Schoenhut versus Converse "Realy Truly"

This is a Keystone of Boston dollhouse...one of the earliest dollhouses made by Keystone Mfg. Co.  This house can be found in the 1935 Keystone catalog. This post is not about the dollhouse, it's about the 2 sets of doll furniture I keep switching in and out of this  little house!

Two American firms that manufactured dollhouses in the early part of the 20th century were the Schoenhut  and the Converse companies. Both firms made dollhouses for several years before they started manufacturing furniture to fill their little houses.

Here's my house filled with furniture manufactured by Schoenhut.......

Schoenhut's first dollhouses were produced in 1917, but they didn't start manufacturing dollhouse furniture until 1928. Although they  made dollhouse furniture for only 7 years, the designs of the furniture changed almost on a yearly basis. 

And here it is filled with furniture made by Converse.......

 Converse started manufacturing dollhouses around 1909, using colors lithographed directly on to  wood. Furniture for dollhouses wasn't produced until 1930 when they changed the style of their houses to one of  fiberboard and wood. The new house was called the Realy Truly dollhouse, and the furniture made for the dollhouse is referred to by collectors as Realy Truly. 

Four rooms of furniture were produced... living, dining, bedroom, and kitchen, with the design not changing for the short period it was made. Later bathroom pieces were made. Their furniture was very similar to the Schoenhut furniture produced during the same period.

This ad for Schoenhut furniture appeared in the Sears and Roebuck catalog in 1933; not all the Schoenhut  furniture in my house is from this ad.

This ad shows the Realy Truly furniture from the 1930 Sear and Roebuck catalog. 

SCHOENHUT FURNITURE....

This Schoenhut  living and dining room furniture was made in 1931.

A library table was part of the living room set (I don't have one), but I'm not sure if smaller tables were also produced.

My dining set needs a touch of Old English scratch cover...just like in real life!

This bedroom furniture is from Schoenhut's 1934 line. The top of the mirror has the same scalloped design as the head and foot boards on the bed. Removing the frame from the dresser's mirror  was a cost cutting design on the part of Schoenhut. Underneath this yellow calico, the sofa and chair are just like the set in the living room. In fact, the set in the living room came with these cute  slip covers.  Since they were in better shape than the set now covered, I  removed all the 1/4 inch nails and recovered the set that was in poor condition (using a hot glue gun). And now I have over 30 tiny vintage nails to make other repairs to my houses!

The bath furniture is also part of the 1934 line, the last produced by Schoenhut. The vanity stool is not part of the set; it was an unfinished piece that came with other funiture.

   

I love the way the dollie can still see her reflection in the mirror....after 76 years.

The Schoenhut kitchen is from the line produced in 1933, with the exception of the stove which was made in 1934. I'm sure yellow chairs came with the set, I just haven't found any! These blue chairs were part of the bedroom set. The green table in the back is from their 1931 line.  The tea trolley came with the dining room furniture; as it has the same legs as the kitchen table, I assume it is from 1933-34.

CONVERSE REALY TRULY FURNITURE........

Converse Realy Truly living room set came with a library table and a cute little footstool....

and a radio just like real houses had in 1930!

The dining room included two different sized buffets just like the Schoenhut line.

The bedroom set included twin beds, dresser, rocker, end table and lamp (not the one shown).

The beds were covered with paper printed to look like coverlets.

The kitchen set included 7 different pieces....table and 2 chairs, stove, refrigerator (although I'm sure in 1930 they were still "ice-boxes"), hutch, and a 2-legged sink.

Here are some comparison pictures.....

Realy Truly on the left..........Schoenhut on the right

So, I wonder which little set will win out and get to live in my little house?

All of the information on these sets of Schoenhut and Converse doll furniture comes from one or more of Dian Zillner's wonderful dollhouse books.