Monday, May 13, 2013

My Buys at the Fair, 2013

The first day of the fair, I looked at stalls but didn't buy anything. I did note that several stalls had bargain boxes, and I headed back to them the second day. The woman I had bought most vintage pieces from last year was not there this year, but there were some vintage items on a few stalls.



A woman named Joanne was selling her mother's collection, including the boxed Barrett's aquarium (she threw the empty toaster box in for free). Joanne also has a couple of boxes of 60s and 70s dolls house furnishings, from her mother, which I hope she will email me and Anna-Maria about when she's ready to sell them. The Jean roll-top desk was on another stall.

I loved the Scot Tissue toilet rolls in pastel wrapping paper - I remember similar wrapping from when I was a child. (I may even have some in a scrap book still - I remember pasting a piece in, as I thought the colour and design was beautiful!!!)

The little doll was on Diana Simms' stall, Diana's Gifts, where I found some vintage pieces last year too. She also had my best find of the fair, another doll:


All she could tell me about the doll was that it was from an old dolls house. Does anyone recognise her? She has a wooden head with painted features, metal hands and feet, and her legs and arms are made of plastic coated wire.  I like her expression, and her clothing! I don't know yet where she will live ...


The cutlery and jars of preserves shown on this table were also from Joanne. (The table itself is not from the fair.) I was delighted to buy an African violet in a pot - my grandmother kept a row of them on her bathroom windowsill. I have to admit I have forgotten who I bought it from, though!
The wonderful tea cosy was made by Win Garside, of Baulkham Hills (NSW). She also had Paddington Bear tea cosies, cosies with bees on them, rabbit-shaped cosies - it was quite hard to choose!
The wire mesh food and cake protectors were, I think, made by the woman from Victorian Dollhouses and Miniatures, from the ACT. She also had tiny boxes of Coats crochet cotton which she had made, handwinding the rolls of cotton.  I took a card so that I could look online, but their website features mainly their dolls houses and dolls house components. From that stall, I also bought some sheets of wallpaper - 3 embossed designs, and one that could be used for flooring or 50s/60s textured wallpaper:



3 more artisan-made pieces: a tiny knitted vest by Helen Palenski from New Zealand (Anna-Maria bought a tiny 1/48th scale tea cosy and a knitted 12th scale sock monkey of Helen's); a cloth doll by Marilyn Halcomb; and a beaded cover for a milk jug by Faery Fantasys:



More bargain buys, between 50c and $2:


I've included the cutlery here again, as it was only 50c! Joanne said she thought it looked rather crudely made, and it certainly is larger than 12th scale, as many dolls house items for children to play with were ...  
The little dolls (Liddle Kiddles?) could do with a wash, so I might experiment with using denture tablets to clean them, before I try on more valuable dolls (the Dolly Darlings, for example) ...


The purple table was from Anna-Maria's stall - a half-price offer I couldn't say no to (besides, I like the colour - it's the same purple as in the Kaleidoscope House!) The vases of carnations will go in 1960s or '70s houses, I think. The red, white and black vase was another of Joanne's mother's items, more recent than the cutlery and Barrett's accessories. I couldn't resist the box of Cluedo, complete with coloured game pieces - we had great fun playing Cluedo when I was growing up, and we still have our set, that looks just like this one!

Also from Anna-Maria are these two beautiful pieces:


A herb garden and a waterlily pond, both made by New Zealand miniaturists. I bought these when I visited Anna-Maria in Canberra, and saw her collection - and her stash! 


And from an old wares place near Bathurst, some more wallpaper:



The flowers on the middle pattern are too large for a dolls house, but I hope you can see the embossed columns in the white part, which I will be able to use.

14 comments:

  1. Hello Rebecca,
    What great purchases! the doll really is fabulous! I used embossed papers on my ceilings and it worked great.
    Big hug,
    Giac

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    1. Thanks, Giac! Yes, it will be great for ceilings. One of my vintage houses had originally been papered throughout with embossed paper - at the time I was decorating it, I didn't have enough to replace it, so used other vintage papers. I think it would look good, though!

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  2. Wild about the funky aquarium! Love the tea cozy, well and just about everything else. The water lilly pond is impressive. Hope everything's blooming well there, Your friend by the Bay.

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    1. You haven't seen the aquarium before, CM? They come up quite often on UK ebay. The waterlilies are certainly blooming well - there's a lovely pond with waterlilies in the Chinese garden at the university here :-)

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  3. Hello from Spain: nice shopping. I really like the aquarium. Keep in touch

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  4. I love your buys. Lots or great things for your houses. I remember spotting a Paddington Bear Cosy at a fair in Canberra. I regret not having bought it because it was fantastic! I love your choice. I didn't make it to the fair this year, thanks for sharing what was there. IndyPoppy

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    1. Hi Indy_Poppy, Yes, I gathered that you had been on a trip a bit further away this year! The stall I bought the fly covers from also had tea cosies - that was Victorian Dollhouses and Miniatures from Canberra. I don't remember if they had Paddington Bears, though. I'll send you Win Garside's email in a comment on your blog, just in case you'd like to put one on a birthday or Christmas wish list!

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  5. Very nice finds ! About your little dolls on your seventh photo, the one on the far right is from The Littles (80s) - She is Belinda - they are great little dolls for 1/24th furniture settings, above all as they can sit down - , and the one on the left looks like a Little Kiddles clone, maybe Hong-Kong ?

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    1. Hi Ysé, Thanks for identifying them - although .... your comment inspired me to look at them with a magnifiying glass, and the one on the right has on the back of her head © M. I. 1980 PHILIPPINES !! Did Mattel have them made in the Philippines, I wonder? I don't think the other one has any markings, though I've discovered that she does have moulded underpants! They were 50c each, so I didn't really mind what they were, but it is nice to know more - I might even get some others ;-) Just got a Littles drop leaf table in a job lot, so I could put it and Belinda together - somewhere ...

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    2. Sorry not at home on my computer and not signed in... Yes Mattel had factories working for them in the Philippines around that period. They started in 1978 and I think Mattel closed their operations there in 1988... My 1979 Barbie - bought at the time so all original - is marked Philippines.
      Yse

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    3. Thank you Ysé! Very interesting :-)

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