(Another) Victorian Doll Trunk Full of Toys

Last December, I posted about a Victorian doll trunk full of antique toys that I purchased for Christmas. Well, incredibly, another one has come my way, and the neat thing is, its the very same pattern, just a smaller size, measuring 12 inches wide by 6  1/2 tall. The trunk and the toys within, left by the original owner, date from the 1890s - early 1900s, just as with the previous one.

The contents included a 14 inch china head doll wearing her old, handmade dress; a 5 inch dollhouse doll with a mohair wig, in her original clothing; a tiny jointed all bisque doll, only 2 inches tall; a tin toy horse, 3 3/4 inches long; two 5  1/4 inch J. & P. Coats Company advertising paper dolls, complete with extra outfits and hats; a child-made patchwork doll quilt; and a handcrafted needle case made from birch bark, probably an arts and crafts project done at a Victorian children's summer camp.

Inside the trunk.

The big china doll, wearing her simply smashing hat.

She is ready for her tea.

All the other goodies. The child-made

doll quilt and needle case are on the far right.

Here are some close ups of the paper dolls, which are incredibly beautiful. They were actually advertising premiums for the J.& P. Coats Company, later known as Coats & Clark, which made cotton thread. Several series of dolls were printed, and girls were encouraged to "collect them all!" The company's advertising information was printed on the back of each piece. Click on the picture to enlarge, and you'll see that one doll features kittens, while the other has several different toys, including a rather frightening jack in the box, a ball, and dollies of her own.

Here are a few close ups of the small dolls: the dollhouse doll, who is wearing her original, sewn-on dress with a cotton lace overlay and a big, bustly ribbon, and the itty bitty baby doll.

A snazzy polka dotted underskirt!

The itty bitty 2 inch all bisque baby.

Lastly, here's the tin horse, who just fascinates me. I'm not sure if he was originally flat like this, or if he was left outside and run over by something, perhaps one of those new-fangled "horseless carriages"...either way, he was obviously special to his young owner, who carefully tucked him away in the trunk when his playing days were over.

As always with these trunk lot finds, its remarkable to me that everything stayed together for so long and in such fine shape (horsie excepted), and it's very touching to handle the items and wonder about the child, or children, who played with them so long ago...

Iggynormous Troll

Too bad I didn't have this guy in time for my Troll Blog-a-thon back in March: he is definitely the highlight of my collection. Made by Thomas Dam in Denmark at the height of the 1964 craze, this was one of the biggest trolls available. Standing a formidable 12 inches tall, he dwarfs his standard-sized 3 inch companion. These huge trolls were named "Iggynormous" and came in a wide variety of hair, eye, and clothing colors. This one is in minty condition and still bears his original ribbon and tag.

People who already dislike the trolls tend to be especially disturbed by Iggy. The impact seems to be intensified by the size. My friend Ron took one look at him, stopped short, pointed at Iggy accusingly and said, "THAT is really terrifying." I actually had to put him (Iggy, not Ron) away for awhile.

Losing Our Heads Dexterity Puzzles

Here are a few of my latest dexterity puzzle games. From Japan circa the 1930s, they're tiny (only about 2 inches tall) and fragile (made of cardboard with a thin plastic covering). They're also a bit ghoulish: each of the three rather comical characters have literally lost their heads, and it's up to the player to shake them back into place. 

Decapitated.

Un-decapitated.

1966 Batman Button

After finding this vintage 1966 button, guess who is now a 

Charter Member of the Batman & Robin Society?

I wear it proudly every day.

As an aside: I've often thought that Adam West's Batman 

would be the best 

President of the United States ever. 

Don't you think so, too?

1914 Oyster Eating Contest Award Badge

I found this old award badge at an antique mall last month, and have puzzled over it since. It's one of the oddest items I've ever found. Made of die-cut leather, it measures about 5 inches in diameter. There's a small damaged area at the top where I think a ribbon and pin may have originally been attached so that it could be worn.
The text reads: "Presented to Bob Frey   Champion Oyster Eater   Capacity 982 Oysters   Galveston Texas  Oct. 31, 1914". Near as I could tell (thanks to some rather lazy googling) the current world oyster eating record is "only" about 420...so old Bob must really have been something special.