Yesterday's post featured elusive antique mule chests and today's
post highlights another type of rare collectible - antique doll houses.

Wealthy parents in the late 19th century often commissioned
doll houses be made with their own mansion as the model:

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A Paul Cumbie dollhouse, modeled after the Vanderbilt

mansion at 660 5th Avenue, NYC, 1883

 

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Scandinavian doll house, ca 1875

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The main reason that few antique doll houses survive today is
because they were well used and loved for generations.

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A well preserved 1897 McLoughlin Brothers doll house

New York City, 1900

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No Victorian nursery was complete without a large
scale doll house with custom hand-made furniture.

When I first saw this photo I thought
it was Winona Ryder in Beetlejuice:

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Young girl holding her treasured doll house, ca 1910

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Imagine how wonderful it would be to inherit a cherished
family doll house and photographs of the original owners.


The British Royal Family had a staff
of toy makers in the early 1920's.

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1920's German Doll houses

Houses dating from the early to Mid 20th Century have become
favorites with America Folk Art collectors.

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Depression era doll house, ca 1930

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Complete British farm house and play set, ca 1935

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This primitive 1911 doll house was made
from East Penn Distillery crates.

A late 1930's doll house in need of restoration:

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Antique flea markets can be a good venue in which to find
a doll house.  It's never too late to start old memories!