Help Save Dolls' Houses Past and Present Website!

Dolls' Houses Past and Present website was where I caught the Vintage and Antique dolls' house (and Grecon Doll) bug.

It's where I've learned everything I know about dolls' houses and it's where I continue to learn more every day. Our hobby would be significantly poorer without it and the resources it provides.

Sadly, it's now under threat and we're trying to raise funds to save it. Please consider donating to the fund to help save it too!

You can donate by Paypal or Card and donations of £5 are as gratefully received as £50.

Please either click here* to be taken to the fundraising page.

Thank you so much.

Zoe xx

[*N.B. The funds were successfully raised due to the amazing generosity of our members and the new website was launched in October 2019. The fundraising page has, therefore, been closed and this link is no longer live. Huge thanks to everyone who supported us!]

Dol-Toi Twin-tubs

I recently bought a Dol-Toi twin-tub washing machine thinking that it was a duplicate of one that I already had.

It wasn't until it arrived that I realised it's actually a later version and is quite different.

The one I just bought is seen here on the right and, according to Marion Osbourne's 'The Book of Dol-Toi', it dates between approx. 1967-72. The one on the left is earlier and dates between approx. 1964-68.

On the later version, one lid is hinged but the other isn't attached and just lifts off. Marion's book mentions that the lift-off lid is often lost so I'm lucky it's still there on mine.

The earlier one doesn't have a label but this is the orange label on the later one.

Until next time,
Zoe

Grecon Chauffeur

This gorgeous 1:12 scale chap arrived from the USA today:

He has early Melon feet and has probably lived in America for about 80 years!

At 15.5 cm tall (a smidge over 6"), he will be hard pushed to find suitably sized vehicle in Grecondale, but if he does...

...I hope he can get the hang of driving on the left-hand side of the roads over here!

Until next time,
Zoe

A Spot of Luck!

[Updated with new information 29th March, 2020.]

I little while back, I bought a lovely old wooden caravan as a home for my Grecon clown Corny.

I had no idea of the maker but thought it was just the thing for a travelling clown.

I did find a maker's mark on the underside of the veranda (which slots underneath the middle of the caravan when it's on the road) but I couldn't quite make it out. 

I thought it might say 'HEDO Made in Germany' but searching on the web with that didn't get me anywhere.

And then, just this afternoon, I took delivery of an excellent book that I've been after for years: Marianne Cieslik's and Swantje Köhler's ' Lexikon der Puppenstuben und Puppenhäuser' [sadly out of print now and as hard to come by, at least at a reasonable price, as hens' teeth] and while browsing through it I saw a photo that stopped me in my tracks.

Here was a German toy company by the name of HEDO.

I immediately did a web search for the name Herbert Dohnalek Spielzeug [toy] and that lead quickly to the brilliant font of knowledge that is diepuppenstubensammlerin's blogspot where she has shared a chronology of Herbert Dohnalek.

And there, right at the start of the chronology, was a photo of an almost identical caravan in a 1951 catalogue photo. 

I don't think the caravan in the photo has the pull-out-and-slot-on veranda that mine has as I can't see the little wooden bits that pull out to hold the canopy, and the bit under the caravan where the slide-out veranda is stored on mine is hinged in the photo (mine isn't) and looks to be more of a storage box.

I can see from the photograph that the odd little assortment of furniture (above) that came with my caravan is all original. 

What looks like a little plant pot in this photo, can't be seen in the 1951 catalogue photo, but I have now discovered that it could be the shade from little lamp table which was also part of the original furnishings - see below under 'UPDATE'.

There are three of the little dining chairs missing and the night-time bed (the bed I have appears to be a day bed) but otherwise, it seems to be a full set, even down to the radio, though my radio looks to be more basic than the one in the photo.

[Since I've now furnished the caravan to suit Corny the clown, I'll have to carefully store this furniture with a note explaining that it's original to the caravan and hope that it stays together in the future - maybe I'll add a sticker to the underside of the caravan too indicating that there is box of original furniture to go with it.]

I can also see from the photos of dolls' houses in diepuppenstubensammlerin's blog that the tiny and extremely neat blanket stitch in a contrasting colour around the edge of the curtains is a feature of the curtains in Herbert Dohnalek houses and so I suppose that they're original too.

I get unashamedly excited when I identify things I've been trying fruitlessly to research so this little gift has made my day!

UPDATE

I am only just getting around to posting this update now, having actually discovered the information almost two years ago!

In July, 2018 an eBay listing in Germany for an "Old Circus Wagon from 1952" was brought to my attention.

The photos accompanying the listing showed a caravan just like my Hedo/Herbert Dohnalek one - how exciting to see another with its original tractor and in full colour too!  And, luckily, the eBay seller was kind enough to give me permission to show her photos in this blog.

Photo copyright: Bettina.

The listing details (translated from German) were as follows:

“You are bidding on a beautiful, very well-maintained circus wagon with tractor from the year 1952. The wagon can be opened at the side and used as a kind of dollhouse……The wagon is furnished with bed, wardrobe (to open), a couch, floor lamp, table and two chairs. At the end of the wagon, a wooden frame can be pulled out and covered with a kind of awning. Steps lead into the back of the wagon where the double-leaf door is easy to open. The six windows of the circus wagon have curtains and there is a drawer under the wagon which can be pulled out easily and used for storage. A tractor that can be easily uncoupled pulls the car. The whole team has a length of about 62 cm, the circus wagaon is 34 cm long, 25 cm high and 18 cm wide. The tractor is 22 cm long and 13 cm high.”

Copyright: Bettina

Copyright Bettina

Unlike the caravan in the photos from diepuppenstubensammlerin's blogspot (above), this one has a little pull-out canopy like mine. The little pull-out-and-slot-on veranda that mine has is not shown in these 'new' photos, but I think that might only be because the seller didn't realise that the drawer could be removed and attached to the front to form a veranda.

Copyright: Bettina

The original furniture is shown in these photos too and one further discovery was that what I thought was a little plant pot which came with mine, is the same as the lamp shade on the lamp-table in the photo above. Sadly, mine is missing the table and lamp apart from the shade but it's good to know it's part of the original furnishings.

I now also have confirmation that the curtains in my caravan are original as they are exactly the same fabric as those seen in these photos.

Copyright: Bettina

Meanwhile, Corny the Clown continues to live contentedly in the caravan and you can see a little more of him in it here.

Until next time,

Zoe

Repairing a Pressed Card Table

Last week I bought this little set of pressed card 'Korbi' furniture made by Karl Schreiter in Buchholz, Germany in, I believe, the 1920s/30s:

I thought I was only getting the sofa and two chairs, however, the seller very kindly emailed to say that she had the table that matched and, though it was broken, she would pop it in with the other pieces in the hope that I could repair it.

This is was how it was when it arrived but I do like a challenge so I had a good think and decided to have a go at repairing it using Milliput.  

I chose Milliput because it can be easily moulded to shape and I know that it remains stuck to things when it dries out (unlike other modelling materials I've used). 

So, I mixed a small amount of Milliput, flattened it and curved one side to match the curve of the table. Then I pressed it onto the underside of the table so that it filled the missing piece. 

Next I shaped it a bit and used a knife to press some markings into it to match the rest of the table edging - or as near as I could.

Once it had dried, I mixed some acrylics to get a decent match with the blue and painted the Milliput to blend in (I painted the underside blue and cream).  And here it is!

It's not as good as new but it's certainly got a new lease of life.

Until next time,
Zoe

Grecon Brooches - Part II

Regular readers might remember a blog I posted in October last year about Grecon brooches. (The blog can be found here.)

Grecon brooches from my own collection.

In it I featured these little badges which I believed to be Grecon, despite the obvious differences to Miss Cohn's better-known dolls' house dolls.

Well I'm very pleased to report that I now know for certain that they are Grecon!

I mentioned in my last post (A Day to Remember!) that there were a few post-WWII documents in with Miss Cohn's largely Pre-WWII archive and to my absolute delight, the design registration documents for these little figures were amongst them.

Whether or not they were being produced before the start of WWII I don't know, but certainly Miss Cohn was quick to register their design once the war had begun, because the registrations were dated 9th of October, 1939 - so just over a month later.

There were three registrations, each referring to a black and white photo of a single figure (unlike the doubles and triple shown above): an airman, a soldier and a grenadier guard, all exactly like those in my photo - although I can't, of course, be 100% sure of the uniform colours. 

The photos in the registrations were front- and back-views of the figures and the back-view did not include a safety pin. 

However, there were a further two items relating to these little characters in the archive.  One was a cutting from a 1939 edition of Woman's Weekly with an advert on it for a "little woolly hand-made brooch", available from Peter Robinson's in Oxford Street, London and including a drawing of a brooch featuring a pair of soldiers.

The second item was a Dickins & Jones catalogue from Christmas 1941 which included an entry for: "Service Favours. Wear a Mascot Brooch to show your preference for airmen, soldiers, jack tars, or naval officers." and featured a drawing of a pair each of soldiers, sailors and naval officers.

I found it very interesting to see Miss Cohn, who I have always thought of as quite proprietorial with her Grecon brand, allowing her brooches to be sold unbranded by these two companies. 

It was also interesting to note that the figures shown in the registrations did not have the side-ways looking eyes seen on the grenadier guard shown above, which I guessed to be slightly later brooch, so that theory is looking good (or at least it's yet to be disproved!)

So, another piece of the giant Grecon jigsaw is slotted into place - fab!

Until next time,

Zoe

A Day to Remember!

Well what an exciting event took place this weekend!

On Saturday I visited a gentleman holds a collection of [largely] pre-WWI items belonging to Grecon creator Grete Cohn.

I had never seen a photograph of Miss Cohn before this gentleman contacted me through my Grecondale blog site but here she is in the late 1930s!

Photo © Zoe Handy

I love the slightly mischievous look in her eyes - just what you would expect from the creator of our eccentric little Grecon people!

Before my visit I had been pre-warned to expect the unexpected and boy was that right!

In the entire collection, which is extensive, there were only two of the Grecon dolls of the type that we know and love as Grecon dolls today. Almost everything else in the archive relates to Miss Cohn's life and business prior to her settling in England in 1936.

I discovered that in about 1919 she actually had a little toy shop in Berlin where she sold all manner of her ‘artistic’ toys with only the tiniest hints here and there of the miniature dolls she would become known for once she settled in England.

It was interesting to note too that, in addition to other European countries, her toys were being exported even then to the UK and to the US.

She regularly exhibited at the Leipzig toy fair and the collection included the wonderful exhibition pieces that she displayed on her stands there.

I use the word 'wonderful' advisedly. What imagination and skill!

The exhibits varied from large padded dolls with shaped faces and either painted or stitched features, to tiny wool and wire people, animals and tableaux. There were also novelties made from all sorts of oddments and even wooden toys.  The subjects portrayed by the figures and tableaux are extremely varied and imaginative and Miss Cohn clearly enjoyed experimenting with different themes and materials but, as those of us familiar with her later work would expect, all of her creations captured life and motion brilliantly.

Miss Cohn appears to have kept every scrap of documentation from the day she started her business  until she left Germany, including correspondence and orders from toy companies.  Rather unhelpfully for me, it is all in German of course! I have been attending German language classes once a week at night school for the last two years and that proved to be useful, but my knowledge of the language was still woefully inadequate!

As well as all the business documentation, the collection contained Miss Cohn's personal documents, her photo albums, including old family photos of her parents. She even kept her artwork from her time at college in Berlin, her exercise books from school and her letters to her family and friends.

Rather puzzlingly, there are comparatively few documents and no exhibits relating to her many years of running the Grecon business in England.

That said, there were a number of newspaper articles, a handful of design registrations and various catalogues containing Grecon products, which were wonderful to see and very useful for confirming some of the deductions I have made on my 'About Grecon Dolls' web page, but I do wonder where everything else went and if it will ever turn up!

Anyway, I had a fabulously interesting and enlightening day and I am enormously grateful to the holder of the collection for allowing me to view it.

Until next time,
Zoe

Leeds/Pudsey Dolls' House Fair

I've been madly busy these last few weeks getting ready for the Leeds Dolls's House Fair (aka Pudsey Dolls' House Fair) which will take place this Saturday.

I've been there as a customer several times but this year I will be a stall-holder for the very first time!

I decided I need some space and since my cupboards were packed with 'spares' collected over the years,  I have more than enough to fill a stall (maybe I should even have taken two!!)

As well of loads of lovely vintage and more modern preloved furniture and accessories, I'm taking a brand new 1:12 scale shop which I've built from a kit by Barbaras Mouldings.

The only trouble is, as Saturday looms large, I realise that I've become quite attached to it!

I've spent hours installing stairs and lighting, not to mention painting and decorating. But it's only really as it's come together this week and the shop itself has started to look like a proper shop that I've started thinking about what it would sell if it was mine and imagining it with full shelves.......

I should have known I was getting too involved with it when I decided that the stairs needed to be adapted to turn the corner otherwise the layout was totally impractical.

I'm imagining a little living room at the top of the stairs and a kitchen through the doorway to the right.

Then there's space for bedroom at the top of the stairs in the attic and for a little bathroom through the door to the right of it.

Oh yes, I have it all planned out.  Let's just say that I won't be devastated if it doesn't sell on Saturday - but don't tell my husband I said that!

Actually, Saturday will be a big test of my resolve. Not just because I really like this little shop but because I'm not sure how good I'll be at letting things go. I can imagine me wresting items back off people and telling them I've changed my mind, ha ha!

Worryingly, I also built this 1:12 scale cottage from a kit but I haven't gotten the inside finished in time for the fair. I'm really quite taken with it too and well, what will I do with it until the next fair in November???

It's just possible that by then it will have squatters........

Until next time,
Zoe

Progress Inside Southsea Villa

In June last year, I posted about my newly-acquired C E Turnbull house Southsea Villa which was in great need of restoration both inside and out.

Restoration of the outside progresses slowly but surely, however, inside I've recently made a lot more progress:

This was the inside when I got the house in June last year.

And this is the inside today.

In the kitchen, I papered the walls with lining paper and painted them with a Farrow & Ball emulsion called 'Cook's Blue'.

The Farrow and Ball description for this colour is as follows:

Cook's Blue was inspired by the rich and poignant finish in the cook's closet at Calke Abbey where the walls had been untouched for many decades. This bright and deeply pigmented colour is perfect for use both in kitchens and exterior eating areas, as this vibrant tone is said to deter flies!

The room has a very high ceiling so, to add some height to the furnishings, I installed some shelving. Above the shelves, I painted the walls with Farrow & Ball's 'Lime White' which is described as:

... an off-white named after the chalky pigments used in original distempers.

The flooring is a copy of an original old dolls' house flooring, kindly given to me by the fellow-collector from whom I bought the house.

I installed a chimney breast in the room and added a tin range.

The simple fire-surround was made using pieces of old moulding.

You can see in this photo that I aged the newly painted walls. I followed Celia Thomas' (of KT Miniatures) tip to apply a weak wash of burnt umber acrylic. They look more aged when viewed without the flash which bleaches the wash a bit, especially on the white parts.

I got the dresser very cheaply on eBay as it had cupboard doors on the bottom part which looked slightly incongruous. I took them off and discovered that they had been added to this nice old dresser at a later date. It's a great height for this very tall room.

Across the landing from the kitchen is the dining room.  'The owners' have gone for impact in this room with this bold vintage french wallpaper!

The gold border is metallic trim from an old ecclesiastical garment and I chose it to give the room a bit of a lift since the black background on the wallpaper and the deep burgundy flooring make it quite dark.  The gold is not quite as shiny and looks older when viewed without the camera flash.

The flooring is a relatively modern wallpaper but I think it works well and have used it in all three of the reception rooms.

I have also installed chimney breasts and fire surrounds like this one (again, made from old mouldings) in each of the reception rooms and have inserted three of these useful little cast iron fireplaces.

Above the dining room is the ladies' parlour.  There were no clues on this vintage wallpaper to say where it was made. The border is relatively modern but hopefully the simple pattern is fairly timeless and the roll was old enough (maybe about 20 years old?) not to look brand new.

I have used the same flooring as in the dining room and the Bargello/Florentine work rug is from a cushion I bought in an antique shop in Melrose last September and mentioned in a post back then - I knew it would find a good home.

Across the landing from the ladies parlour and directly above the kitchen is the gentleman's study or smoking room. The vintage wallpaper is french. I hope to happen across a suitable border for the room eventually.

The rug is from an old cushion I bought in an antique shop in York a couple of years ago and the flooring is the same one as I have used in the dining room and ladies' parlour.

Directly above the ladies parlour is a bedroom. Again, the wallpaper is vintage and french.

The rooms on this top floor have considerably lower ceilings so I might not bother with a border in here, although, if I see a nice antique lace I might be tempted.

I haven't found a suitable flooring for up here on the top floor yet.

Directly above the gentleman's study/smoking room is this room which might be or a bedroom or might be a nursery, I've haven't decided yet.

I have a vintage wallpaper on order for it but I am on the lookout out for a floor paper, which I will use for the whole of the top floor, i.e. for the two bedrooms and the landing. I envisage something along the lines of parquet.

In the central part of the house, I have yet to refurbish the staircases and I intend to put the same black and white tile down on the first floor landing as I used in the hallway.

So, while I plod on with the painstaking work on the outside of the house, at least now I can enjoy looking at the inside.  I will continue to put the finishing touches to the decor and of course, keep my eyes peeled for suitable furnishings!

Until next time,
Zoe

Framed

I pushed the boat out and bought a special picture frame for the fab miniature painting I was given by my friend Rosemary last week:

Nothing else I saw looked as elegant as this frame from Tarbena Reflections.

Unfortunately, I haven't made a great job of the mounting board but I hope that won't be too noticeable from a distance.

The reverse - complete with auction-house labels!

And here she is in situ and looking just perfect in Agar Hall.

Until next time,
Zoe

Mad Mother and the Mouse House

If I have ever wondered if I might be ever-so-slightly bonkers, I think I need look no further than my own dear mother for a place to lay the blame!

I celebrated my 51st birthday last week and on Sunday I received a very surprising gift from said mother:

She'd made me a mouse house!

This is not just any mouse house either...

It's a mouse house made from a Jean Greenhowe pattern that she pulled out of her Woman's Weekly magazine over 40 years ago with a view to making it for me as a present!

Well better late than never I guess!

Do come in and have a look around.

It's a cosy house of two halves.

The living room...

...and the bedroom.

It's home to a family of dormice and this is father who has just made breakfast and is about to throw another log on the fire.

Mother is in the bedroom straightening the lovely patchwork quilt on her bed...

...and waking baby.

She's up.

Dad's got a roaring fire going now...

you can see the smoke billowing from the chimney outside.

And inside, there's sunlight streaming in thought the skylights.

So, there it is. I was NOT expecting that!

I would have loved it as a little girl but I will forgive my mother for the slight delay, after all, she was a very busy working mum of three. Thank you Mad Mother! xx

Until next time,
Zoe