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.

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.

Radios....I have radios, lots and lots of radios!

Children of my generation learned to use their imaginations well because, before TV, the most dominant home entertainment medium was the radio. I remember lying on the floor in front of the radio listening to concerts, musical shows, dramas, comedies, and one that threatened to "catch you in the jaws of a vise". My imagination always made me worry about that one.

These radios were made by Strombecker. All radios on the back row are 1" scale; from the left, the dates of production were 1936, 1938, and 1931. The art deco blue radio, part of their "Modern Design" line, was first marketed in 1938. The table radio was listed in their catalog in 1934.

Other dollhouse radios marketed during that period and later were...

first on the back row left is the US Menasha Woodenware radio from 1934;

US Converse produced this radio as part of their "Realy Truly" dollhouse furniture starting in 1931; the radio last radio on this row was made by UK Barton around 1957.

On the front row is a radio made by US Nancy Forbes circa 1940; US Kage made the second radio from 1938 to 1948; the last radio was  made by US Strombecker in 1942.

Plastic dollhouse furniture became popular after World War II. The 3 radios grouped on the left were made by Renwal. The open drawer housed the phonograph...this is almost an exact replica of the Philco radio that my family had in our living room. I remember when I was old enough to play my colorful cardboard records on the phonograph without supervision. I sometimes see old cardboard records on eBay. :)

The next two radios are almost duplicates...the dark radio was made by US Ideal and the brown one by Canadian Reliable. The only difference is each radio has their brand name posted on the front above the dial. In Zillner's Furnished Dollhouses 1880-1980 she says that "Reliable was licensed by the Ideal Toy Co. to copy some of Ideal's products." That explains the identical radios. The last radio was made by Jaydon during World War II.

Not only did Renwal have a phonograph in the opening drawer, they also had radio tubes and speakers as seen from the back!