The Mouse House

 

Come in to visit my little mouse house.

This is the home of six little mice.

Meet Coco and Mortimor Hobbs and baby Boink.

Upstairs we find Fritz and Ziggy 

kick-boxing on the top bunks.

                                             

                            

And here comes Marvin down the hall on his 3-wheeler....

     

            turn around and back again....what fun!   

    

oops!

"Not hurt! Not hurt!" and off he goes again!

Marvin!! 

We will roll you off the edge if you don't stop it! 

Looks like mom is getting ready for cheese....

boys in the dining room

....parents in the kitchen....for a peaceful meal.

Cheese time!

A quiet and plesant room for Coco and Mort.

Coco insisted on twin beds.

A bath in pink tells you 

just who makes the decisions in this household. 

Boink likes to sit on the cozy rug while he nibbles his cheese.

Mort likes to enjoy a bit of wine before his meal.

And with his meal. And after his meal.

Mort is thinking he has a comfortable life.

Coco knows Mort has a comfortable life.

This is a Keystone of Boston dollhouse produced in 1950.

Two other Keystone dollhouses were produced with 

the same/similar graphics and color scheme. 

One of them, the small Put-Away model, is in my collection.

I haven't located an actual picture of the third house. The following advertisement for it appeared in 1951. If you have one of these houses, I would love to see pictures of it. You can contact me at florinebettge@comcast.net. If you just want to talk about dollhouses or share some pictures of the ones you have, you may contact me about that also!

Strombecker sets are found in the kitchen....

a  table and chair set plus a fridge and stove from 1942, 

and a kitchen sink from 1933-36 production. 

In the dining room, also from Strombecker, is a table and 4 chairs from 1942 

and a buffet from 1947 that is missing the base. 

 The 2 chairs with pointed tips on the backrest are from 1935.

 

 The Strombecker end tables were produced in 1941. Kage made dollhouse furniture from 1938 to 1948. The fireplace is one of their earlier models

 with a beveled mantel and 5 flutes on the pilasters.

 The chair and sofa are a rare find of flocked Plasco dollhouse items.

    

    

This model of the bunk beds were first seen in 

Lundby's 1973 catalog.

The pink bath fixtures come from Japan. The Strombecker bath stool appeared 

in their 1955 catalog with the 1" scale furniture. 

This Strombecker bedroom set was first produced in 1933

 and offered in pink and green. Later, in 1936, 

it was sold unfinished. My set is a lovely shade of yellow. 

The Hobbs Family

are Kunstlerschutz/Wagner animals from West Germany.

  

and the house pets!

 

An invite to visit my Dora Kuhn peasant dollhouse

 

 

This dollhouse is one of the first dollhouses that became a part of my collection. I fell in love with it the very first time I saw it on Ebay. They seem to be quite popular with collectors.

Dora Kuhn peasant dollhouses were imported from Germany and sold exclusively through FAO Schwarz toy stores. The Dora Kuhn dollhouses appeared in their catalogs from the late 1950s to the 1970s. 

 

In trying to establish when my dollhouse was produced, I found this Chalet Dolls Houses article by Rebecca Green  on Dolls Houses Past and Present  e-magazine. Rebecca tells us the earlier versions had applied wooden decoration above the windows rather than the painted decoration of the later model. Mine has wooden shutters and wooden headers over the window.  My house also has two patches of dried glue on either side of the door indicating something missing. I found this example that may explain what was originally on each side of the door of my little house.

Newer houses have shrubs painted beside the door, painted shutters, and painted designs above the windows instead of a wooden header. 

This is an updated Dora Kuhn house. My little house is from the older production period.

This is the home of Klaus and Gerda Schmidt and their children Horst, Elise and Oskar. The Schmidt's home came with 3 rooms, two on the first floor and a large open room on the top floor. I used a divider made for my Karlheinz Klein dollhouse to separate the top floor into 2 bedrooms. (My Karlheinz Klein dollhouse went on a mercy mission to live with another lady who had one as a child).

Most models of this Dora Kuhn house have the front door opening into a large room on the right side of the first floor. I have seen one other DK house with the door opening in the room on the left like mine. 

The Kachelofen (traditional tile-covered masonary heater) on the lower floor is found in the living area. It is in the back left corner beside the man of the house.

The living area has a lot of cozy seating and a table  for playing games with family and friends.

The kitchen is well stocked with pantry, hutch, cook stove and a counter with basin for washing dishes....evidently no running water, but an electric stove.

On the upper floor, the Kachelofen  is found in the parent's bedroom in the back right corner.

Klaus and Gerda's bedroom is furnished with Bauernmöbel styled pieces in red. That term refers to the traditional, painted and carved rustic folk furniture of Germany and Austria. Dora Kuhn produced this popular furniture in shades of red, blue, orange and green.

Horst and Elise's room is furnished in the very popular blue "Bauernmalerei" styled pieces.

 Bauernmöbel: farmer's furniture

 Baurenmalerei: peasant painting

Wonder what this little family is doing this evening?

Klaus seems to be reading a magazine....unless it is daytime and papa doesn't have a job. He does have a stein beside his chair....beer, no beer?

Looks like Gerda is playing solitaire. (I played a game of solitaire and then set her cards up according to my play....she will win this game!)

And there is Elise quietly sitting in her chair, hoping mom and dad will forget she is there and talk about things she shouldn't be hearing.

Is Klaus a great bear hunter?

Ah! Here is Horst, in the bedroom he shares with Elise, playing with his train. I wonder if he knows his hat is on backward. It seems he has glued it to his head, so I guess it will stay that way.

And baby Oskar still napping.

Snitzel is thinking it is time to eat, and he can't find his bowl.

Just what is that cooking on the stove? 

    

    PEASANT DOLL HOUSE (Furnished) (Exclusive)  All assembled . . . . $50.00

    A very sweet and cozy chalet style house, made entirely of wood with rustic roof,

    white exterior walls, natural wood under eaves. Balcony on front of house. Has 6

    windows with shutters and colorful flower boxes. Bundle of wood and bench on

    terrace. Living room and kitchen downstairs, bedroom upstairs. Furnished in good

    taste with 15 pieces of decorated peasant style furniture. Open back. Measures 29 x

    16 x 17" high. Ship. wt. 23 lbs. Express only. 

This ad appeared in a 1959 FAO Schwarz catalog. The artist's rendering changed the appearance of the balcony. 

The ad also included an artist rendering of the house furnished with Karlheinz Klein dollhouse furniture. 

Spielwarenfabrik Karlheinz Klein manufactured the furniture and several models of dollhouses in Wiesloch, Germany in 1954. Below is my Dora Kuhn dollhouse furnished with Karlheinz Klein dollhouse funiture.

 

This ad appeared later in the 1960s after the house was redesigned. Notice the price increase, 10 additional pieces of decorated peasant-style furniture, and a family of 4 included.

 The bench and 2 chairs are adult sized.

These 2 chairs are child sized.

Comparison of the 2 sizes of chairs Dora Kuhn produced.

Notice the difference in coloring of the hutch on the left from the patina/finish on the 2 cabinets on the right. The cabinets on the right are marked Made in Germany US Zone  which indicates they were made in 1957 or before.

I posted about winning these wonderful pieces in 2009. You can read about it here.

Modern stove, Kachelofen US Zone.

Lovely table and chair set in red, also US Zone. I can never decide if Iike the red more than the blue, so I will just enjoy both!

In Horst and Elise's room are 4 pieces from my "buy of the year" in 2009....

and two pieces made after 1957.

All of the furniture in Klaus and Gerda's room is pre 1957 with the exception of the wardrobe on the left.

These are samples of the Caco dolls that were sold for/or with the Dora Kuhn dollhouses. They stand 3¾" to 4" tall.

They are in a smaller scale than the Dora Kuhn furniture. I am sure it didn't make a difference to the child who received these wonderful toys. The chair shown is the child size model. 

Here is the Caco family that live in my little Dora Kuhn folk dollhouse. Klaus and Gerda Schmidt with their children Horst, Elise and baby Oskar. 

Klaus and Gerda are from the early 1950s and have been redressed in wonderful German themed clothing by a previous owner. 

Horst, Elise and Oskar, all with metal feet and hands. Information from Dolls Houses Past and Present indicates plastic hands were introduced in 1961 while plastic feet came along in the mid 1970s. So I assume these 3 dolls are pre 1961. 

A big thanks to Astrid of Diepuppenstubensammlerin blogspot for all the wonderful information she shares with readers on German dollhouses and dollhouse peoples.