Staid or just Dignified?

This week saw another new arrival in Grecondale:

I immediately thought 'matron'' (but not in the nursing sense) when I saw her, so I thought I'd better just check the definition. I immediately found these two:

"An older married woman, especially one who is staid or dignified." and 

"An older married woman who usually has a high social position."

I'm not sure about staid (we've yet to get to know each other) but she definitely looks dignified to me and her outfit and bearing certainly suggest a high social position!

  

This is her Grecon label and she has 'Small Oxford' feet which probably dates her to the mid- to late-1940s.

I love her silk dress with generous black lace trims and collar, and the cream ruffle held by a bugle-bead broach at her neck, but the very best thing about her has to be the wonderful bonnet.

A bit of Googling leads me to believe that the bonnet is in the style of the 'Late-Victorian Small Bonnet'; so it certainly seems to indicate that, even when new, this particular lady had stubbornly ignored changing fashions for a good forty years or so!

I was reminded of this photo of my great great grandparents.

They look fairly dignified to me and maybe a little staid but it's not likely that they held "a high social position" since my great great grandfather was a coal miner just like his father before him and his sons and grandsons after him; though I suppose such things are subjective.

The photo isn't dated but it is labeled 'Venice Dunn, 7&8 Medomsley Road, Consett' (in County Durham) which I believe dates it to between 1891 and 1914.

I have another [very slightly earlier and of the larger 1:12 scale] Grecon granny with this type of bonnet but when I look at her I really don't think 'matron' - I defy anyone to tell me that she's staid and I have serious doubts about her dignity! 'Eccentric' is the word that springs to mind...

This is the new arrival on the right, next to a slightly older granny with the larger Oxford feet dating [probably] to the mid-1940s.  The slightly later lady clearly has more of the matron about her. I wonder how they're going to get along...

Until next time,
Zoe

Welkom Nederlandse Man! (Welcome Netherland Man!)

I'm always excited to acquire any new Grecon but it's especially exciting to welcome a character we've never seen in Grecondale before, such as this little chap:

He might not be wearing clogs and a flat cap, but his outfit does seem to say 'Dutch'.

The first clue is his smart orange tunic top. Orange is very much associated with the Netherlands since it's the colour of their Royal Family which hails front the House of Orange. A quick 'Google' tells me that the colour has been adopted by the Dutch to symbolise national pride and in fact, they even have a couple of words for their obsession with it: Oranjegekte (Orange craze) and Oranjekoorts (Orange fever)!

The next clue is his hat. He seems to be sporting a Dutch whalers' hat which I understand is a traditional part of the national costume in the north of the country.

Then we have the jaunty neckerchief - what self-respecting Dutch man would be seen without one?!

And finally, there are the shoes (they're the ones I call 'small Oxfords' and date him to the mid- to late-1940s) which are painted yellow, as are many of the clogs sold in the shops in the Netherlands today - albeit the touristy ones....

Yep, Dutch is my guess and I'm sticking with it until someone convinces me otherwise!

Here we see him proudly displaying his Grecon credentials - as if he needs them.

I wonder if he was made for this little lady who was already resident in Grecondale?  Her cotton cap is pointed at the top and has the turned-out flaps or wings often seen in Dutch traditional costume.

They do look good and seem very happy together, so I'd like to think they've been reunited after a long separation and I wish them 'veel succes' (good luck)!

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 you can clearly see and feel 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 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 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.]