Miniature Groceries

Antique dollhouse grocery shops are some of my favorite things to collect. Most were made in Germany, from the mid 1800s all the way through the 1960s. Here are a few accessory pieces I found recently to restock my shelves.

Miniature canned goods (milk, coffee, and sausages): tin cans with paper labels, made in Germany circa the 1930s, 1 1/2 inches tall.

Tiny cheeses: cardboard, composition, and glass. Dish is 1 1/4 inches in diameter, circa 1930s.

Vintage Charlie's Angels Doll

Rooting around in a box full of manky 1990s Barbies a few weeks ago, I found this treasure: a vintage Charlie's Angels doll, made by Hasbro in 1977, in its complete original outfit, and priced at just $5.99! This particular Angel is Kelly, originally played in the TV show by Jaclyn Smith, and the likeness is quite remarkable, I think (although I don't expect Jaclyn's head was quite this disproportionately large in real life...)

When I got her home, a happy discovery was made: she's just about the same scale as my vintage Mego Batman doll!

Batman was clearly happy about it, too: he's callously tossed Robin aside for Kelly. Poor Robin...I hope those menacing robots don't get him. He may be okay, though, as they appear to be looking the other way.

Strange Easter Postcard

This very strange German made Easter postcard from the 1900s features all the holiday sights one would expect (chicks, colored eggs), but also a little boy chef who is smoking a cigar while balancing a tray with an apparently live chicken on his head. I do not know why. Perhaps this is some little known European spring time custom, or perhaps the German Easter Bunny also brings stogies.

The Weirdest Board Game Ever Made: Remco's Pinhead

One of the oddest board games ever made must be Pinhead, released by Remco in 1959.

The first inkling of strangeness comes right away, as you peruse the cover. Why is a "game of hide and seek" called "Pinhead"? What does a deforming neurodevelopmental disorder have to do with a classic children's playtime activity? Why is the one boy so much bigger than the other children? Is it also about dwarfism and/or gigantism?

You might expect some answers to these baffling questions once you open the box, but no: the oddness just intensifies. There is, in fact, a pinhead on the house shaped game board, and he is "hiding" out in the open, in the middle of what appears to be a hallway. So...not hiding, then. I mean, wouldn't it have been more like hiding if he was tucked away in the attic clutter, or stuck behind one of the basement appliances??

The pinhead in question: 











Remco games were notable for: 1. being strange, and 2. having unusual methods of rolling the dice. Remco's "Tumblebum Dice Games" included an hourglass shaped device with dice inside. Tipping the device over essentially rolled the dice. Pinhead features a different mechanism: a dice box, in which the dice are shaken while the lid is closed. These elaborate dice rolling devices seem to have been Remco's attempt to enliven games that were otherwise rather simple, straightforward "tracks", wherein players simply moved their markers along a course. Remco games are relatively scarce, and strange though they may be, are worth snapping up when found.

Teddy Bear Buddies

I found these two antique American bears a year apart, and on different continents, but they look to me like they belong together, and have been so for a long time...

Big Nosed Bear

Possibly the cutest antique teddy bear ever. 

American, circa 1915.

Antique Show Report: Tons of Tiny Treasures

The first antique show of the season arrived this past weekend with the stormy spring weather. I gathered up my pocket change and went to see what treasures I could find. My budget was very limited this time, due to an upcoming vacation, so I tried to look only at very small things. Fortunately, there were a lot of very small things! I found:

Some antique dollhouse "tobacco felt" rugs. These 5 inch rugs were given away as premiums with cigarettes and cigars in the early 1900s. In the same booth, I also got a nice old dollhouse plate rack, complete with its plates.

Next, I got a bunch of dollhouse grocery items, all made of wood with paper labels. The largest can is 1 1/4 inches tall, and they all date from the 1920s-30s.

Pigs in Clover, an absolutely impossible hand-held dexterity puzzle from the 1950s, was next:

And my favorite find of all was a little vintage 1960s troll, 3 1/2 inches high, wearing his original outfit and shoes, with very unusual rooted, variegated hair:

Hi!

Park and Shop Game

For lovers of shopping and vintage board games, what could be a better fit than the classic  Park and Shop game? Park and Shop's origins date to the late 1940s, when civic authorities in Allentown, Pennsylvania worked with business leaders to solve parking difficulties in the town's shopping district. To overcome limited parking afforded by street meters, they created a then-revolutionary system of free lots surrounding shopping areas. Citizens would park (and walk) and shop. The system was such a success, it was made into a board game, later purchased by gaming giant Milton Bradley. There were several versions of Park and Shop over the years; this one dates from 1960.

The object of the game is to drive from home to the most strategically placed Park and Shop lot, then move your person to all the shops on your list, get back to your car, and make it home before anyone else.

You choose cards along the way that tell you what to do, like this one shown below: "You have 'created a disturbance' and have been arrested. Go directly to 'jail.' Stay two turns."

1954 Fisher Price Gold Star Stage Coach

Fisher Price made many wonderful wooden pull toys over the years, ranging from wiggly puppies to clattering rocket ships. One of the most detailed and elaborate is this, the Gold Star Stage Coach from 1954.

Measuring 15 1/2 inches long, the stage coach features a pair of pinto ponies who "gallop" up and down as the stage is pulled, along with a spring mounted driver who bobs energetically along. (The spring on mine is a bit sprung, which has made his hat pop permanently up. He looks rather like a startled cartoon character now.)

A strong box at the back of the coach opens, and can be used to store very tiny treasures. The top of the coach also opens, and small passengers can be placed inside.

Two wooden mailbags complete the stage coach's accessories. Even in Toyland, "the mail must go through!"

1950s German Dollhouse Grocery Shop

I just don't seem able to resist these German dollhouse shops. Just when I think I've seen all the varieties there are, another one turns up. This one, from the 1950s, is in a great modern style, a wonderful contrast to my antique versions.

 Measuring a whopping two feet wide, the wooden shop in a period-correct salmon pink color features a fruit and vegetable stand and an unusual pastry case.

The stand holds fruits, veggies, cheeses, sausage, and a rather macabre (by today's standards) pig's head, all made of chalk:

The pastry case is filled with tiny breads and cakes:

The shop came absolutely packed full of what to appear to be its original miniature boxes. My favorite is the "Wackel Peter" package:

There are only three drawers to this shop, which appear to be all it ever had. Kaffee = coffee, Zimmt = cinnamon, and, according to Google Translate, flaumen = flood. Hmmm. Ah, Google thoughtfully asks if I meant "pflaumen," and, if I look closely, I see what may be a "P" trapped under the left side nail, in which case pflaumen = plums, which seem much more likely than floods to be stocked in a grocery store. 

Two of the most interesting items in the shop were these miniature glass bottles of refreshing beverages:

 My family of 1950s Schuco teddy bears are just the right size (and vintage) for this shop. Looks like they're stocking up on cake (and pigs heads...)

Craziest Teddy Bears Ever

While the focus of my teddy bear collecting is on antique teds, I do sometimes find modern bears I like. Some of my favorites are made by the contemporary artist Cindy McGuire, of China Cupboard Bears. Her crazy creations feature interesting proportions, enormous noses, wacky smiles, and clothing and accessories constructed from vintage materials.

Meet Alice, a lovely little lady bear about 10 inches tall, sporting a fascinating hat with vintage trims. Her handmade dress suits her perfectly, and her old paper umbrella completes her presentation. Alice's mauve-backed purpley-grey mohair is one of the most unique I've ever seen.

Doesn't she look just like an eccentric little old lady out for a stroll?

Here's Alice without her hat, revealing her 

oddly-proportioned, yet adorable, face:

Next is Alice's cousin, 16 inch Hubert, with his little wooden friend, Nog. Nog is a vintage piece, as is the fabric used to make Hubert's costume. Hubert looks like he's ready for the beach:

Hubert has a great face; it always makes me smile. 

It's worth a couple of profile shots to see the full effect:

Last but definitely not least is a 14 inch, multi-hued bear that people seem to either love or hate. (I love him.) I'm not sure of his name, as he was sadly missing his tag when he arrived. For obvious reasons, I've called him Smiley.

  A face to make you giggle...or haunt your nightmares, 

depending on your taste...

Antique Automobile Game

There's a lot to appreciate in old board games besides their game play, like the beauty of their lithography and the interest of their history. One of the best examples of this in my collection is a 1920s auto race game, made by Wilder Mfg. of St. Louis, Missouri. The board features wonderful cartoony illustrations of now-classic automobiles in a road race. 

 The center of the board hosts a great gas station 

with old style gas pumps:

Oh no! You're out of water, and your radiator is overheating!

Go back five spaces...

 

The cars include Cadillacs, Packards, Stutz, 

and a brand I've never heard of, Marmon, 

all driven by maniacal-looking men wearing goggles:

Flintstones Weebles

Hasbro's original Weebles toy line, made in the 1970s, was one of my childhood favorites. The playsets and figures were, for a brief period, competitors for Fisher Price's Little People. Any kid who grew up in America in the '70s must surely remember the company's famous advertising jingle, "Weebles wobble but they don't fall down," as well as the parent and media induced "choking hazard" scare that prematurely ended the line.

Most Weeble sets were generically themed (a cottage with family; pirates in a ship; cowboys on a ranch) but there were a few licensed character tie-ins, including the Flintstones.

Yabba Dabba Doo!

Fisher Price Space Blazer

Zooming in for a landing is my very favorite vintage Fisher Price pull toy: 1953's Space Blazer. Measuring 14 inches long, the wooden, paper lithographed Space Blazer features a domed cockpit with a green alien pilot, a bouncing antenna on the front, and a clanging bell on the rear. As the toy is pulled, the cockpit spins and the bell rings.

The little green man is adorable:

The Space Blazer's lithography is beautifully done, 

with lots of great detail:

Blast off!

Champ, the Boxing Bear

Although I now collect many different kinds of toys, my first love was antique teddy bears. Within that category, my favorite type of bears are so-called "characters," teddies that have been so loved they are all but worn out. Doting owners often carefully dressed and accessorized such bears, to make up for missing fur, noses, and, in this extreme case, paws, resulting in one of a kind characters with lots of forlorn appeal.

This 14 inch, 1930s British bear has lost all of his mohair, his nose, mouth, foot pads, AND both his paws from excessive hugging, kissing, and playing. But somewhere in the course of his long life, a loving owner knit him a pair of boxing shorts, and stitched little leather boxing gloves to his arms. The addition of a cleverly captioned pinback ("Never Touched Me") completed his makeover, and he is now a fabulous character, indeed.