A Lumberjack dolls house?

I've been spending this week in Bathurst, with my sister. Sunday was the third anniversary of our mother's death, and we like to be together on that day and on her birthday.
This time, I flew down from Darwin and hired a car in Sydney to drive to Bathurst. Usually I get the train, but hiring a car meant I could meet up with my aunt in Sydney, and also collect two dolls houses in Sydney suburbs along the way.

The first one I collected was this:

It's 72.5 cm (28 1/2") wide (at the base) by 19 cm (7 1/2") deep. The lower rooms are 20.5 cm (8 1/8") high, and the front door is just under 15 cm (6") high by just over 9 cm (3 3/4") wide.

It has some features identical this one, which I found in a toy catalogue in the National Library a year ago:

The design of the door and the brickwork are the same, they both have shutters, although they are a different colour, and the same plastic windows are used. I think they are probably made by the same manufacturer. I wrote last year that I had found entries in recent business directories for Lumberjack-Bestoys, in Engadine, a suburb of Sydney, so there may be a link to Bestoys. I wasn't sure of the date of the Geoff Emerton 'Toyworld' catalogue I found it in, but thought it was probably from the late 1970s or the early 1980s.

With this dolls house, I can say that it probably dates from the 1980s at the earliest, as the front door is made from MDF, large-scale production of which began in the 1980s.

The main body of the house is pine wood, the front wall is hardboard, and the back wall and front door are MDF. It's an interesting design, which needs to be accessible from both sides at once, perhaps intended for two children to play at the same time. Some rooms are only accessible from the front, and some only from the back:

I think the door was originally attached by that bit of fabric which has come unstuck. I'm not sure if the bit of wood, forming a kind of latch, is original, although it may have been meant to stop the door swinging forward through the opening.

A bag of plastic furniture came with the house. Most of it is Linda from Hong Kong, the bathroom is Jean of West Germany, and some is unmarked.

The kitchen furnishings consist of a bright yellow sink and stove, with a table and chairs. Only the chairs are marked (Made in Hong Kong).

 

The bedroom has a lovely bright green Linda of Hong Kong set:

Most of these pieces are not marked at all - I recognise them from the Linda boxes I have (although the bedroom set on my boxes is shown in pink and red). So it's possible that the unmarked kitchen pieces are also made by Linda, but they are not the kitchen set shown on the boxes.

The dining room is also Linda:

- or at least I recognise the dining table and the sideboard from the sets and boxes I have. The chairs are a different design - they are marked Made in Hong Kong, but whether they are from Linda or another brand, I'm not sure. I'm not sure who made the bookcase, either - I have one sold by Fairylite, but it doesn't have the sliding doors. Unless I find these pieces in a boxed set, I probably won't know!

The pink bathroom set is clearly marked W. Germany, and is by Jean:

The yellow cot and the rocking horse are from the Linda nursery set, but I don't know who made the baby bath / change table - although it's marked Made in Hong Kong, it's a soft plastic quite different from the Linda pieces. (I'm not sure what the thing in front is - possibly baby scales, missing the bowl to place the baby in??)

I like the bright yellow, green and pink furniture against the pine (and MDF!) walls of this house. There's no living room furniture, so I may bring my red Linda living room pieces down from Darwin.

I wonder which dolls lived here? Probably they would have been plastic, like all the furniture, so perhaps I'll look for some 1980s plastic dolls who need a home.

Fairylite!

Here is the box that Dolly's Living Room came in. On one end, it tells us to 'Just clip ends of flex to torch battery', and on the other end is the brand name:

 "Another Fairylite Regd Novelty"

As you can see, all the box states is that it is 'Empire Made' (that is - or rather was - the British Empire). The base of the seats gives a bit more information:

It's not very clear, but it says 'Made in Hong Kong'. So Callsmall and Redrickshaw's guesses of Blue-Box were very close! Actually, I don't know which Hong Kong company made these for Fairylite - and I don't know whether Blue-Box made any sets to be sold under another company's brand name, rather than their own. But these were definitely made in Hong Kong.

MyRealitty's guess of Spot-On was also spot-on, as the chairs, stool and bookcase are copies of Triang pieces. (The fireplace is a plastic copy of a plaster Dol-toi fireplace, and I think the lamp is a copy of a Lundby design.)

Fairylite in blue on the left, Tri-ang Spot-On in red on the right.

Fairylite bookcase on the left, Tri-ang Spot-On bookcase on the right.

The differences in the bookcases are clear - a very different colour, and no sliding doors on the Fairylite version. (I do have a better Spot-On bookcase, with books, but this came straight out of a boxed set.)

 The chairs are much more similar in appearance. The difference becomes apparent holding them - the Spot-On chair is much heavier, as its base and legs are metal, whereas the Fairylite chair is all plastic.

Here's the boxed Spot-On set the chair and bookcase came from:

 

More of it next time!

My Buys at the Fair

There weren't many stands with vintage pieces (apart from Anna-Maria's), and you had to look hard. I found it much easier when the crowds had thinned out on the afternoon of the first day. All of the dolls in the photo above were on Robyn's Mini Dolls' stand. The solid wooden furniture, and the Fairylite bath, are from Anna-Maria. (The books and stationery are modern reproductions - two from The Miniature Supermarket, and two from Michelle's Minatures (no website; her email is rmburns@ozemail.com.au.)


Aren't they cute? Both of these bisque dolls were on Robyn's Mini Dolls' stand. What first drew my attention to her stand was this set of folding furniture, which was in a box labelled '1900-1910 German Folding Dollhouse Furniture'.


I'm not sure if it is German - Patent No. 43297 is stamped on the back of all the pieces - but it's definitely old, and very ingenious.



And it led me to look more closely at the rest of her offerings. The two little bisques were on display:



They are wearing their original clothes, with 'Made in Japan' labels sewn on. You can also just see the 'Foreign' stamp on the back of the one on the left.

I bought this playground equipment from Anna-Maria:



These dolls are very small - these ones are tiny!


A kewpie and two other celluloid dolls with marcella waves, all from Robyn's stand. Having tried to put the dolls on the seesaw, I realise that the ones I've actually played on have bars at the front, not the back, so you don't slide down when your end goes up!

As I was showing interest in vintage dolls and furniture, Robyn drew my attention to this doll, which was on the stand - with the side of the box facing the front of the stand!


A boxed Flagg bridesmaid! At first I thought she was a bride, but Robyn showed me the end of the box:


Then she pulled out some more vintage dolls:


- this lovely painted-over bisque nurse (who's managed to get off her feet for a while, and has an Australian Women's Weekly magazine from December 1941 to read (from The Miniature Supermarket), and cards to write and send (from Michelle's Miniatures (email rmburns@ozemail.com.au)) -

- and this Grecon riding girl!


who also has her tag:


The flowers in the vase are made by The Designing Woman, Annie Warrener-Edge, of Queensland. She had two arrangements of Australian natives in her display - the Christmas bells were slightly different, and she explained that these ones, with rounded bases, were made after she had a chance to look closely at real Christmas bells. I think they're gorgeous - I love having Christmas bells in vases at Christmas, and now I can in a mini house too!
The book of crosswords - with a pencil that really writes! is from Michelle's Miniatures.


I bought the crocheted rugs at the end of the second day from Kim's Miniatures - at half price! Now I've had a chance to look at her website, I realise that the rugs came all the way from Sweden (via New Zealand), and are made by Berit Gyllenhammar. Kim's Minis also sells miniature marquetry by Berit Gyllenhammar - amazingly detailed - you can see some in my previous post.


Kim's Minis (www.kimsminis.com) also had fantastic food and baking equipment - I bought some baking trays and tins:


The wooden cupboard is from Anna-Maria. The gingerbread people and cutting boards are from Adelaide's Miniatures by Design (www.adelaidesminiatures.com), and I found the Acme toaster oven on Diana Simms' stand (it's a fridge magnet, and she had a couple of others, a stove and something - but much smaller scale). This was another stand with vintage and antique dolls, though I didn't get a photo (and didn't buy any of them).

As well as the magazine, I bought some groceries from The Miniature Supermarket:


I was able to spend some time at A Sheila's Shed's stand - I've looked at her kits for 1:144 scale furniture online, and it was good to be able to see the finished items and choose which I'd like to try.


(I haven't tried any yet! There are also 3 tiny solid pieces in the photo - a sink, stove and fridge - so at least I've got some things ready to go in a house!!!)

Somewhere, I've got 3 plastic chairs from Anna-Maria - not to mention her Tomy Smaller Home!
I was sorry that there weren't more vintage and antique dolls houses and furnishings - in previous years, Anna-Maria has photographed stalls with quite a choice. However, it gave us a sense of achievement when we did find vintage things in amongst all the new pieces!

The day before the fair started, we drove across the Blue Mountains to Sydney, and I found some lovely vintage miniatures in an antiques centre in Blackheath. I was very glad I'd bought them when I saw how little there was at the fair (although I still managed to spend a fair bit of money!) So I'll photograph the Blackheath accessories next.