Thursday, May 2, 2013

A Bodo Hennig in Australia?

I was quite excited when I saw this dolls house on Australian ebay earlier this year:



I recognised the design from diepuppenstubensammlerin's Update: Bodo Hennig Dolls Houses 1955-1981. In Germany, it was called the MIDI-Puppenhaus Allgäu. I had also seen it in the 1983 catalogue of a UK importer, Stephen Burghard. There, it was called Tina's House:


So perhaps it had been imported into Australia, too?

I could see, though, that the wallpapers in the Australian house were different from the ones used in Haus Allgäu / Tina's house, which I recognise from my Bodo Hennig Bodensee.


(I think the stairs got a bit bumped during the trip.)




The dolls house was in Canberra, and Anna-Maria (The Shopping Sherpa) very kindly collected it and held it for me, until I went to Canberra and picked it up from her last weekend.





I mentioned in an email to Anna-Maria how great it was to find a Bodo Hennig dolls house in Australia, and not have the expense of shipping it from overseas.

The rugs came with the house, and seem to have been made for it. Major trip hazards for dolls, though!



After she had picked it up, Anna-Maria replied,
 Except it’s not a Bodo Hennig L Sorry to break that to you, but unless BH manufactured under the name ‘Woodtoys Pty Ltd’ I think you’ve just bought an Australian licensed product. Which actually might be more interesting… J
The name Woodtoys is clearly printed on the back of the house:





I agree with Anna-Maria that it's even more interesting - I had not heard of Woodtoys Pty Ltd before, and I am always delighted to learn about Australian makers of dolls houses!

I still don't know much about Woodtoys - Anna-Maria found company information which showed that they were registered in 1977, and deregistered at the end of 2009. Apart from the wallpapers, the design of this dolls house appears identical to the Bodo Hennig Haus Allgäu / Tina's house, and the dimensions are the same as those given in the Burghard catalogue. So it would seem that it was made under license. I wonder if other Bodo Hennig models were also made here, or whether Woodtoys distributed Bodo Hennig dolls house furniture (smaller and lighter to import than dolls houses)?

If you know anything about Woodtoys, I'd love to hear from you! I hope one day, too, that I'll be able to look through issues of the Australian toy trade journal, and maybe I'll find some information about Woodtoys in that. I was able to visit the National Library of Australia while I was in Canberra, and skimmed through issues of the toy trade magazine from 1964-1969. I did discover some Australian-made dolls houses that were new to me, as well as some imported ones - I'll show some of my discoveries in another post. I didn't have time to look through later issues from the 1970s and 80s, so didn't find any mentions of Woodtoys.

10 comments:

  1. How interesting to discover another Australian toy maker to investigate. The house is in very good condition, all the papers look clean and smart. I hope you track down furniture formit.

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    1. Thanks, DollMum! It came with some fairly recent furniture, but I have some spare Bodo Hennig furniture which I think would look better in it!

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  2. What a great house! I also think it is more interesting that it was made in Australia. If you find out more about Woodtoys please share.

    Susan

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    1. Thanks, Susan, I'll certainly be looking out for it from now on!

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  3. I really like this house Rebecca with the stairs running down the centre and the interesting patterns. I didn't think I had seen a Bodo Hennig like that. Another good find.

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    1. Thanks, Sharee, I like the central stairs too. Bodo Hennig used brown stairs like this with yellow walls on their Bodensee model too, so even without the catalogue, I would probably have noticed this dolls house. It will be fun furnishing it and seeing which dolls would like to live there!

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  4. Hello Rebecca,
    It is a beautiful house! How interesting to discover a new miniature manufacturer. Good luck finding out more.
    Big hug,
    Giac

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    1. Thanks, Giac, it's exciting to find a new manufacturer and to actually have a dolls house made by them! Sometimes I discover manufacturers' names, but no named dolls houses or catalogues - that can be very frustrating. I hope I can find out more about this one :-)

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  5. I guess I'll need to make some time to go to The National Library for you and continue the hunt through later issues of the mags?

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    1. If you have time, that would be great! I'd really like to get back and look at more myself, too (I really only skimmed these, looking for photos - didn't have time to read them thoroughly (even skipping the sports bits!!). And I'd like to go to Melbourne, too - the NLA run starts from 1964, while the Victorian State Library has the earlier issues.

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