouTube by 'Historic Royal Palaces', here.]

Until next time,
Zoe

More Miniatures at the Museum of London

Another bonus when we visited the Museum of London to see the Blackett Baby House was a cabinet full of dolls' house miniatures, on display next to the toy shop in the Victorian Walk (a mock-up in the museum of a Victorian street).

Who wouldn't love to have this two inch (5 cm) tall guilt bird cage containing a tiny glass bird to grace their dolls' house?

And we weren't expecting to see this fabulous and very rare Ladies Guild bed. Of course, I was with my friend Claire who is lucky enough to own one of these! 

This finely painted, turned wooden tea set from Germany is very drool-worthy...

...as are these tiny glass and stone-ware items.

And this...well, just heavenly! Sigh.

We did laugh though at this beautiful Evans & Cartwright fireplace which, for some strange reason, is displayed upside down!

Until next time,
Zoe

Queen Victoria's Little Dolls - Part I

As well as seeing the Blackett Baby House in the Museum of London, I was also thrilled to find a selection of Queen Victoria's childhood peg dolls on display there too.

The dolls in the selection we saw and which are shown below are all about 6 inches (15 cm) tall. They are nearly 200 years old!

I think it's well-known that Queen Victoria loved her little dolls.

Apparently she played with them until she was almost fourteen years old.

She often dressed them herself and they all had names.

This one (above) is Mademoiselle Proche.

They are all exquisite and it was a real bonus to see them on our visit to the museum.

Until next time,
Zoe

The Blackett Baby House (c1760)

In November I visited the Blackett Baby House in the Museum of London with my friend Claire.

I have to admit to being a bit underwhelmed by the way the house is displayed there but it was still lovely to see it 'in the flesh'.

Being the granddaughter of coal miners from County Durham, I was interested to learn that the house was made for a wealthy family called Blackett and that the fortune of that family came from coal and lead mining in Northumberland and County Durham.

It's also thought that the exterior could be based on Newby Hall in North Yorkshire (owned by the Blackett family at the time the dolls' house was made), which is not far from where I live now and is also, coincidentally, where the dolls' house collection of Caroline Hamilton and Jane Fiddick is on display.

But never mind all that - let's look inside!

The dining room has wonderful hand-painted walls showing scenes of Italian landscapes and classical ruins.

As someone with a tendency to cram as much furniture into a mini room as possible, I find this room a bit sparse but I suppose it depicts the fashion of the time (and they didn't have eBay in the sixteenth century either!)

The drawing room has joyous Chinese-style flower pattern wallpaper and apparently the screen is decorated with reproductions of playing cards illustrating Aesop's Fables, known to be on sale in a toy shop in St Paul's Churchyard, London, at Christmas in 1759.

The bedroom has the same wallpaper as the drawing room and the four-poster bed has a beautiful silk taffeta cover and curtains.

I like the built-in shelves and range in the kitchen but the star of the show in this room has to be the working spit roasting mechanism over the hearth.

[Sorry, I couldn't get this room all in one shot so I had to splice together two photos.]

The windows on the opening fronts have silk curtains which can be drawn using the cords!

The attic rooms and basement are accessed through side doors and were difficult to see into. From what we could see, they didn't appear to contain much furniture at all.

What I found most remarkable about this house was the wonderful condition of the decor and furnishings. One or two items of furniture were added by later generations but it's hard to believe that the majority of it is over two hundred and fifty years old!

Until next time,

Zoe

Grecon Brooches - Part I

Some time last year I repatriated these two lovely Grecons who had been living in Canada:

They are typical dolls' house size Grecons and, judging by their feet, they date to the mid 1940s/early 1950s.

And look - they both have safety pins in the back! Presumably they were intended to be worn as brooches.

The question is, were they sold like this or did the person who bought them add the safety pins?

Unfortunately, unless new information such as old adverts or catalogue entries come to light, we might never know the answer.

If I absolutely had to stake my money somewhere, I think I'd say that the owner added the safety pins.  Both of these dolls came to me from Canada and they came together but their pins are different so I'm thinking that someone just added what safety pins she had in her sewing box to convert them into brooches. But, that's just my guess.

What is more certain, however, is that these little fellows were made to be worn as brooches.

They don't have labels but as far as I'm concerned, they have unmistakable Grecon features.

I think that all three brooches probably date to the 1930s/40s, however, I think that this one featuring Beefeater guards is the earliest.

My guess is that it was made pre-war (1936-1939) as a souvenir of London. That's because I've prodded one of the heads with a fine pin (I know - I'm awful!) and found that, in common with the earliest Grecon dolls, these little fellows have heads made from a small half-round wooden button/bead (padded at the back) with a hole through the middle.  This probably dates them to the late 1930s. 

These chaps clearly represent the British Airforce, Army and Navy and it's likely that they were made and sold during WWII (1939-1945) to raise money for 'the war effort'. 

They have completely padded, soft heads - no wooden bead/button in there. The pin on the back is the same as on the Beefeater brooch, but I think that the soft heads indicate that they are probably slightly later in date and that would fit with the WWII dates too.

Added 16.12.2024

I later found that I wasn't far out with my dating:

Photo © Zoe Handy

This newspaper clipping shows a similar brooch available from Peter Robinson's in London - the annotation dating this to 1939 was made by Miss Cohn herself.

And that just leaves these little Grenadier Guards in their bearskin hats which are made from a lovely soft velvet.  Again, the heads are entirely soft and don't contain a wooden bead/button.

I am certainly no expert on safety pins but the one on the back of this brooch looks to be to be of a later design to the others since the pin point is completely enclosed in a safety guard in much the same way they are on modern safety pins. 

Being Grenadiers in dress uniform, as seen parading around Buckingham Palace, it's possible that they were made for sale to tourists returning to London again after the war.

Another reason for thinking that these Grenadiers are the latest in date of the three brooches is that that they have distinctly sideways-looking eyes. That sideways glance seems to be a feature of Grecon dolls with later, slightly smaller Melon feet which I believe date to the end of the WWII and the mid 1940s (when lead for feet was harder to come by). Grecondale's Captain Richard Clutch, seen above, is a prime example of the sideways-glancing smaller melon foot Grecon.

So there we have it - my musings on Grecon brooches. And that is all they are, musings. My blog helps me to get my thoughts and ideas together on these matters but what I write is by no means intended to be authoritative and I always welcome feedback as to the accuracy of my assumptions and guesswork - it's the only way to learn!

Until next time,
Zoe

[P.S. For anyone who is interested, a full account of my thoughts on dating Grecons by means of their feet and features can be found on my 'About Grecon Dolls' blog page here.]

A Good look at Peggy Lines' Dolls' House

In August, my friend Jenny and I went to see the V&A Museum of Childhood's 'Small Stories at Home in a Dolls House' exhibition which is on display in the Weston Park Museum in Sheffield until the 7th of January, 2018.

I saw the exhibition when it originally went on display in London but I was very happy to have the opportunity to view it once again.



One of the dolls' houses I enjoyed viewing most in the exhibition was Peggy Lines' dolls' house.



This one-off dolls' house was designed and built in the Lines Brothers [Tri-ang] factory in 1933 as a gift from Walter Lines (one of the three brothers who co-founded the company) to his eldest daughter Peggy.



The house is about six feet long and has eight rooms plus the gallery landing...

   

...and including a room above the garage.



One of the most impressive features of the house has to be the grand hallway and gallery landing.

According to Peggy Lines in her book 'From G&J to Tri-ang', the hallway "had a strong resemblance to the hall at Leigh Place, where we lived, with a staircase (with turned posts) leading to a gallery".



The recessed Mock-Tudor fireplace, the turned balustrades and the wood-clad walls all give the hallway a very grand look.

In this scene we can see Tri-ang Queen Anne Period armchairs either side of the fireplace and Tri-ang Queen Anne Period ladder-back dining chairs arranged around a Pit-a-Pat dining table. The Barton grandfather clock is later in date and the tea set on the table is a much more modern miniature.

 

The little bisque doll in the red gingham dress in the scene represents Peggy and there's a photo nearby (on the wall of the museum) that shows portraits of Peggy as a girl and the little doll, side by side to show the resemblance.



In the living room, there is another lovely Mock-Tudor fireplace in an inglenook with a window to either side, making that whole wall of the room into an excellent feature.

Pretty, fine lawn curtains in Liberty prints are a feature of the house. The large rug is by Pit-a-Pat. The gas fire in the hearth is by Taylor & Barrett and the green metal telephone is by Barrett and Son.

I didn't recognise the bookcase/bureaux piece but then Jenny told me that she thought it was by Bassett-Lowke and, looking at their 1931 catalogue on the Brighton Toy Museum website, it certainly is and in fact, the leather armchair, which I didn't recognise either, is also by on Bassett-Lowke - it is described in the catalogue as "Upholstered and covered in real leather". Bassett-Lowke sourced both of these pieces from the German firm ANFOE.

The clock on the mantle is by Barton and the log basket is by Lundby. The rocking horse looks to be a much more modern miniature as is the floral suite which, to be honest, spoils the whole room for me: there is nothing vintage about it at all and, being such central feature, it's difficult to overlook.

I understand that later owners added the more modern miniatures in the house and in that sense they're part and parcel of it, but to my mind this suite has no place in there and would be better replaced with something more in keeping with the rest of the furnishings and more akin to something Peggy might have had in there originally. But that's just my opinion and I imagine that 99.9% of those who view the house aren't in the least bit bothered!

Personally, I'd try moving the beautiful Westacre three-piece suite from the bedroom down here. Sigh, if only I could play around with it like that!!!



This is a close-up of the picture on the chimney breast and you can also see the the lovely detailing in the chimney breast itself.

In this [very poor] shot of the other side of the room you can just see the side of a Tri-ang Queen Anne Period writing bureaux to the left and behind the bisque boy there is a lovely Bretton cupboard with a very nice wireless radio atop.



In the dining room there is a Tri-ang Chippendale Period dining table with matching chairs and sideboard. I don't recognise the writing bureaux, nor the dresser.

There is another Mock-Tudor fireplace in the dining room and in this close-up we can see the lovely clock on the mantle and the little painting above it.



The final downstairs room is the kitchen.  I find that there is something very appealing about the colours and simplicity of this room.

I'm not sure why the fireplace is empty - maybe the household bricked or boarded it up when they converted to gas, as many households did!

The plaster cake on the table is by Kaybot Novelties and the two metal dishes of food are by Dol-Toi. The bottle of wine and the Edam cheese are modern miniatures.

Apparently the sink had running water!

Upstairs the bathroom is quite a plain room, but the bath and sink both had running water too...

...and there is a lovely little Rusco linen basket.

Bedroom number one has a lovely Tri-ang Queen Anne Period bed, wardrobe and demi-lune side table in it.



But for me, the most drool-worthy furniture in the house isn't any of the Tri-ang pieces: it has to be the beautiful matching Westacre fourposter bed, Ottoman and three-piece suite in the larger bedroom.  I could be tempted to give my right arm for this!

The fireplace in this bedroom has a green tile effect and again it's in an inglenook with windows either side. There is a very pretty picture of flowers resting on the mantle.

And the final room is the one sited above the garage which is in use as a third bedroom. I don't seem to have taken a photograph of the room in its entirety but it contains a very smart bedroom suite by Elgin of Enfield and this is a close-up of the gorgeous bed and bedding.

So that's the end of my little tour of Peggy Lines' wonderful house. What a lucky little girl she was!

Until next time,

Zoe

[My apologies for the poor quality of some of these photos: the lighting in the exhibition hall was a bit dim and because the house was behind glass it was difficult too to get any distance shots without the inevitable reflections.]