Barclay II has arrived and I didn't recognize him!

Back in 2010 I won a small Keystone of Boston dollhouse on Ebay, but sadly it was totally destroyed at the Pittsburgh bulk package sorting plant of the USPS. I named him Barclay and wrote an obituary for him, you can read about it here. My son said the obit was creepy, but I was sad to lose a Keystone dollhouse that was "new" to me. 

Here is Barclay as seen on Ebay.

Barclay II arrived earlier in the year and looked familiar, but I didn't immediately make the connection to the original Barclay. I posted about the new Barclay recently....you can read about Barclay II here.

And is Barclay II sitting on the shelf next to HUD, his "cousin" that was looking forward to meeting him? No, HUD is currently in "palliative care" waiting his turn to be refurbished. 

Oakleaf Doll's House

 This is an Oakleaf dollhouse made in Great Britain by Toy Works, circa 1981. It is sturdily constructed of wood and plastic with great graphics inside and out.

The settee, two chairs, piano and secretary were produced by Toy Works to go in their houses. I thought the small bookcase might be Lisa of Denmark but could not find it in any of the Lisa catalogs.

The furniture in the kitchen is Oakleaf. I wasn't able to identify the fridge, it is made of plastic and marked Made in England.

 Three dollhouse furniture companies are represented in the dining room. The credenza is Oakleaf, the grandfather clock is 1976 Barton and the table is unidentified. The table came with the credenza and I wrongly assumed it was also made by Oakleaf. I originally planned to make this room the kitchen, but soon discovered the sink cabinet and hutch were too tall to fit in this low ceiling room.

Outside the parent's bedroom, the balcony patio holds a Lundby table and chair set from 1967 and a grill from 1971.

The flowers on the vanity table and wardrobe have faded, but they were designed to complement the wallpaper. The TV is similar to those made by  Lundby and Lisa of Denmark in 1976 that featured a picture instead of a blank screen.

Oakleaf listed the 4 matching red items as "the children's den"....a wardrobe, a toy chest, a bed and a play station. The baby bed is unknown but has a German "flavor". 

While the rest of Oakleaf furniture is made of wood, the bath pieces are made of plastic and resemble closely the bath pieces made by Lundby.

From a brochure of Oakleaf furniture sold for this dollhouse, you can see other items that were available for each room.

Living room

Kitchen, without a fridge.

Dining room, with a table set that closely resembles one sold by Lisa of Denmark in 1974.

Bedroom, here you can see how well the wallpaper and designs on the furniture complement each other. 

Children's den

Bathroom, shown here in the room I am using as a dining room.

Extra pieces produced that were not included with individual room sets, kitchen hutch, piano, clock, secretary and rocking chair.

And because I always like to show the furniture in each room:

Here is the little family that lives in this Oakleaf house. They declined to share their names so they didn't get a silly story written about them....good choice I say. 

The boy is a Bend-a-Family doll made by Miner Industries in the 1960-70s. The mom and dad closely resemble the dolls made by Hückel for Bodo Hennig, but without the skill of the original dolls. The girl doll came with the adult dolls and is probably by the same maker.

This little dollhouse came to me from the UK, and I was happy to give it a new home in the US! 

A little lost dollhouse

 

This little dollhouse was first produced by Keystone of Boston in 1937.  As a child, Cindy's grandmother had a dollhouse just like this one. When Cindy was small, she and her grandmother spent many hours together playing with the dollhouse. Cindy has many happy memories of these times spent with her grandmother.

Over time, the dollhouse was lost. Cindy is now looking for this model dollhouse to rekindle these wonderful memories spent with her grandmother. If you have this model of a treasured little dollhouse and are willing to part with it by selling or sharing, please contact Cindy at cindyneff@yahoo.com.

How lucky are the children that had a grandmother who played with them.

 

Another Keystone of Boston dollhouse

I haven't discovered the production date for this small 4 room Keystone dollhouse, but most likely it is from the 1937-38 period. Keystone catalogs that have been found do not list/show all the models that were produced. 

An excellent source for Keystone catalogs is found on Derrick Clow's Collecting Keystone blog.

This example from the 1938-39 Keystone catalog, is the same basic dollhouse as mine, but with metal shutters and swing out windows. Keystone catalogs for the years 1936-37 haven't been located; evidently Keystone transitioned from the painted shutters/plastic windows to the metal shutters/swing out windows at that time. 

This house is decorated in German furniture along with American Kage, Tiny Toy and Converse, plus other unknown brands.

This is the home of Dieter and Leisel Schulz and their daughters Ella and Leni.

 

This bedroom set (not including the chair on the right and the baby crib) was made in Germany. The picture below is from Dian Zillner's International Dollhouses & Accessories 1880s-1980s.

The description with the picture reads "German ¾" to 1 foot scale bedroom furniture that includes chairs made exactly like the Red Stain dining room chairs of the same size. Several of the pieces in this set are stamped Germany." My set has been repainted with touches of gold paint added.

 

The kitchen is a mixed lot with a pantry marked Germany, a Converse sink with new faucet, an unknown table and chairs and a stove and fridge from Germany....

 as shown in this picture from Dian Zillner's Antique & Collectible Dollhouses and Their Furnishings.

 

Leni's room has a Kage dressing table, a Tynietoy chair, a sweet little bed possibly homecrafted, a video viewer of Meersburg Germany for a dollhouse and a wardrobe circa 1920;

The couch and chairs are very similar to others I found in Zillner books circa 1900 Germany, the radio is marked Germany, the library table and lamp are 1928 Schoenhut.  Several years ago I stumbled across unfinished Schoenhut lamps on Ebay. I painted this shade pink to bring out the pink flowers in the circular rug. When checking the date for the lamp and library table in Patty Cooper's Schoenhut Dollhouse Furniture 1928-1934,  I discovered it was produced with a pink shade! 

Little Ella is tucked away for the night, 

Leisel is trying to decide if it would be wise to make a pot of coffee this late in the evening.

Leni is checking to see if she has a reflection in her mirror since her friend Klaus told her vampires don't have one.

 Dieter is listening closely to the news on the radio.

Close up pictures of the furniture follow....just because I always do that when I post on this blog.  

The living room furniture arrived with price tags. Evidently they were in an antique shop at one time. I found them on Ebay and I didn't, wouldn't, couldn't pay that for them....but I am glad they came to live in my little Keystone house.

T. Cohn....my only metal dollhouse

 

T.Cohn, Inc., produced one of the first modern metal dollhouses. 

 The Montgomery Ward Christmas catalog of 1948 sold it  for $4.75.

The all metal house contains six rooms plus a sun deck. 
 The door and the five front casement windows open.

The house is lithographed with red brick

 on the lower part and white shingles above.

Wonderful graphics continue around the house.

The interior of the house is colorfully decorated in the styles 

I remember seeing in magazines while growing up in the 1950s.

Wood floors with area rugs....

modern linoleum designs in the kitchen....

 tufted designs in the carpet....

and of course swans in the bath.

In children's rooms cardboard cut-outs decorated the walls 

in colorful nursery rhyme and circus shapes. 

I've decorated this house with Plasco furniture, 

first made in 1944 by Plastic Art Toy Corp. of America.

At 11" by 12", the living room is large enough

 to hold a nice arrangement of furniture.

  

 Plasco furniture is mid-century stylish and extremely well made.

When I first started collecting in 2005, I was impressed with this furniture having finished backs and undersides on many of the pieces....just like real furniture. No wonder long-time and avid collector Roy Specht says 

it is his favorite dollhouse furniture.

 

A fireplace with bookshelves, a grandfather clock 

and a television were included with the living room set.

The TV set has a rotating dial to change the picture on the screen.

  

The dining room was produced in a solid mahogany, 

the above marbled mahogany and later in a warm beige.

A boxed set included a table, 4 chairs, 2 serving pieces, 

and a buffet with a separate china cabinet.

The kitchen was provided with pieces that were enjoyed by little girls who could set up their dollhouse kitchen just like mom's.

 Besides the normal kitchen appliances and table and chairs, a separate cabinet and an island room divider with shelves were produced. 

  

 The back of the kitchen pieces were finished

 like other pieces in Plasco production.

My nursery set includes two cribs, a chest and a changing table. 

A dresser with mirror and 

a mirrored two drawer chest were also available.

Notice that both sides of the crib raise and lower.

The bathroom in this T. Cohn dollhouse is too small 

to include the vanity (without mirror) along with the other fixtures.

 

Bath fixtures all in a lovely shade of aqua

 Lovely blue "chenille" bedspreads are on the matching twin beds.

 

The bedroom set included twin beds, a vanity with mirror and stool, 

a bedside table and a chest of drawers. 

  

As in other Plasco pieces, the backs of the chest and vanity are finished.

  

The Plasco patio furniture is highly collectible.

The legs on this patio furniture are a bit fragile,

 and the front legs on the chaise are often missing. 

This is probably my favorite dollhouse patio furniture.

Plasco babies, the only dolls made by Plasco, stand 2½" tall. 

I think these two have been playing in the sandbox! 

This is a Renwal family, just like the ones that came 

in my Keystone of Boston dollhouse, Christmas 1949.

Early in  blogging on My Vintage Dollhouses, I posted about my Plasco dollhouse filled with Plasco furniture. If interested, you can view it here.