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.

Dolly's House is now Amanda's!

Those of you who read my post on Molly Fox's dolls house collection, and the comments I received, will have seen that I was contacted by the current owner of one of the houses Mrs Fox owned, Dolly's House.


In an amazing case of serendipity, Amanda found my blog the day I posted about Molly Fox. She has very generously agreed to let me show her photos of Dolly's House here; all the descriptions are also hers.

Amanda said, "I believe Mrs Fox sold Dolly's House at auction in London in the 70s and it remained with this owner for over 30 years. The next owner had it for around 5 years and with ill health could not enjoy it and sold it on to me."


These photos show the roof which is not shown in the book. It does not come off which makes it difficult to get to the wires, and the roof space is a waste, it is so large, if built nowadays it would probably have had another room up there, or 2 or 3.

The chimney pots have spent shells from the war.


Here is Dolly's House front and back photos when I purchased it.





The little hatch is still in place in working order in the kitchen.

It had been wallpapered with modern paper which I have taken off. (I thought I may have come across some writing on the walls as I was stripping it but I didn't.) I have only completed one room downstairs left and have half finished downstairs right. It is so difficult to locate vintage wallpaper to match the original colours of the room. The book only showed black and white, so it will probably look very bright to you now. I have filled it with Dol-toi furniture that I got on the internet new in boxes, and little Grecon dolls. I thought the little cat looked similar to the one in the book, and the Christmas tree is vintage German with glass.



I make dollhouse miniatures using beads and crystal, but Dolly's House is a challenge being 16th scale. All the dollhouse items here in the UK are 12th, and I am having to make all the extras myself which takes a long time. I just finished the living room mat which took 3 months. I first used the Appletons crewel wool which gave a hard woolly finish but it keeps snapping, so I have gone back to dmc which gives a smoother finish, not as nice as Appletons. I have taken photos at a distance of normal sized photos of the family and some of my sheep (I take on orphan Herdwick sheep every year) and Matilda my miniature donkey, and cut them down to put in frames on the walls - the original little nails are still there.

It has been very difficult to source wallpaper. I ended up with J Hermes and I have used Aunt Gracie reproduced fabric for curtains. I still have the passage and the bedroom to repaper which I find very difficult to do, as the ink runs on the old Hermes wallpaper if you get the outside wet with paste, and then it is very difficult to trim even with a sharp artist knife, around the light switches etc.
I had to replace a couple of window panes as they were split and yellow, but other than that just the wallpaper as someone had replaced it - underneath was painted walls to match the doors and pelmet. The little doors and handles are all original, and the painted picture rails. The floors also have the original paint to match, I just had to disinfect the paint but it is still in very good condition. It has vinyl on the floor; I took the first layer off to reveal another layer. I have left this underneath, looks like paint to match the doors and fireplaces and pelmets. Such a lovely little house, I wanted to clean it up and make it mine, but was not sure how far to go: the brick paper on the sides looks like it has something under, and the roof paint looks too new, but the book does not show any of this so I will never know.



The original bathroom suite is still in place , with moving taps, and a moving toilet chain. The bathroom and kitchen have original paper on the walls with green and white squares which I have left alone - I will cross stitch some carpets to match. The kitchen also has a little stove that lights up.



Originally it had a large battery running the lights, and this was replaced by a rather complicated electrics board which hides behind the laundry room with a false wall, enabling me to plug it into the mains. One of the things I dread is when the light bulbs need changing in case a wire has come loose, they appear to run inside the walls, and I cannot see how or if the roof comes off to trace them when they go off. The little downstairs fireplaces lift out and have little bulbs underneath which shine through red and orange plastic to give it the red glow. I would love to hang some of my chandeliers in Dolly's House but the electrics are tricky, sometimes they can go off if a wire comes out of the circuit board at the back, so many wires, and it is just a matter of pushing on a few until they come back on.


The turntable must have been lost some years ago. It still has the little plate underneath where it must have fitted. I have Dolly's House on a table with wheels so I can move it about to fiddle with it.

The little dresser in the kitchen has drawers which are made of matchboxes reading 1922:



I have the book by Jean Latham which came with the house. I really just like to look at the pictures. I have tried to replicate as much of the original things I can find, it amazes me how much is still available in such good condition.
I have often tried to search the internet for information on Molly Fox, but did not come up with anything, I was browsing looking for Grecon dolls and I hit the side bar of options and I clicked on latest which I have never done before and your blog came up!

I have one more dollhouse which was made a few years ago with a garden. Living in the Lakes, I collect the Beatrix Potter bronze figures and thought I would make a garden to put them in. They are not to scale but it kept me busy until Dolly's House came along. I would love to know more about it who it was made for. When I bought Dolly's House I was looking for a similar one I had in my childhood but could not find one. I could not remember the make, but would recognise one if I'd seen it, but Dolly's House appealed because it opened front and back, I have it lit up every night and spend many hours furnishing it.


Thank you Amanda, for all the photos and such detailed descriptions! I love how Amanda has decorated the house so far, and made it her own while respecting the original features. It's wonderful to know that Dolly's House is in such good hands, and is being cherished and enjoyed - please keep us up to date as you decorate more rooms!