Schuco Janus Bear

I've been racking my brain trying to come up with a thematically appropriate toy to begin January's postings. After much thought and poking about in various cupboards and boxes, I found it: this small Schuco bear. But first, a few words about Janus, the Roman god who symbolized transitions, passages, beginnings and endings, and whose image, of a head with two faces looking in opposite directions, was affixed to ancient gates and doorways. Here he is, in a statue currently held by the Vatican.

Our month of January is named after him, as is this little bear, the Schuco Janus bear.

Like his namesake, the 3 1/2 inch Janus bear has two faces on opposite sides of his head. The first is a fairly standard Schuco style teddy bear face:

while the second is quite different, a sort of maniacally gleeful, pop-eyed character (originally he would also have had a protruding red tongue, but my example has lost his):

To change from one face to the other, you just turn a small knob at the bear's base, and a rod within his head swivels accordingly. You can see the mechanism in this last picture, as well as a glimpse of the two faces.

The Schuco Janus bear is highly sought by collectors, and deemed "freaking creepy" by pretty much everyone else.

Holy Crap: I Won an Award!

Wow: apparently I've been nominated for something called "The Lovely Blog Award", and here it is:


Hmm...it's pretty and all lady-like, what with all the flowers and teacups and gentility and such. I suppose in hindsight my post title is not the most appropriate response. Regardless, many thanks to Christine at The Daily Postcard for the nomination. Christine has a really fab site, which, as its name suggests, is indeed updated daily. With really cool old postcards. Go check it out!

I'm told by Christine that I'm now supposed to nominate another blog in this ongoing sort of blog-awarding chain letter, so I hereby nominate Norma at Make Mine Mini. Norma could be called a dollhouse interior decorator. There are lots of amazing teeny tiny things to see at her site, along with a fantastic header image: a photo taken of her mother in 1918 outside her house, absolutely surrounded by all of her (now antique) toys. Norma, I've been meaning to ask you: do you still have any of those toys? I realize they're much too big for your dollhouses, so if you need a home for them, I'm here for you. Just wanted to let you know that....

Christmas Loot 2009

Well, the Christmas bacchanalia is over. Here's a glimpse of some of this year's loot: vintage Barbies, antique doll furniture and dishes, a tin toy grocery store, teddy bears, books, and a new camera (thanks to my brother Jody, the quality of pictures here will be much improved). Details in the following posts!

Hope everyone had a very happy holiday!

Vintage Barbies

I never liked Barbie as a child, but I decided to take another look at her this year, during her 50th birthday hoopla marketing blitz. After all, I reasoned, what toy collection can hope to call itself reasonably comprehensive without a Barbie or two?

First I came across a big pile of vintage 1959-1963 Barbie clothes at a local antique mall, being sold for only a few dollars each, and I was surprised to see how beautifully they were made. The coats have full linings, there are tiny little zippers and toggle buttons, and every piece features more careful and precise stitching than is seen in most grown-up clothes today.

After I got the clothes, it didn't take long to find a few dolls to go with them. I started as close to the beginning as I could, with a blonde Barbie #3 from 1960 (pictured above and below). She has a solid body, vinyl that has faded to an ivory tone, and a very brightly made-up 1950s couture face.

I also got a blonde ponytail Barbie #5 from 1961, to see how Mattel continued to change the design (this is actually a rather interesting thing to observe) and a red-headed version of the first Bubblecut Barbie, from the same year. The Bubblecut came with a trunk and some more clothes and shoes, which she is graciously sharing with her sisters.

Another happy surprise was finding that Barbie is in perfect scale with my 1950s Marx and Ideal robots, who are enjoying having someone to menace...

New Teddy Bears

I got two great new teddy bears by one of my favorite artists, Peng Peng, this Christmas!

The blue one with the big round head and googly eyes is based on an unusual 1915 British bear called Master Ted, and measures about 5 1/4 inches tall.

The itty bitty black bear, done in an antiqued style and only
4 1/2 inches tall, is named Bigelow.
He's a quiet fellow...