The Barton Model Home

Every time I decide I have enough dollhouses and decide to stop buying another dollhouse becomes available and begs to come live at my house.

My latest buy is the Barton Model Home.

Mini Dork had information about this house on her Blog last month.

Several variations of this house are discussed in Mini Dork's blog, but Rebecca of Rebecca's Collection identified one like mine as the Barton Model Home, available from about 1956 to 1976. She said they were sold mostly as kits, to make up at home, although some were sold made up.

(images of a similar house (from Rebecca) are on dollshousespastandpresent.webs.com and same site here and here)

I bought my house from the original owner. Her father built it from a kit in 1962 when she was just two. It had been packed away with its contents for several decades.

It contains Barton, Dol-Toi and Lundby (I think) furniture and a Grecon family lives there.

I find it very exciting to have an all original vintage dollhouse with such wonderful provenance.

The original owner said that her parents were from England and she thought that the house and contents had been purchased there.

I did as much research as I could and discovered that she was right. Quite a lot of the furniture and accessories are also made by Barton.

The living room furniture appears to be Lundby, except for the little art deco dresser which is probably either Barton or Dol-Toi. I couldn't find a picture of it when I was researching, but it definitely has that look.

In the living room we find two Grecon gentlemen enjoying a plate of cheese and beverages in pewter mugs. Both are nattily dressed as is expected of this type of doll. They have metal feet, embroidered hair and painted features. They are approximately 3.5" tall.  These dolls were produced in England from the 1950's to the 1970's.

I had been hoping to add a Grecon family to my collection and was delighted to get them with the house.

I haven't made up my mind yet. Will the older man and woman be the parents and the younger man and woman be their teenage children. with the toddler as an afterthought (much younger sibling)?  Will the older couple be the grandparents and the younger couple the child's parents? Or will I come up with some other computation of the five inhabitants. I think I will see where the dolls take me. They probably know who they are.










The cats are vintage Barton as are the goldfish in the nursery. I had never seen them before, but found them for sale on eBay UK, so was able to identify them.

(Don't you just love her fancy dotted dress and her red earrings?)

 A lovely Grecon lady is in the dining room beside what I think is a Lundby Piano. The keyboard cover flips up to reveal music and the gold decoration on the top of the piano appears to be hand painted. The table, chairs, clock and buffet also look like Lundby, but they aren't exactly like the furniture I have in my Lundby houses.

I think they are much earlier than the other pieces I own. Can anyone tell me if this is true?

The fireplace is Barton and plugs in to the outlet behind it. I believe the log basket, phone and cake are also Barton accessories.

The kitchen is delightful. The fridge says Dol-Toi on the back and has a paper 'Frigidaire' sticker on the front.


The cupboard, sink, table and chair are also Barton, as are the pots, pans, and food on the table.

I have seen the blue dishes included with Barton furniture on eBay, so I think they are also from that company.


The cleaning supplies were sold by Barton and a few other companies, I believe. There are two sets of these with the house. The dog is hard plastic. I haven't been able to identify it. Can anyone help?

In the bedroom a Grecon lady admires herself in the vanity. She has had some problems with her legs. Both have unraveled and one metal foot is missing.

I am not sure who made the bedroom furniture. It is wood with red accents and lovely floral decals on the large pieces. The handles are small nails painted red.

I think they may also be Barton. Does anyone know for sure?

I love the nursery. This wooden set is late 50s-early 60s Barton and is a complete set.

The drawers open, and the side of the crib can go up and down.

The child is a sweet little Grecon girl in a floral dress with a garland in her hair.




















The bathroom is made of plaster and is Barton from the early 1960s.

 I look forward to your comments and any information you can provide. Don't hesitate to correct me on anything I got wrong.

Hugs,

Susan

P.S. I identified a number of the dollhouse items by searching for Barton on eBay UK, but a large number of the items are found in the book,
Antique and Collectible Dollhouses and Their Furnishings
by Dian Zillner, Patty Cooper

Lundy - mid 70's perfection

Guess what! One can find Craigslist treasures even on vacation!

This house was offered on Craigslist and even though Daphne is the wrong scale she felt it was important to bring it home too.

The house is from the mid-seventies and came with all the furniture, transformer and working lights.

The lady who was selling it had it as a child and must have loved it very much. It is in pristine condition. Again I will say - how can they part with these things? Lucky for me she did.

The people were purchased at a flea market along the road. Three are Lunby from about 2000, and the mom and dad are Caco - from a period when they tried to save money by putting really cheap clothes on them. The dogs came with the house.

I love everything about this house. Daphne and her friends had great fun setting it up. Then it had to be all packed up again for the car ride home.

Hugs,

Susan

I think we have a tie

The Flags and the Cacos are tied for the house.

A few votes trickled in for the other dolls but these two families were the clear favorites.

A few people wanted to get Mrs. Flagg married off and she acquired an ardent admirer, Melvin, from Texas who lives in Florine's blog.

Mrs Flagg is mighty flattered (Melvin's Texas talk is rubbing off), but is shy about the attention seeing as she has spent the last several years of her life in a dusty, smoke filled place and didn't get many compliments there. Patsy is just excited about Melvin's horse. She thinks that they could keep in in the bathroom when they are not out riding it. The bathtub could be the hay manger and the sink can be used as a watering trough - or vica versa. She hasn't shared this plan with her mother yet, thank heavens.

Mrs Flag also discovered lots of long lost relatives, like the sweet little maid on Pandora's blog.

And Melvin's two cousins over at Amy's. She is not too sure about those two. She would hate to see a deer harmed. She wouldn't even let Patsy read about them in case it upset her.

I liked Amy's idea in the comments about how all the dolls could be one big extended family and all live in the house together. There is only one bedroom though. Amy also was quite sensible when she said that Mr. Caco looked like he had a good job and could deal with the upkeep on the house. I don't know though. I am leaning towards Mrs. Flagg and Patsy myself, at least until I find another house for them.

It seems that the Cacos have family all over the place too. In Australia and California and Germany, to name at least three. In Fact on Püppilottchen's blog their almost identical cousins greet you right at the top of the page

I hope you are enjoying the comments below. I certainly am.

Lundby blue floor house #2

Toronto's craigslist provided me another 1969 blue floor Lundby house today. It is in much better condition than the last one I bought - see: I got a Lundby house!!

This one had been given to a women who is now 47 when she was six. It had been gently played with and then put in storage for decades. I looks brand new.

It doesn't have a transformer and doesn't look like it ever did.

It appears that someone has recently painted the roof brown, but otherwise it is in wonderful condition. there is clear vinyl in the windows - unlike the other one whose windows are empty.

I have furnished it with the original Lundby furniture from the first house. It looks lovely.

I will look for a transformer, and maybe more furniture for the living room. Now there is only a chair, TV and coffee table, not counting the fireplace. I also need another chair for the dining room.

I am very pleased with this house. I hope you have enjoyed the tour. Let me know if you can tell me more about it.

Hugs,

Susan

I got a Lundby house!!

Woo Hoo!! I finally found a vintage Lundby house. I have always waned one.

(Note: the pictures here have mid-century hard plastic furniture instead of the lovely original Lundby pieces that came with the house. Everything needed a good cleaning, but I had some fun re-decorating and taking pictures before I did that. I will do a later post with the real furniture.)

It just goes to show that it pays to be nice and chatty. I bought a little clock from one of the dealers at the St. Lawrence Antique Market one Sunday and as he wrapped it up I mentioned that it was for my dollhouse. He replied that he hadn't put it in his dollhouse because it was too big.

Of course that started the conversation and the following Sunday I arrived at his table to find this wonderful 1969/1970 version of the famous Lundby house complete with original furniture and seven working lights (as I mention above - those pictures are to come once I scrub a few decades of dust off everything.).

I am now the proud owner of this little piece of dollhouse history. It needs a little TLC, but I think it is gorgeous! Enjoy the pictures. The furniture is Marx, Reliable, Renwal, Kleeware, Ideal, etc. and I think it looks great in this house.