The Art of Giving in a Keystone of Boston double Put-A-Way dollhouse

This is Keystone of Boston's largest dollhouse in their "Put-A-Way" series. 

Rooms on either side pivot/fold into adjoining rooms 

to give a smaller footprint in a child's room.

The extra rooms house a kitchen and a small garage 

with a patio on the front side of the house.

I found this sweet little Strombecker kitchen table and chair set on Ebay

 and liked the way the seller had folded the corners of the tablecloth

 and also made seat pads for the chairs. 

The seller had listed all of the kitchen appliances along with the table set. 

It was a great buy and I couldn't pass it up. 

Then I noticed she was also selling other full rooms of furniture....

and since making bed covers is not a particular thing I like to do, 

I added two bedroom sets to my purchase!

The "Art of Giving" came when I received my purchase...

and I was the recipient of the art of giving. 

"The art of giving is simply defined as giving from the heart 

without any expection of something in return."

When I opened my package I found not only the kitchen set 

and the two bedroom sets, this kind lady had included 

the living room set, the dining room set AND the family 

that had lived with her furniture in her dollhouse. 

I count this "art of giving"  as one of the nicest things 

that has happened to me in all my years. 

I have made a point to play it forward 

and also have kept the furniture and family together.

This larger double "Put-A-Way" has the same interior design

 as the single "Put-A-Way" in my last post. 

The furniture in this house is Strombecker 

from different years of production.

Most of this Strombecker living room furniture 

came from the later years of production.

The fancy lawnmower is marked Commenwealth Plastics.

The ladder is a Marx product. The metal garage door opens.

 

This rattan patio set is not marked for maker, 

but is the perfect size for these smaller Caco dolls.

The yellow gingham bedding is perfect for 

this yellow and white stripped room. 

A small bathroom, but still large enough for all fixtures needed.

The children's room is cozy in pink and blue.

Two lucky little girls with their private patio for playing. 

(Acme bouncing horse, Renwal swing and Ideal chaise.) 

All of the furniture in this dollhouse is part of the ¾" scale Strombecker production. 

When I started researching the furniture, I came up with some surprises. 

 This style kitchen chair was first produced in 1947. 

In 1958, the appliances were sold in the set shown below, 

and the stove and sink are trimmed down versions of a set made in 1947. 

The earlier set had shelves at the end of the two cabinet bases. 

The table is a newer model with tapered legs, and the recycled chairs are from 1947.

The dining room set of buffet, server and table and chairs was introduced in 1942. 

The buffet has one opening drawer. The tea cart is from the 1960 dining room set.

The "davenport", chair, radio and walnut side tables were first seen 

in a Strombecker catalog of 1942. The TV was introduced in 1958. 

The grandfather clock was first seen in 1934, but since the salmon color 

was popular in Strombecker's 1938 line, this clock was most likely produced then. 

The black base floor lamps were first produced in 1935. 

No documentation has been found for Strombecker production between 1952-55, 

but the turquoise waterfall coffee table and end tables are shown in the 1956 catalog. 

All of the these bedroom pieces show signs of having been pink at one time. 

With the exception of the yellow base lamps, it is the same

 as in the set shown below produced in 1958. This style dresser 

was seen in a Montgomery Ward catalog as early as 1941,

 the same year the yellow lamps were introduced.

Here is the same dresser (missing the mirror), bedside table and opening bedroom chest all introduced in 1941-42. The silver lamp/ green shade is from 1935; the blue lamp is a repainted Nancy Forbes.

The early 1940s headboards have been found with small variations, all with a slight bump in the middle. The beds found in the boxed sets have a flattened bump like the one on the far left. The more rounded headboards were made in two different heights. The beds in my set are like the one on the far right. 

The toilet and sink are models from 1942. The 1947 tub has been recycled without the blue tiled walls, and the yellow hamper is from 1949. This style bath heater was first introduced in 1935, but was first seen in this color combination, gold with a red heating element, sold in the 1" scale bathroom set in 1955. The turquoise bath stool was introduced in 1958 and is often misidentified as a lantern.

Here is the little family of Caco dolls that came with the furniture 

and live in my Keystone double Put-A-Way. 

The mother, father and baby are smaller scale dolls 

while the older daughter is larger scale. 

Information about Caco dolls can be  found at

 https://diepuppenstubensammlerin.blogspot.com/

All the information and the many pictures shared are from  

The Complete Guide to StromBecker Dollhouses & Furniture,  1931-1961.

Patty Cooper and George Mundorf collaborated on this wonderful reference book 

on the production of this vintage Strombecker dollhouse furniture.

If you are a big fan of Strombecker dollhouse furniture, 

you should consider adding this book to your library.  

It is available on Blurb.com.

Keeping Up With the Joneses

* indicates there is more information at the end of the post

This is the Joneses house, a 1936 Rich Toys Tudor. 

But don't tell the Joneses it's a dollhouse, 

because they think it's a real house. *1

              

And these are the Joneses....

Gerald, Marilyn, Teddy (Theodore), and Butch (Gerald, Jr). 

And of course the dog, Lester (Lestershire).  

They are Caco dolls from Germany. *2

This is the back of the Joneses house, with living room,

 kitchen and dining room on the first floor

and two bedrooms and bath on the second floor.

A stairwell connects the two floors.

Then there is an attic apartment with no access.

 On the first floor we find the living room, 

entry hall, kitchen and dining room.

The living room is furnished with Strombecker DeLuxe 

living room furniture in 1" scale from 1935-36. 

 

The fireplace is not original to the house; 

it is new construction still featured on Ebay. 

I liked that it had stone similar to the outside of the house.

        

The stairwell between the living room and kitchen....

open the front door and right up the stairs! 

No feng shui here.

       

    

Marilyn's first try at antiquing, and my first try at 

straightening a 100 year old flower stand. Fail, Fail.

   The kitchen opens at the back of the stairwell.

This room is furnished with 1" scale 

Strombecker Modern Kitchen furniture from 1938.*3 

One exception is the refrigerator from Strombecker in 1955. 

Another is the hutch, a new product which closely resembles 

the hutch sold with the 1931-33 Stombecker kitchen.

A third is the small cabinet with the red counter that was made in Chicago exclusively for Marshall Field and Company. 

The dining room has 1" scale Strombecker Modern

Furniture from 1938.

The fireplace is orginal to this house 

but was attached to the wall in the living room. 

I added the fire box and hearth.

Located on the second floor are two bedrooms and a bath. 

 The bedroom set is a 1" scale Strombecker 

DeLuxe Bed Room from 1935-36 , all in walnut.

The lamps on the dresser are also from 1935-36. 

The chaise in the corner is unidentified.

   

The stairwell is between the two bedrooms.

I like to add portraits of the family that live in my dollhouses, 

like this one of Butch and Teddy.*4

Opening off the right side of the stairwell 

is the room that Butch and Teddy share. 

In the bedroom are Schoenhut beds from 1928 

and a German dresser from the same period.

The German dresser is similar to the one produced 

by Schoenhut in 1928, but larger in size. 

The Schoenhut beds came with the original pink print mattresses. 

This model of Schoenhut bed measures 5¼" long, 

while the almost identical German bed 

made in the same era measures 6½" long. 

The bathroom is found to the right of the middle bedroom. This colorful Strombecker bath furniture was part of the 1931-33 production line. 

It is referred to as colorful, swirled, or embellished

....having gold swirls over the green paint. 

      

I added the circular shower curtain and rod to the bathtub

to cover up my mismatched tiled wallpaper. Mea culpa.

Marilyn has added a cozy lounging nook to the bath area

with a Stuart Perfume Novelty "Sa-Chaise" for seating.*5

In the attic space is a 4 room apartment that houses the parents of Gerald Jones. 

Alas, there is no connecting staircase to the apartment.

 Good thing they are just dollhouse dolls.

The bright yellow and green kitchen, 

where Grams makes her chocolate chip cookies, 

has a German table and chair set from 1940s,

 a Strombecker sink from 1931-33, 

a Schoenhut Dining Room small buffet from 1930, 

and a Strombecker fridge and stove from 

the Deluxe Kitchen of 1935-36.

And Polly the parrot.

Strombecker end tables and radio, German red-stain sewing stand 

and sofas and chair with a European vibe.*6

In Furnished Dollhouses 1880s-1980s by Zillner and Cooper, 

the same desk chair is identified as being very similar

 to pieces thought to be made by Gottschalk. *7

A German dresser from the 1920-30s is found in the bedroom. 

The bed is unidentified.

Grandad's chair is labeled Scott, while 

Gram's chair was made by Dixie Doll Chair Co. 

The tub and surround is Menasha Woodenware

from 1934-36.*8

The sink, medicine cabinet and toilet 

were produced by Strombecker from 1931-33.

The window casings in this dollhouse are removable. They came in the form of four individual pieces of wood that sloted into the open window space. The silk-screened insert was sloted into narrow groves in the side pieces. One reason why several of the pieces were missing with this house.

and now, when you least expect it, a silly story....

  

 

   

 

Meanwhile in the unaccessable attic....

Hmmm, did we miss a whiff of something between 

boozing and munchies.....

Say goodbye to the Joneses.

Additional information:  

1. This large dollhouse, produced by Rich Toys in 1936,

measures 40½ wide, 16" deep (17½" including front porch),

24½" tall at peak of roof (chimney 28½"). It originally sold for $18.70, a high price for a dollhouse during the Great Depression years. 

2.  German Caco dolls: approximate production dates, 

Dad: 1958, Mom: 1955, Boys: 1945-51

3.  There are 7 interior doors in this house; one of the original doors is missing.

4.  The stairs in Rich houses of 1935-36 were made of thin metal. By 1938 the stairs were made of wood with metal (wire) handrails.

5.  The seat of the "Sa-Chaise" in the bathroom lifted to show an area for Stuart Perfume bottles or sewing notions. 

6. I had one of the sofas and planned to use it in this house then discovered a set of sofa, chair, desk and desk chair on Ebay. The chair/sofas have the design of 1920s European pieces, and suprisingly, the color is not unusual for that period. It is in perfect conditon, but I have not been able to identify this set.

7. I found the chair referred to in Moritz Gottschalk  Dollhouses - Doll Rooms - Kitchens - Stores - Furniture 1892-1931 listed under 1909. 

8.  The electric type heater and waste basket (listed as a hamper) was introduced by Strombecker in 1935 with their ¾ scale bath furniture. The scale appeared in 1938 with the Strombecker New Modern Furniture bath set.

The information on the Strombecker and Schoenhut dollhouse furniture in this post comes from The Complete Guide to StromBecker Dollhouses & Furniture 1931-61 and Schoenhut Dollhouse Furniture 1928-1934, both by Patty Cooper, and published on Blurb.com. 

Information on Caco dollhouse dolls was found on the blog 

https://diepuppenstubensammlerin.blogspot.com/