Antique DOLL Collector April 2015 Vol. 18, No. 3
The Complete Guide to Antique, Vintage and Collectible Dolls
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WHAT HENRY DID NEXT HENRY VICHY (1866 – 1950)
by Christian Bailly The leading expert on automata sheds light on the personal life of this talented artist and innovator.
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EARLY BÉCASSINE DOLLS AND COLLECTIBLES FROM THE PRE-WWII ERA
by Samy Odin 110 years after her first appearance, Bécassine remains a perennial favorite.
Christian Bailly, the author of the foremost book on automata, “Automata, the Golden Age,” shares knowledge gleaned from archival research and family history to learn of Henry Vichy’s life. The maker of many of the most celebrated automata of the belle époque, Vichy’s lasting legacy can be seen in the humor and grace of his inventions. Photo Courtesy Auction Team Breker
About The Cover
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A SPECIAL ENGLISH TOWN HOUSE
by Elizabeth Bentley Hamilton An 1880’s town house boasts charming Kate Greenaway-style wall coverings.
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UNDERAPPRECIATED CLOTH DOLLS
by Margo Delaughter Rarity and affordability makes these dolls well worth the hunt.
April 2015 Volume 18, Number 3
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MON PLAISIR… ON THE TLC GRAND EUROPEAN TOUR
by Donna C. Kaonis 82 delightful miniature rooms created in the early eighteenth century are a cameo of social history at the time.
56 Auction Gallery 58 Emporium 60 Calendar
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18 News 63 Classified
FROM ELEGANT EDWARDIAN TO FASCINATING FLAPPER; MOLD 1469 BY SIMON AND HALBIG by Sharon Hope Weintruab
(212) 787-7279 P.O. Box 1410 NY, NY 10023
Quality Antique Dolls by Mail Return Privilege • Layaways Member UFDC & NADDA
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matrixbymail@gmail.com
1) 19” Heubach ‘Dainty Dorothy’ – sgnd. doll for Sear’s Roebuck in the original box & lid with gold label, plus the address label & stamps to the original owner! $ 495
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2) 11” Scarce Kestner 174 – Factory hip length wig, plaster pate, sweet orig. clothes, (not shown) and fabulous little fully jtd. mint Kestner body. A Cabinet gem! $595. Mint Easter Heubachs: Signed ‘Bunny Bunny Child’, arms out w/ egg behind! $350; Seated Baby w/ factory Painted Egg on his lap! $250 3) 22” ‘Happy Smiler’ – scarce C.O.D. Baby w/ wobble tongue, big eyes, orig. wig, mint period dress plus the rare chubby Dressel body w/ its special hands! (inquire) $445. 9” Steiff Rabbit w.. button, & swivel neck. $110
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4 & 6) Animal lovers! Pretty Kitty and Dandy Doggie – 10” Paper Dolls in their original 15” envelopes filled w/ complete costumes, hats and playthings, brilliant colors and lots of charm! Rare! $595 the pair.
5) Factory Original K*R 131 Googly – Perhaps the hardest of all goggles to find, it is the only one produced by K*R and in very few numbers! This even more unusual & rare 12” size is all original from its perfectly amazing ringlet wig to leather shoes and boasting the High Knee Fully Jtd. Toddler Body– all in mint condition! Can there be another like it? $8250
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4 & 6) Fabulous colorful graphics worthy of framing.
9) 24” Mint K*R Celluloid – with factory wig & composition K*R body. This bouncing big blue glass eyed 128 dreamboat is a beautiful prize in the lovely original clothes! So perfect & so rare in this size! $695
7) 17” French Raynal Child– cheerful brilliant coloring in cunning Deco outfit w/ matching shoes and pretty blush! Saucey! $495 8 7
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8) 16” Art Movement Character – from the Munich Art Doll Era – in the tradition of K*R and C.O.D. characters. This choice museum quality example, rich in facial detail & color boasts a splendid ornate Factory Dress w/ complete layers and quality loose ball body. Looking for the unusual? $1795
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10) 17” Unusual ‘Side Part’ Chase – You have to love this Patsy like period piece so engaging with her lovely coloring, shoe button eyes and original period clothes & shoes. $650 11) 11” All Pink Frozen Charlie – Here’s one you rarely see – What a different face, great matte finish body and in a convenient friendly size too! $495 12) 23” 1850’s Darrow ‘Rawhide’ Doll – American made pressed & painted shoulder head beauty with the original homemade fabric body and button front clothes and boots! Important Americana – you know who you are! $1100
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Early Bécassine Dolls and Collectibles from the Pre-WWII Era by Samy Odin
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écassine, what a strange character she is! Yet, how strong it is to still capture our imagination 110 years after her initial appearance in the pages of the first issue of La Semaine de Suzette, on February 2nd 1905. Strong it needed to be to last, since Bécassine had not been planned! It simply “happened” to fill a missing page of this new magazine that was launched by Parisian publisher Henri Gautier the same year France voted to separate Church and State. Henri Gautier was the successor of the Blériot Publishing Company, traditionally involved in the publication of
Bécassine makes her first appearance in 1905.
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newspapers of catholic obedience such as L’Ouvrier or Les Veillées des Chaumières. In order to educate children in the values of Catholicism, La Semaine de Suzette developed a strategy that was to be extremely successful: it combined edifying novels with distracting pages, games, domestic advises AND doll related activities all focused on the “Queen of the party”: Bleuette. Young readers of the weekly journal were intrigued by this provincial housemaid named Bécassine. The name says it all: in French the bird named “bécasse” (woodcock) is known to be easily frightened and it tends to act silly when chased, making it easy prey. This explains why the term “bécasse” is also a synonym for “silly”, as in English you would say that someone is silly as a goose. Bécassine appears in 1905 as the proper incarnation of a girl who comes from a provincial village to serve into a middle or upper class household, a common occurrence at that time. Bécassine serves Madame de Grand Air in what looks like a typical old aristocracy “Hotel particulier” on the left bank of the Seine. Now, looking at this first story, one can notice that no mention of Brittany is in the text, or in the drawings. The very first scene represents Bécassine walking away from her familiar landscape. Does that look like Brittany? It doesn’t. Joseph Porphyre Pinchon, who sketched this first Bécassine story, was born and raised in Amiens. He then naturally drew the landscape behind his character getting inspiration from his native region, called Picardie. Notice the windmill in the far back and the horizon line, much closer to the northern coast than to the Atlantic one. The readers needed to wait until 1913 to discover that the new writer of Bécassine’s adventures, Maurice Languereau, alias Caumery, re-imagined the past of this endearing character by locating Clocher-les-Bécasses, Bécassine’s original village, not in Picardie but in Brittany. In spite of this slight controversy about Bécassine’s origin, what is important is the contrast of a cosmopolitan city like Paris to a character that comes from a provincial culture. Most of the comic dimension of the Bécassine’s stories is based on the difference between urban and country cultures. The language nuances differ, the behavior as well and the philosophy in life, especially, creates hysterical situations where Bécassine develops into a true novel hero.
The Gallais company made this early version of Bécassine, based on the sketches by Raymond de la Nézière and not on Pinchon’s version. (collection of Hélène & Daniel Bugat-Pujol) This are the sketches of Bécassine by Raymond de la Nézière, published in the other summer publication by Henri Gautier: Les Vacances de Suzette.
Bécassine didn’t go unnoticed on that first issue of La Semaine de Suzette, yet the readers had to wait a few months, until July 6th, to see this hilarious maid come back in a little story called “Le livre d’or de Bécassine”, where she keeps getting in trouble for misunderstanding what her mistress tells her. This is basically what kept Bécassine going for as long as Jacqueline Rivière, the famous Tante Jacqueline, who was then directing the magazine, wrote her stories, illustrated mainly by Pinchon. In fact, another illustrator also sketched Bécassine for a summer publication that Henri Gautier suggested to the readers of La Semaine de Suzette. His name was Raymond de la Nézière. He illustrated Les Vacances de Suzette between 1909 and 1914. In its pages, Bécassine plays a constant role, not so much as a leading character for stories but as a leitmotif, appearing here and there, in a garland, in a charade and sometimes as a short stories character. The way Raymond de la Nézière drew Bécassine was different from Pinchon’s. Bécassine looked slimmer and much more caricature-like, which explains why she is often designed with a tiny mouth, which Pinchon, in his genial treatment of the character, only did occasionally. The oldest doll representing Bécassine, presently on display at Musée de la Poupée-Paris, was made by the Gallais company using a type of poured composition, based on casein, called “pryalythe” or “pryalytine”. Gallais
Bécassine breaks the plates from an ad of the period.
Fernand Martin introduced this delightful tin toy in 1914. (Hélène & Daniel Bugat-Pujol’s collection) ANTIQUE DOLL COLLECTOR
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