ANTIQUE / VINTAGE ARTICULATED WOODEN DOLLHOUSE 3 DOLLS and HANDMADE DOLL QUILT For Sale

Antique or VintageArticulated Wooden Dollhouse Family of Three Adult Figures + Handmade Quilt

Thislisting is for three very old dollhouse figures made of wood. Theyare five and a half inches tall which is just about the usual 1:12ratio – the same scale as for most dollhouses. They are unusual inthat they are very posable because they bend at the hips, knees,shoulders and elbows. The head and trunk of the body is one solidpiece. The articulated joints are made using wood pegs, not metalpins, and they move very smoothly except for the dark-haired woman\'sright arm. That arm feels loose at the shoulder, but because it issewn (and also possibly glued) into the sleeve of the dress, I cannot get to it to examine it and find out for sure what is going onthere. You can\'t tell the arm has this problem by looking at the photos; you have to feel theshoulder joint.

Thereis no label, signature, or identifying mark that I could findanywhere on any of these dolls.. They were purchased at an estatesale, so I have no history / provenance on them to help me figure outtheir age or value. I have seen other wooden dollhouse dolls, but Ihave never seen any others quite like these.

Twoof the figures are women and one is a man. The man is painted withblack hair parted down the middle and a large black mustache; givinghis face a barbershop quartet look. His suit is very crudely cut andmade of some fabric I can\'t identify. It has a weave that is tighterthan burlap, but you can see the threads in it separately, likeburlap. There is a tiny white collar and blue tie at the neck,although I doubt it continues down past the suit edge. One of thewomen (his wife?) is painted with short black hair , also parted inthe middle. She has a flowered dress and a slip that come to justbelow her knees and long underwear that comes to just above theknees. The other women is painted with gray hair and eyebrows. Maybeshe is the mother of one of the other two dolls. Her polka-dottedpink dress and her slip go all the way down to the top of her shoesand her underwear hangs down to the top of her calves. The wide lacecollar at the neck is one more indication of her advanced age.

Theclothing of the man is unhemmed. The hems on the womens\' clothingare sewn with extremely tiny stitches, but they are so perfectlyregular that I am sure they were done with a sewing machine. (Ofcourse, sewing machines were invented in 1790, so that really doesn\'thelp us pin down the time these were made!)

Thedolls were sold along with a pink quilt that is the correct size forthese dolls. It is 6.5 inches by 4 inches. All parts of the quiltappear to be sewn by hand and each tiny square was sewn onseparately. It is really a very nicely executed miniature quilt. Icould not find any broken threads or holes in the fabric anywhere.

Thequilt and the clothing of all of the dolls are dark and discolored inplaces from age and the paint on the dolls has worn off in places –especially at the back of the dolls\' heads. Basically, however, Ithink the paint job on the faces looks pretty darn good for the ageof these and they seem to be a pretty happy bunch with their smilesand rosy cheeks. The quilt has some odd little smudges of somethingon the backside of it – I am hesitant to try to wash it – or anyother parts of this set – because I know most collectors want toget their treasures unrestored and then decide for themselves howmuch they want to try to fix them up. I am posting as close-up photosas I can get of these guys and I hope you will look at them closelyto assess their condition for yourself.

Ifyou have any questions which this description and the photos do notanswer, PLEASE feel free to send me a question message and Iwill respond as soon as I possibly can.

Ihope whoever wins this offer really appreciates these little people.They seem to me to have real personality and would look right at homein a vintage or antique dollhouse.