Dollhouse Kitchen Set

Found these at a garage sale over the weekend, but can't readily identify them. They remind me of the very simple "educational" toy company dollhouses made for preschools, and appear to be from the 1950s or thereabouts. The baby is in a highchair on wheels: wheeee!

Garage Sale Report

Every Memorial Day weekend, a local community hosts a gigantic "Garage Sale" in its three-story civic center parking structure (or parking "garage": get it?). I braved the crowds and the heat, and found some great old toys at super-cheap prices. It's odd how it happens, but sometimes certain shows or sales end up delivering a theme; a week ago, I found all teddy bears at an outdoor antique show. At this sale, for some reason I found mostly old wooden toys, including:

--a fun wooden puzzle made in Holland, circa the 1950s. It depicts a little village, and when the pieces are removed, they can be stood up to make a three-dimensional play town.
--an antique Milton Bradley set of Ten Pins, complete with hardwood balls, circa the 1900s, in its original box.
--a set of beautiful 1920s building blocks, in their original box, too.
--an unusual set of dollhouse kitchen furniture that might be from a 1950s classroom playset. They have a chunky, "educational" look to them.
--and a 1962 Barbie thermos.

Pics to follow...

Steiff Dealer Display Piece

Found at an antique show last weekend was an amazing thing: a motorized Steiff dealer display piece from the 1980s (labelled West Germany). It features a permanently attached, gorgeous cream-colored mohair bear holding a Steiff flag (the pennant is a replacement) on a rotating stand marked "Official Steiff Dealer". The entire piece is about 18 inches tall, and originally it would have stood on top of a display case in a high-end toy shop or specialty store, slowly revolving, drawing attention to itself, urging shoppers to buy lotsa Steiff.

Teddy Bear Shoes

I got this great old bear, Nosey Parker, last week, and found a pair of antique toddler's boots at a weekend show that seem to suit him perfectly.

Here he is, showing them off:

With the addition of a dapper straw hat, Parker is ready
to hit the town:

1950s Pedigree Teddy Bear

At an antique show this past weekend, I found this rather odd teddy bear, made in Ireland by Pedigree in the 1950s. He has such a strange conformation, with those loooong legs and itty bitty stumpy arms:

And his head is even odder, described by several of my teddy bear guide books as "bulbous", with gigantic, oversized eyes and a huge schnoz made of molded felt. I've never seen a bear with features that fill so much of his face: