Many nice collections of antique dolls are built with the active participation of a caring spouse. Mine surely was. Jack learned them after we married and as he shopped the big shows and antique markets in Pennsylvania and New England for early furniture and accessories to add to our shop inventory, he was also on the look out always for good dolls I would want. He could buy them and know the fine points of what he was doing whether I was with him or not.
I remember the first antique doll I bought after we were married, a great papier mache head only, but a 10 inch one which later made a doll 35 inches tall. Her condition was untouched and beautiful, the doll I named Caroline for the dealer I got her from. Jack was aghast, it really shook him to see me buy this head for $875 which was some money about 37 years ago. "But it's only cardboard" he exclaimed afterward!
From that hour he said he learned what was what in self defense of our pocket book. (Caroline was one of my two favorite dolls ever... neither came out of the fire.)
Jack took me to many doll museums and doll auctions and a few shops like Richard Wright's which we visited many times. He understood my passion for them, as he himself loved old guns (and fine new ones too) as well as early furniture and stoneware and paintings and on and on.
Over time Jackie built some wonderful pieces of doll furniture sized for my big papier maches. A very few of our close friends purchased several of his small pieces.
Embedded in a current display in the hall, is this little north shore cupboard, an exact scale replica of our large one in the dining room.
A precious favorite piece Jack surprised me with one afternoon is this little William and Mary style candle stand. The antique portrait on Ivory was a gift from Jack's father, what possible better place to enjoy it than on this little stand!
Here is a mirror Jack made for the dolls.
He also made this gorgeous early chest.
The porringer top Queen Ann tea table is not currently well displayed but it is well loved just the same.
The tea table here is a replica of the one in my living room, exactly to scale. The molded edges are made with an old molding plane. The pieces are mortised and tenon jointed and hand turned and hand planed just as on the old one. Wear on the stretchers shows where dolls might have had their feet for the last 250 years or so.
The settle these Greiners are almost covering is a replica of an old one we once had. I have kept two of these settles.
Probably the finest of Jack's small scale furniture were the two highboys he made with beautiful cabriole legs he turned. I had a red one before the fire and kept a black one he made afterward. The red one is well restored and is still in a private collection.
Cassie shown here on the left was my other favorite doll I have ever had. She had brown eyes and lovely long molded curls, a choice papier mache. The rug in front was a half size replica of my Pineapple Welcome design.
The brown baby dress on this glass eyed Voit doll was a gift from friend Jean.
The dolls have other furniture of course not made by my sweetheart Jackie. Half a dozen fine early child's chairs sit about the house holding sometimes dolls and sometimes grandchildren or a big bear. Most of them Jack restored or wove a seat in or otherwise helped preserve.
An attractive accessory for the large dolls is the Buck's Junior number 2 iron cook stove. It was a costly treasure! Above the stove is a sampler made for my dolls and given by close friend Melanie Z.
Always easy to find are doll cradles. This is not a fine one but holds the Motschmann baby safely.
This clock has battery works and chimes the hours and quarters in a cheery voice. I do not know its maker, but believe it is from a contemporary maker in New Hampshire. A tiny Steiff mouse sits on top.
Foremost among my purchased pieces of furniture for the dolls is this splendid early little desk. I took a wild risk maybe to buy it off the internet, even with right of return. But not really as the seller Carla Thomson of Oldeclectics is a great person to work with. I must say the box this was in would have been daunting to have to return! Jack would have liked the craftsmanship on the desk, as worthy to sit with his own.
To all my friends who read this, Have a sweet Christmas for 2015, e