Antique German Convertible Rocking Horse

This Christmas I received one of my most long-sought antique toys: a "convertible" German platform rocking horse circa the early 1900s. The horse, made of a wool or brennessel type material over a carved wooden frame, stands 28 inches high, and still has his original saddle, bridle, and reins, along with his real hair mane and tail. The horse is mounted on a wheeled platform, which was then attached to a rocker base. It could be ridden as a rocker, or removed from the base and pushed about on its wheels.

The original saddle has lovely detailing, in very Christmasy colors:

 Here's a close-up view of the carving on the horse's head:

And here's a close-up of the platform base, with its great old cast iron wheels:

Don't you just want to take him for a ride?

Antique German Dollhouse General Store

One of my most spectacular Christmas gifts this year was this antique German dollhouse shop, a general store circa 1900, measuring 18 inches wide. It has its original counter, tin cash register, drawers with tin labels (written in English for the American and British markets), floor paper, wallpaper border, and many old products and accessories.

 The shop came with an assortment of antique German-made cakes and pies, including a very appropriate Christmas pudding trimmed with holly:

It was also loaded with lots of old miniature packages; a sampling is shown below. Who wouldn't like a box of Nirvana? I didn't know we could buy such a metaphysical concept, and so neatly packaged too. (Oh, one of my German friends has just informed me this was likely a coffee brand...)

The tin cash register is a wonderful piece. Looks like the shopkeeper is getting ready to ring up a basket of eggs:

Another great old piece is this tiny bird cage, made of pressed and painted tin, with an itty-bitty bird inside:

The shop also came with a wonderful old mop, useful for cleaning up spills from the dry goods drawers...

...and a tin scoop and pan:

My old Clark & Coats Company paper doll seems to fit perfectly behind the counter of this warm and cozy shop:

Antique American Teddy Bear

One of this year's Christmas presents was this little antique American teddy bear, ten inches tall, all-original, circa 1920. I love his lopsided grin. Here he is with his new friend, a miniature French dolly:

Santa Welcomes You To Toyland

Here's a peek at an antique toy exhibit I just put in at my library for Christmas.
(Sorry the pics are not the best: it was hard to get good images through the glass and around the awkward angles...)

 

Mounties and sailors and bears...oh my!

 

An aeronautically themed corner.

 

Dollies and tea sets have always been great Christmas gift ideas.

 

I spy a Steiff kitty, Little Orphan Annie, Mickey Mouse, 

and a ray gun...

 

...and a soldier, a sailor, ninepins, and a dolly.

The Lone Ranger keeps watch over a china head lady doll 

who appears to have fainted.

 

Antique German Santa Postcards

Ooooh: look what I found today while poking around at the local antique mall: two gorgeous German Christmas postcards, circa the early 1900s, featuring their rather stern and forbidding-looking version of Santa:

How different these are from our modern Santa! These guys are tall, skinny, their coats are blue, and they appear to be most definitely un-jolly. If you're wondering what's up with the sticks, well, according to my German friends, these Santas typically came bearing not only toys, but switches to beat the bad children with! (As if Santa wasn't already scary enough to most little kids...)

Antique German Santa Christmas Ornament

The famous psychiatrist Eric Berne once said, "Human life is mainly a process of filling time until the arrival of death or Santa Claus." That's perhaps a bleak and rather reductionist outlook, but I have to admit, I do spend a lot of time looking forward to Santa's arrival each year.

As a fan of the big guy in red, my holiday collections include a large assortment of Santa themed Christmas ornaments. In fact, my tree is decorated solely with Santa pieces, mostly in blown glass. I think I just like the tidiness and symmetry of a single decorating theme; but I suppose it's possible my Santa tree represents some subconscious "sucking up" to the great gift-giver himself. After all, what could be more flattering to him than an entire Christmas tree covered with representations of himself? Maybe my Santa tree inspires him to leave me extra presents.

Anyway, here's one of my favorite Santa ornaments, made in Germany circa the 1920s. The clear glass ball houses a teeny tiny Germanic Father Christmas, along with a couple of itty bitty bottle brush trees and some fake snow. It's like a little Christmasy world in there...

Antique Children's Christmas Book

Christmas books for children comprised a very popular publishing niche in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. One of the loveliest I've ever found is this, Christmas Joys for Girls and Boys, printed in Bavaria by Ernest Nister Condon, and released in America by E.P. Dutton and Company, New York, around 1908.

(click on the images to see them in greater detail)

The large format picture book, 12 by 10 inches, was printed on an "Untearable" material which was unfortunately not "Unchewable", as little mousies have nibbled away at its edges (see upper right corner...)

Thankfully the illustrations remain undamaged. The gorgeous, richly colored full page spreads depict classic scenes of Christmas, with a profusion of toys.

A beautiful dapple grey rocking horse and his teddy bear rider can be seen on the left side of this image:

In the next illustration, children conduct their Christmas shopping by sled. Check out their haul of wonderful toys!

On page three, happy children have just unloaded their stockings. The blond girl on the left has received a beautiful doll:

The center of the book features a two page spread of a children's holiday "Fancy Dress Party." I think they're playing the old game of "Blind Man's Bluff". My favorite costumer is the boy in the middle, dressed as a teddy bear:

"Presents for the Poor" highlights a little rich girl's Christmas charity efforts. Note the vintage limousine and chauffeur visible through the open doorway:

Page seven features "The Christmas Basket," a cornucopia of antique toy treasures to make the collector's heart flutter. I spy several dollies, a tin litho automobile and steamship, a train, and a platform horse!

"The Christmas Tree" is loaded with toy presents, and on the floor sits a beautiful bear-on-wheels:

The book ends with an image of Christmas crackers being pulled at a sumptuous holiday dinner:

$1 Baggie Dollhouse Find

At a recent antique show, rooting around in a dealer's box of bargain-priced "junque," I found this baggie full of broken dollhouse furniture, priced at just one dollar. (It doesn't look like much here, but just wait...)

The pieces were clearly very old, German-made circa the 1890s-1910. On a closer, surreptitious inspection, I discovered all the bits were there, and they weren't really broken, just unglued. Over the past century, the animal-based glue dried out and gave way.

It was the work of a couple of minutes for the pieces to be reassembled, and ta-da: here they are!

The 4 inch tall chair is made of red stained, gold gilt trimmed wood and pressed cardboard, while the faux wood grained sideboard  is in a much smaller scale at 3 1/2 inches, and fits perfectly into my hard-to-furnish 10 inch tall dollhouse.

Not a bad find for a buck!

Antique Dollhouse Doll and Friend

A recent find was this little German all-bisque dollhouse doll, circa the 1890s-early 1900s. Just 4 1/4 inches tall, she has an unruly blond mohair wig and one tiny eye slightly offset, which gives her a quirky charm. I think she looks like a Victorian child who's gotten away from her nanny, escaped the nursery, and been running wild through the house, throwing temper tantrums all the way.

Here she is with her new best friend, a 1920s Schuco miniature bear. Hopefully he can convince her to tidy up her hair and sit down quietly for a nice cup of tea:

Antique German Dollhouse Dishes in Original Box

A tiny treasure turned up at a local antique show this past weekend. An unassuming 4 1/2 inch long cardboard box half-buried in a pile of miscellanea caught my eye. Upon opening it, a tiny teaset, serving dish, utensils, and itty bitty napkins in rings were revealed, all stamped Germany, circa the 19teens-20s. Even the strings that originally held the items in place were still attached to the base of the box. It's always a thrill finding things like this!

The box featured silhouette decorations of a young couple, as if this was meant to be a dollhouse wedding gift:

Inside, tiny treasures!

For a sense of scale, the serving dish (still with its spoon!) measures just under 2 1/2 inches wide, including its handles; the teapot is 1 1/4 inches to the tip of its lid; and the napkins are 1 inch long.

Everything the new lady of the (doll)house needs for a tea party:

Antique Cracker Jack Bears Postcard

I've collected antique and vintage Cracker Jack prizes for several years, but I didn't have one of their iconic pieces, a Cracker Jack Bears postcard, until we found one this weekend at an antique show, buried deep within a tray of old postcards and photographs.

The Cracker Jack Bears were a couple of characters, probably inspired by the contemporary Roosevelt Bears and the concurrent teddy bear fad, used to promote the company's product back at the turn of the 20th century. They appeared in a series of 16 beautifully lithographed full-size postcards, and children were urged to collect them all.

This is number 14, with a copyright date of 1907, measuring 3 by 5 1/2 inches:

The back of the card reads:

"Sixteen Beautiful Post Cards, No Two Alike, (without this printing), sent Free to anyone who will mail us ten sides from Cracker Jack packages, reading, 'The more you eat, the more you want,' or mail us 10 c in silver or stamps and the side of one package. A 2 c stamp is enough to mail ten sides. Rueckheim Bros. & Eckstein, Chicago, U.S.A."

Oddfellow the Teddy Bear

Presenting one of the quirkiest antique teddy bears in my collection: Oddfellow, a circa 1915 British bruin measuring 20 inches tall. At some point during his long life, Oddfellow had eye replacements, but apparently his surgeon was all out of matching shoe buttons:

I thought about calling him "popeye", but that seemed sort of mean.

Oddfellow came dressed in an antique child's coat festooned with vintage buttons, including a Prefect's badge and a sporting medal. I added an 1890s Independent Order of Oddfellows badge, which just seemed to suit him.

I love old Oddfellows, Shriners, and other quasi-secret society paraphenalia, and have a small collection of badges, fezzes, and whatnot, but that's a topic for another day...

Teddy Bears' Halloween

My miniature Schuco and Steiff teddy bears have agreed to pose for a Halloween photo, carving their pumpkin. The large scale antique dollhouse table and chairs are just the right size, and featured in last summer's birthday photo, too. The bears date from 1910-1950s; the furniture is early 1900s American; and the backdrop is by Edward Gorey, from his Dracula Toy Theatre.

"We love pumpkin carving!"

"Ewww...I don't think I want to stick my paw in there...do you?"