Sunday, June 27, 2010

There's a new house in Mindolton The FAO Schwarz Peasant dollhouse!

Mr. and Mrs. Tirolo, Bruno and Ursula,  have moved to Mindolton with their two young children, Axel and Anneliese.

They have found the perfect house. They feel right at home at first sight of the house. It is even furnished to their exact taste.




Mrs. Tirolo is very happy, and the children are curious and excited. They can't wait to go inside and look around.






Two neighbour children (from Erna Meyer) wait on the upper balcony to join in the tour.





Here is the parlour.




Here is the kitchen

The loft bedroom is one large space. The furniture is exactly duplicated on each side of the room  - like a mirror image.


It seems that the previous family has moved out and left a baby behind. The baby is looking around curiously, wondering what is going on.





















Axel and Anneliese are so happy they do an impromptu dance in front of the baby

The family settles in and Mrs. Tirolo prepares a snack in her new kitchen.

This is the peasant dollhouse imported from West Germany by FAO Schwarz and featured for many years in their catalogue, starting around 1958. It came with 25 pieces of decorated peasant Dora Kuhn furniture. The Caco family was sold separately but meant to go with this house (from International Dollhouses and Accessories, 1880s to 1980s by Dian Zillner - page 113).

I was delighted to find the house and it's entire contents, including the family, in mint condition.

I had to glue a couple of table legs back on, and one bed support but otherwise the furniture looks brand new.

The vintage Caco family is in lovely condition, but father had lost his head somehow - probably worrying about how to take care of his growing family in this economic climate. I glued his head back on and he seems to be okay now.  The dolls have metal hands and feet.

The baby in the cradle is not part of the original family but was included in this lot. Baby is also vintage Caco and is the same size as the older children. I guess it will be the new baby in the house. I hate to separate it from the family as it has been packed away with them for 50 years or so and has probably grown attached to them.



I had never seen the Bavarian stoves like those included in this house until I skied in Kitzbuel, Austria a few years ago. Apparently the stoves are used for warmth and cooking. Both stoves have benches attached so you can sit there and get warm just like we did in Austria when we were taking a rest from skiing.

This house came to me with 8 chairs, as it should, but only three chairs are red. Five are blue. I think this may be the way it was originally shipped. A mistake on the part of the store. I don't mind though.


This lovely little wooden farm was included in my purchase although it is not original to the house. I think it is adorable and the children seem to enjoy it.



I already had these two sweet Erna Myer dolls. They match the style of the house perfectly, but must be neighbours or cousins because they are obviously not from the same gene pool as the rest of the family.

They are actually a better scale for the house. The Caco family is a bit small on scale, but they are original to the house.


I have seen this house called 1" scale, but I disagree. I have some of the painted West German furniture in a 1" scale and it is larger than that in the house. I think this is a 3/4" scale with short people.




The house was offered for sale for many years. Here it is in the 1967 FAO Schwarz Christmas catalog.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of my new dollhouse.

hugs,
Susan

7 comments:

  1. It's beautiful! You find such wonderful houses! I have a one-room Bodo Hennig roombox that I've furnished with blue Dora Kuhn furniture - and Erna Meyer dolls in traditional costume - but to have a whole house with all the furniture and dolls - wonderful!

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  2. Hi Susan!

    what a lovely dollhouse! The perfect house for this furniture and this family. I love the family's outfits. Even the children toys are well chosen, for children who live on the countryside.

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  3. Wunderbar..I adore old caco dolls, I have some myself, I will post a picture of them in their room someday.

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  4. Wow oh Wow oh Wow... Fantastic Find. Just fabulous.

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  5. Greetings, I have a house very much like yours and would love to share my photos for any additional information.
    Marianne in Ohio. Thank You!
    marianne.gingras@gmail.com

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  6. In that lot I mentioned there was a collection of that same blue Tole-painted Dora Kuhn furniture: cradle, canopy bed, armoire, table, dresser and chair, with some but not all the red gingham mattresses and pillows. Fun!

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  7. hello
    wonderful house
    I love tomakeone
    have a lot of furniture but not the house!
    greetings of France
    leonie

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