Antique Bliss Dollhouse With French Penny Toy Furniture

I've posted this early 1900s Bliss dollhouse before, but I just redecorated it with some antique French penny toy furniture and a German tin fireplace. It came out really well, so I thought it was worth a re-post. (The furniture and fireplace were part of a fantastic recent find: they came with a Tootsie Toy dollhouse, loaded with accessories, purchased from the original owner's family. More on that in an upcoming post...)

 The lithographed house is 11 1/2 inches tall, 

with a typical two-room interior.

It still has all of its original wall and floor papers.

The French-made metal furniture, dating from the 1920s, is in a small, mostly 1/2 inch scale, and includes a table, chair, bench, dressing table with gilt mirror, sewing machine, and two twin beds. The German tin fireplace, from the late 1900s-early '20s, still has its red foil "fire." A Cracker Jack prize clock rests on the mantle.

The beautiful baby carriage, another of the French penny toy pieces,  holds a Frozen Charlotte doll.

Antique Teddy Bears

I recently gave a presentation at my library on the history of teddy bears, accompanied by about 50 of my teds who assisted me during the show and tell portion. Here's a virtual tour of some of the highlights:

A 1908 German Steiff and 1904 American Ideal, wearing his original antique Roosevelt campaign pin:

A 1907 Laughing Roosevelt Bear, made by the Columbia Teddy Bear Company of Brooklyn, New York. His mouth opens, emulating Roosevelt's trademark toothy grin!

A couple of very rare American bears from around 1907-1908: on the left, a teddy made by the Miller Mfg. Co., advertised as an "antiseptic, hygenic" toy; and on the right, a cinnamon colored bear from Hahn & Amberg. Both bears are made of a wooly fabric and, unusually, stuffed with cork:

Dating from 1906, another American bear, made by Aetna:

A couple of rarities from 1907, these Teddy Girls were an attempt by doll manufacturers to cash in on the teddy bear fad:

These two odd American bears were a novelty in 1908. Known as Electric Eye Bears, they featured light bulb eyes which actually lit up! (The second bear has had his glass bulb eyes replaced with shoe buttons by a cautious mother long ago.)

 

 

Another novelty ted, this American Sleeping Eyed Bear dates from the 1920s. His celluloid eyes tip back into his head when he is laid down, making him appear to be asleep:

Also from the 1920s, these miniature bears made by Schuco of Germany hold many surprises. The largest, in the back, is actually a perfume bottle: his head lifts off to reveal a glass vial. The pink bear on the right houses a compact in her torso, complete with a tiny puff and traces of powder, while her head lifts off to reveal a lipstick tube. The crazy looking bear on the left is Schuco's famous two-faced Janus bear: his head can be turned completely around, where a different face can be found. The tiny bear in front is Schuco's smallest variety, the Piccolo, just 2 inches tall, with his original felt paws and feet.

These two twin British bears date from around WWI. They belonged to twin brothers who emigrated to America in the 1920s, and were clearly much loved. In fact, the different wear patterns on each bear show how the boys played with and used them. The bear on the left has a completely bare, broken down arm, from being regularly carried by that paw, but his torso stuffing is intact and sturdy, indicating he wasn't slept on nightly and thus squashed flat, like his brother on the right.

Two of my favorite antique English bears are these, a small, portly ted made by an unknown company in the 1920s, and his friend, a very sweet-faced Chiltern from the 1930s, with Chiltern's distinctive nose stitching:

This odd bear, which has squeakers in its large ears, dates to around 1916 and may have been made by the British Peacock Company:

The presentation featured a whole table full of "character" bears, antique teddies who have little monetary value due to their extreme wear and repair, but have limitless appeal due to the character imbued by such wear. Here are a couple of my favorites:

The last part of the presentation gave examples of ways to display bears. A big, 24 inch American bear, circa 1918, was the perfect size to wear my little brother's childhood sailor suit and ride an antique rocking horse:

Miniature bears, including a 1910 Steiff and a modern artist bear, were just the right size for this dollhouse furniture and grocery store:

And an antique dollhouse made the perfect display for two tiny Schuco bears:

An itty bitty bear, just 2 inches tall, and his dolly friend:

Vintage Barbie Display

My library is currently doing a "theme month," and the theme is Collecting. (Yes, I had a little input on this decision...) We're focusing on dolls and teddy bears, with a doll collecting club coming to talk about Barbie, and me giving a presentation on antique teddy bears (more on that later). This week I put in a display of vintage Barbie dolls in one of our cases. It's really hard to take pictures of this particular case because of its dimensions and location, but here are a few views.

 Ken and Allan kick back.

Ken and Barbie, about to enjoy some refreshing beverages.

 New and old Barbies.

A very sultry Bubblecut Barbie.

The official trade-in Barbie from 1967, with the new "twist n' turn" waist, bendy knees, and "real" eyelashes!

Mod era Barbies lounge about.

A peek at some of the vintage Barbie accessories.

The Addams Family Goes On A Sleigh Ride

We experienced our biggest snowfall of the season yesterday evening, just in time for rush hour. As I sat completely stopped in traffic on the expressway, stuck in the snow for an hour and 15 minutes, I looked through a box of old photographs and postcards I'd found at the local antique mall on my lunch hour earlier in the day. I thought, well, this is rather unpleasant, but it could be worse: at least I'm not stuck in a sleigh behind a taxidermied deer with these people:

Early 1900s studio portrait with prop sleigh and taxidermy deer.

(Click to enlarge)

I really try not to be judgmental, but this antique photograph broke my resolve. These people remind me of the Addams Family. Especially the giant guy on the far right with the Frankenstein shoulderpads and the stunned expression. He could easily be Lurch's cousin, while the equally tall man second from left has the largest chin I've ever seen outside of a Dick Tracy comic. And the two men in the back just have something...unsettling...about their expressions. The one on the left in particular looks like he has some dark secret, doesn't he? The two ladies squashed in the middle of the sleigh remind me of the siamese twin sisters who once dated Gomez, before he married Morticia. 

(Actually, the more I look at this odd photo, the more I wonder if the ladies are, in fact, siamese twins; the big guy on the right and the man with the huge chin are, in fact, giants; and these might be circus performers???)

1930s Playskool Pullman

About 25 years ago, when I first started collecting teddy bears, I saw an interesting antique toy mentioned in one of my reference books. In a chapter of hints for displaying miniature bears, the author had posed several tiny teddies in an old tin playset called the Playskool Pullman.

I had never heard of this toy, and I was immediately captivated. The tin Pullman car looked like a miniature suitcase from the outside, and measured 11 1/2 by 9 1/2 inches. A leather carrying handle allowed the owner to easily tote the Pullman along, perhaps on a real train trip. When opened, a miniature train car interior was revealed, complete with a porter's closet, fold-up berth with bedding, and a seating area of benches with a fold-down table. I was absolutely smitten: it was an amazing toy.

It also turned out to be an extremely rare toy. Designed by a preschool teacher in the late 1920s and made around 1930, the Playskool Pullman was reportedly only manufactured for a very brief time, perhaps only a year, before the Great Depression put a stop to the toy's production. For years and years, the Pullman eluded me. With the arrival of internet auctions, I finally saw a few, but the prices were high and the competition was fierce, due to the toy's rarity and crossover appeal to lots of different toy collectors: dollhouse lovers, toy train aficianados, tin toy fantatics, Playskool collectors. But finally, last year, I found one. The good news: it was cheap. The bad news: it looked like it had been sitting in a barn and slowly decomposing for the past 80 years. I bought it anyway, on the assumption that my mom could fix it. She did, and here it is:

Big Bear is running to catch the train, but it looks like he's too late.

Inside, the private compartment is home to 

three little Steiff bears.

The porter's closet on the left was originally intended to hold the mattresses and bedding, but most Pullman owners convert it into a bathroom, as I did with these antique German dollhouse pieces.

The top berth pulls down, revealing a cozy bed complete with 

sheets, blankets, and pillows. 

The littlest bear is tucked in for the night, 

falling asleep to the sound of the train clacking down the tracks.

For comparison, here's what the Pullman looked like when we got it: