Tuesday 19 July 2011

A Touch Of Dol-Toi & A 1950s Barrett Washing Machine

Some more lovely vintage 1/16th Dol-Toi pieces were listed yesterday on KT Miniatures. Many of you who had childhood dollshouses may well recognise these.  Dol-Toi pieces were widely available over a long period of time; from 1944, then right through the 1950s and 1960s, until finally coming to an end in 1975(See Marion Osborne's new Dol-Toi book - details at the foot of this posting).
The Dol-Toi bookcase and little books must rank amongst one of my favourites from the Dol-Toi range. This manufacturer's bookcases come in various shapes, colours and sizes.  Here you can see a wooden one in a dark varnished finish that has just come in which is now for sale. The tiny mock books with wooden inserts have delightful titles such as Boy Blue, Pied Piper and Ali Baba - completely enchanting!
Then there is this 1960s plaster bathroom set in remarkably good condition....considering the fragility of the material that it has been created from.  In a young child's hands, these plaster pieces would have been quite vulnerable and prone to damage. In fact, in all the years that I have been selling vintage dolls houses, this is the first fully intact plaster Dol-Toi bathroom suite that has come along....yes honestly! (More usually, I come across the wooden Dol-Toi bathroom suites). The lift up seat and lid are made of metal and painted black.
As like the Dol-Toi bookcases, the Dol-Toi pianos came in various shapes and sizes. This one just listed is a 1960s grand piano, complete with lift up lid to reveal paper keys and a lift up piano top that can be propped open. Again, refreshingly it is great to have this fully intact, along with the stool that has a gold painted "seat" and the fixed on Dol-Toi music sheet. Over the years I have handled so many of these pianos that have various missing components so this is a nice example.

See the Vintage 1/16th Dol-Toi Page for all of the above plus many more. In fact I have a lot more to add to that section over the next few days.
 Also just listed is this instantly recognisable 1950s Barrett & Son washing machine.....how evocative of the 1950s is this?! This lovely kitchen appliance is made of metal with a plastic tub, lid and rollers. In fact, if you turn the handle the rollers rotate - great fun! This particular example is in excellent condition and the previous little owner obviously looked after it well. 
This can be found on the Vintage 1/16th Barrett Page

If my week goes according to plan I hope to be able to load up a lot more vintage pieces to KT Miniatures website during the next few days.....so watch this space (as they say)!
For anyone interested in the lovely old Dol-Toi treasures and would like to find out more,"THE BOOK OF DOL-TOI" is now available direct from the author - Marion Osborne.  Accompanying her book is a CD of photographs. For full details and how to contact Marion - see my Recommended Reading Page For Antique & Vintage Dolls Houses

No comments: