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.

Dimestore Wood Dollhouse Furniture, ca. 1940s

Chunky wood dollhouse furniture, sold mostly in dimestores during the 1940s, is highly collectable.  If you, like me, are curious about who made these pieces in your collection, this new book by Patty Cooper will help you identify them. 

This is a companion book to Patty's Nancy Forbes and Donna Lee Dollhouse Furniture  and covers the smaller, lesser known companies that sold the inexpensive wood dollhouse furniture at the dimestores beloved by children of that era. 

You are probably familiar with Wanner, often referred to as Grand Rapids, 

and can usually identify it....but can you identify Barbara Jean, Mary Frances, Spartan, Tag-Line or the others found in this remarkable book? 

Wanner made several variations of each piece of furniture manufactured, you will find many of them here.  Japanese copies of Wanner, made in the same era, are often found  identified as Wanner. Patty points out the differences in the two productions.  

Did you know Miniaform, well known for their Art Deco style wire legs dollhouse furniture, also made furniture similar to Wanner? 

The Mary Frances line, made of plywood and similar to Wanner, also made a Deluxe line of furniture, flocked or decorated.    

Tag-Line! I have a Tag-Line dresser and now want a complete dollhouse full!    

This highly detailed and informative book on wood dollhouse furniture, made in the 1940s and sold in dimestores, joins Patty Cooper's seventeen other books on dollhouse furniture, all available at Patty Cooper on Blurb.com                       

A New Patty Cooper Book on DeLuxe Game Corporation's Tekwood Dollhouses and Toy Buildings!

 

Most collectors of vintage dollhouses are familiar with the term Tekwood, a material patented in 1935 and composed of a hardwood core sandwiched between and bonded to two faces of heavy Kraft paper. Faced with the challenges of 1940's  wartime restrictions, the companies that produced toys and games found Tekwood to be readily available and excellent for the products they made. De Luxe Game Corporation was one on those companies. 

Patty Cooper has brought  us another book about vintage dollhouses and toy buildings that were popular with children from the early 1940s through the 1960s and early 1970s. This book is complete with company histories and many colorful illustrations of both dollhouses and toy buildings. Illustrations of dollhouses furnished  with  the wooden and plastic furniture available during that period are included. 

In addition to the De Luxe Game Corporation dollhouses, a section has been added about Jayline Manufacturing Company, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the maker of fiberboard, cardboard and metal dollhouses during the 1940s and early 1950s. 

This book is the 14th in a series on American dollhouse companies. All are available through Blurb.com or by emailing Gardenmont@aol.com. See a preview of this new book here.

See all of Patty Cooper's books published on Blurb.com 

Dolly Dear Accessories....A New Book in Town!

Patty Cooper has done it again....this time with an absolutely wonderful book on the Dolly Dear accessories that collectors of vintage dollhouses love to add to their little houses to make them a complete home.

"Dolly Dear Dollhouse Accessories is the story of Rossie Turner Kirkland, a talented artist, living in a small Tennessee town, whose kitchen table business expanded during the Great Depression and World War II to sales in major department stores across the country. The tiny items she created were intended to complement dollhouse furniture sold by companies such as Schoenhut, Strombecker, Tynietoy, and Lynnfield. They are highly collectible and findable, but were difficult to identify until publication of this book which contains more than 350 examples, most in original package."

Rossie Kirkland provided accessories for every room of the dollhouse....and even items for the man of the dollhouse!

There are 188 pages in this amazing book profiling the history of Dolly Dear creator Rossie Kirkland and the wonderful dollhouse accessories she and her staff created from 1928 through 1961. All of these items are still being collected by those of us who love our vintage dollhouses. 

Warning:  you will want one of every item you see in this book!

Dolly Dear Accessories can be found on Blurb.com along with Patty Cooper's other amazing and  informative resource books on vintage dollhouses. A list of her other resource books can be found in the upper right hand corner of this web page under Resource Books & Guides. 

NEW BOOK AVAILABLE: Schoenhut Dollhouse Furniture 1928-1934 by Patty Cooper

Schoenhut Dollhouse Furniture 1928-1934 by Patty Cooper is a new 52-page guide to this hard-to-find and hard-to-identify dollhouse furniture. There are 136 photos including original boxes, complete sets, vintage advertisements, and comparisons to similar furniture by other companies. 

It is available directly from the printer at www.blurb.com/bookstore (search by author or title) for $35.59 plus shipping (varies depending on desired rate.) 

If you would prefer to pay by check, it can be purchased from the author for $34.00 plus $6.45 for priority mail. Please include your name and address with a check for $40.45 to Patty Cooper, 3237 Garden Drive, Knoxville, TN 37918. 

If you have questions, please contact Patty at Gardenmont@aol.com.

What a wonderful new resource this book is for the dollhouse collector! Clear colorful pictures of Schoenhut furniture by year of production with an added bonus of the furniture displayed in a lovely Schoenhut dollhouse from the corresponding year. This book is an excellent source to help you identify this highly collectible furniture when the seller does not. 

This is one of the best resource books on dollhouse furniture I have ever viewed, and certainly the BEST on Schoenhut dollhouse furniture! 

A link to the purchase information has been added to the Pages column for quick access.