ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER

Saturday, January 22, 2022Lots 1-583

January 22-23, 2022 in Annapolis, Maryland


Featuring Part II of the Luann Guleserian Collection along with the personal portrait dolls of the child film star Diana Serra Cary (“Baby Peggy”) and an outstanding collection of French dolls from a private Netherlands collector. 8.5" x 11". 220 pages.

Live Auction

Showing 1 - 480 of 583

Outstanding Obergammergau Wooden Doll with Extensive Trousseau and Family Provenance

Outstanding Obergammergau Wooden Doll with Extensive Trousseau and Family Provenance

Lot #52

One-piece wooden head and torso with oval egg-shaped head rounded at the back, high forehead, small pointy chin, strong elongated throat, modeled bosom, shapely waist, sculpted ears, painted blue eyes with deeply-defined eye sockets, aquiline nose, closed mouth, early blonde mohair wig, dowel-jointing at the shoulders, elbows, hips and knees, elegant fork-shaped hands, shapely calves with tiny ankles and slender feet, painted shoes. Condition: well-preserved original finish with minor age patina. Comments: Obergammergau, circa 1790. Value Points: the rare early doll with gentle presence is endowed with an extensive trousseau of fourteen early gowns in various luxury fabrics with exquisite detail of construction, trim, and embroidery, along with various bonnets, capes, and other accessories, which are all preserved in an early decorated wooden box. Provenance: The doll was originally owned by the Hebblewhite family of England who were haberdashers and silk mercers, specializing in sourcing fine fabrics for couturiers, as seen by the 1804 inventory paper included with the doll. It is likely that the doll was used by the Hebblewhites as a model of these fabrics and their use in fashionable wear, and was likely used over a period of some time, as the style of the costumes suggests the 1810/1830 era. Also included is a small box with engraved lid which contains tiny sample pieces of fabric with old ink script paper attached such as "this piece of brocade was part of a gown belonging to Elizabeth, wife of Harry Gibbs" or "ribbon of wedding bouquet". The doll and the costumes remained in the original family until passing into the hands of only one previous collector several decades ago.

 
Grand German Dollhouse Castle with Elaborate Furnishings and Dolls, with Provenance

Grand German Dollhouse Castle with Elaborate Furnishings and Dolls, with Provenance

Lot #74

64" (163 cm.) w. x 22"d. x 42". The rococo style grand three-story dollhouse is centered by a wide dramatic two-story center staircase framed by four various boudoirs or salons. The third floor features a grand ballroom which sweeps across the entire floor. The staircase is decorated with balconies and a series of Fragonard style paintings. Other rooms feature musical themes with harp, grand piano and violinists. The grand ballroom sparkles to the lights of floor and wall candelabras, and the floor is inlay parquet wood. The house is peopled with 50 little dollhouse dolls dressed in aristocratic costumes in the late 18th century manner; the dolls are posed in story tale settings, while those in the ballroom actually spin and twist around and around to four different music minuets including Luigi Boccherini's "String Quintet in E, Op 11 No 5-Minuet". The house is furnished with more 50 pieces of furniture with original cream painted finish accented with gilt, many with original paper labels. Condition: generally excellent, dancing mechanism, music and lights function well. Comments: Germany, 1950s, the house and furnishings are the workmanship of Maria and Rudolf Szalasi, who patented the design in 1951, believed to be a miniature presentation of the Herrenchiemsee castle of the German King Ludwig XVI; the dolls are by Erna Meyer, German dollmaker of the same era. Value Points: very rare and wonderfully preserved miniature world with perfectly functioning mechanism and music. The house was originally commissioned by the wife of Conrad Hilton, along with a nearly identical second castle that was displayed for many years in the front windows of Hilton Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. It is believed that only four or five of the palatial castles were ever made, each on special commission. This particular example is the only known with complete third floor fitted as a grand ballroom.