A Keystone of Boston dollhouse from 1938-39

Say hello to the Jurgensons....

Jerry, Janice and their little daughter Jezebel.

This is their home, a two story, five room house

with side chimney and attached kitchen.

It was manufactured by Keystone of Boston 

and appeared in their catalog of 1938-39. 

Jerry and Janice saw it, liked it and ordered it immediately.

Janice insisted I wallpaper every room, 

not my favorite thing to do.

         Here we find Jerry and Janice sitting quietly in the living room.

Pick one:

1) not on speaking terms.

2) waiting for the other one to fix dinner.

3) hoping the other one will tend to the demanding  Jezebel upstairs. 

4) stoned.

No one has set the table for dinner! Janice must think that is a job for me. 
But she is very happy with her modern dining room furniture.

I hate cooking. (That's me talking, but I think Janice must feel the same.)

She needs to figure out a way to get out of cooking. 

(I did, but that's my secret.)

Hopefully he lifted the lid. At least the blinds are shut.

HELP! I'm stuck in a bamboo prison! 

WAAAH! Get me out of here!

Often Janice sits in front of her mirror and thinks

"Beauty is in more than the eye of the beholder."

 Yes, this is the original color of the modern dining room set.

The lace curtain was decoration on a dress I bought in 1967. 

Anyone else a hoarder?

The appliances and table and chairs set are Strombecker. 
It seems like I use this floor paper in all of my houses.

 Some little critters found the floors in this house

to be tasty, so the floors had to be covered. 

Nothing like a pink and blue bedroom for adults. 
The spreads, pillows and curtain 
all came from different Ebay sellers. 

I was not feeling crafty when I set up this house. 

More Strombecker furniture in the bath. 

The first, and probably the last, time I attempt to make a shade. 

Hung it anyway.

I tried very hard not to over-decorate. 

More successful this time!

One of the unique features of this dollhouse

 is the side chimney.

 As far as I am aware, this is 

the only Keystone house with a side chimney.

This is the only cupola appearing on a Keystone dollhouse 

until Keystone produced a dollhouse 

sold exclusively at FAO Schwarz in the 1960s. 

It was modeled after their largest dollhouse, #510, produced in 1955.

The kitchen window has a curtain printed on the interior side. Keystone printed shades on the interior sides of their earlier 1935 dollhouses. 

This dollhouse (lower right) was shown
 in Keystone's 1938-39 catalog.

 I am assuming it came in two different color designs....

red roof with white quoins and the combination

 on mine, green roof with red quions. 

This is a nice little Keystone of Boston five-room dollhouse. 

It came from the collection of Geraldine Scott.

 The Strombecker chairs, sofa and end tables were introduced in 1942, while the grandfather clock as early as 1934. The fireplace is a remodeled Nancy Forbes, the coffee table, missing the mirrored top, is also Nancy Forbes circa 1940, and the lamps are Dolly Dear.

Strombecker produced this Modern Colonial Dining Room  in 1938.

This style kitchen table and chairs set was produced by Strombecker as early as 1933. The three appliances were part of the New Modern Furniture sold in 1938.

The bedroom set was sold by Strombecker starting in 1942. The lamps

 are Dolly Dear and the "bamboo prison" is a Japanese import.

Strombecker introduced the bath set in 1942. The clothes hamper is Nancy Forbes.

                                                

The Jurgenson adults are small scale German Caco dolls produced probably in 1950-60s. Jezebel is a larger scale Caco and produced later when the dolls still had metal feet. The best information on Caco dolls can be found on https://diepuppenstubensammlerin.blogspot.com/.

Now this post is ending and we must bid adieu to the Jurgensons. 

Wave goodbye to Jezebel!

Do you know about Trixy Toy and Tiny Town dollhouse furniture?

 

Do you remember playing with blocks like these that appear on the cover of Patty Cooper's lastest book about two companies that produced dollhouses and dollhouse furniture in the early years of the last century?

The Embossing Company that made these wonderful blocks also made dollhouse rooms and dollhouse furniture sets. These roomboxes and furniture sets were sold as Tiny Town Furniture under the slogan Toys That Teach.  On the small side, this embossed wooden furniture came in colors of brown, gold,  red and blue. 

While The Embossing Company was making embossed dollhouse furniture, The Durrel Company was making dollhouse furniture out of layers of cardboard glued and nailed together. Labeled TrixyToy,  it had simple designs with bold color combinations in a somewhat Art Deco style. Four room sets of furniture were made to furnish the 1, 2 and 4 room cardboard dollhouses made by The Durrel Company.

Both companies made products that were promoted for their educational value. Patty Cooper has provided wonderful histories of two different companies of entrepreneures who, during the Great Depression, made affordable toys for boys and girls.

A preview of this book can be found here. 

Patty Cooper has authored 24 other books on dollhouses and dollhouse furniture, also found on Blurb.com. Rarily a day goes by that I do not refer to one or more of her books when writing a blog or when I am contacted for information on dollhouses or dollhouse furniture. Her biggest fan?  Most likely!