All My Children

A dolls‘ house reveals the past in all its intimacy and detail. From period furniture to lace curtains, almost every object has its miniature match.

Antique doll’s housescome in all shapes and sizes, from single rooms - often with collapsible sides - to fully equipped shops for working dolls and large residences for whole families. The earliest to be made in any numbers came from Bavaria and Holland in the mid- 16th century, although the remains of a possible 15th^,century Italian example are in a museum in Jenain Germany. Most of the early versions resembled cabinets more than houses, and were sometimes known as ‘cabinet houses‘. Not until the 10th century did more realistic house shapes become the norm.

Until about the 18th century most British dolls‘ houses were made of oak, but then cheaper woods such as lime and pine started to be used, along with other materials such as papier-mâché, tortoiseshell, glass, metal, wax and, for folding designs, paper and cardboard. Some very fine dolls‘ houses were made of carved bone or ivory, with decorative details so minutely worked that a magnifying glass is needed to see them.

Grand Designs

Many dolls‘ houses were built by cabinet’ makers as a way of using up offcuts, although some were commissions from wealthy families wanting replicas of their home. Perhaps the most lavish is Titania’s Palace’, officially opened by Queen Mary in 1944. It contains painted mosaics, pictures by well-known artists and a jewelled throne for the fairy queen. In 1678 it was sold to the toy company Lego for the record price of £165, 000.

Most dolls‘ houses on the market are late Toth or early 20th-century commercial models, which can cost as little as £300 unfurnished but several thousand pounds if fully kitted out. Furnished houses from before the 19th century are rare and expensive. Even unfurnished older houses seldom appear on the market, and when they do prices are high. In September 1990 an empty late i8th-century house on a stand sold for £16, 000.

Open room designs, theatres, shops and stalls are also highly collectable. A late 19th-century, home-made wooden grocer’s shop can fetch around £700, whereas a more elaborate, fully stocked butcher’s shop or kitchen may go for thousands of pounds.

Mini-Masterpieces

Scaled-down Furniture for dolls‘ houses can make a fascinating collection, but prices have risen in recent years — a r Y. in (38 mm) pair of 18th‑century wood and ivory salt and pepper pots, for example, sold at auction in March 1987 for £1100.

Wooden dolls-house furniture from Germany is the most common. Some, such as the Waltershausen’ type, is printed with transfers to resemble boulle-style inlay. A typical set of sofa, table and chairs may cost as much as £750. A single tin-plate secretaire bookcase from German makers Rock & Graner can fetch as much as £500.

More affordable are Anglo-Indian bone miniature items from the late 19thC century. Most pieces cost between £50 and £200. A silver tea set with maker’s mark, dated 1900-10 may go at auction for £500. In November 1989 a silver chandelier fetched £2000.

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