Today as we shop for dolls, the label “Made in China” is ever present but the Oriental influence in the doll world was seen much earlier. In 1851, Edmund Lindner, a prominent doll merchant from Sonneberg, Germany, visited the London World Exhibition. One of the doll displays that caught his eye was a group of...
Faith Bradford (1880-1970) spent a great deal of her life creating and collecting miniatures. After her retirement from the Library of Congress in 1949, Bradford contacted the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum to offer them her exhibit, as she never married and had no heir to leave her treasure. The only contingency for the gift...
Speaking of Dolls columnist Sherry Minton advises all buyers of vintage and antique dolls to inspect a doll's body before it is purchased. There's no telling what repairs, swaps and new parts that could have been added to the doll - all of which can change the doll's value.
Carl Halbig and Wilhelm Simon in 1869 founded a porcelain factory for the production of toys and dolls in the Waltershausen (Grafenhain) area of Thuringia, Germany. The production of dolls could be found in many areas of Germany but the Waltershausen area had a reputation for quality doll production. Here could be found the...
"My mother left me this doll. I know that my mom has had this doll forever, and she told me that it was given to her when she was just a young child. As far as I can tell, there are no markings on the head or the body. But I...
The Lee-Fendall House Museum & Garden in Alexandria, Va., has decided to deaccession its important collection of 26 dollhouses dating from the late 19th and 20th centuries. The entire collection includes both electrified houses and earlier vintage models in a wide...
In the antique doll world, there are certain names that immediately pique your interest. Examples include the dolls produced by Bru, Jumeau, Schmitt, Steiner and Gebruder Heubach. But, the dolls from these firms can also cause much confusion, and, at times, much financial loss.
In the antique world, you can find out a lot by just walking around and observing the activity at a show. The economy is on everyone’s lips and what the market – the antique market – is doing is a major part of every conversation.
I always enjoy reading the Antique Trader, having been in the antique business for more than 35 years. I’m not an active dealer now, but I still look and buy things of a special nature.
Recently I was asked to look at a collection of foreign dolls left to a daughter by her grandparents. The daughter had inherited all of the grandparents’ possessions and was overwhelmed. She needed some advice, “What should I toss and what should I try to sell?”
