Dolls house that belonged to wife of author Graham Greene expected to fetch £10,000-£15,000 at Newbury sale
The Dolls’ House, Doll, Teddy Bear and Toy sale taking place at Special Auction Services in Newbury on June 24, 25 and 26 is expected to realise £315,000.
This auction's strength is certainly its amazing dolls house and related offerings.
The top lot is The Dower House, originally belonging to famous dolls' house collector Vivien Greene, the wife of author Graham Greene which carries an estimate of £10,000-£15,000.
Another highlight is a mid-17th century wooden 'Baby House' doll, just 14cm high, that was discovered during the refurbishment of Stanton Harcourt Manor in a room that hadn’t been touched since the 1950s which carries an estimate of £4,000-£6,000.
The doll is thought to be Charles II or his brother James II and is being sold by descent.
The vendor says: “The house had barely been touched since the family moved back here after the war in 1953 and I found this doll in a room full of odds and ends 20 years ago when we emptied the house to restore it. I thought it had to be something special as it is encased in a glass box, so I thought it was worth preserving so I kept it safe.”
Doll specialist Daniel Agnew says: “The family have no record of Baby House (which is what the earliest dolls' houses are called. Initially they were made for adults’ amusement and to display fine miniatures, the dolls did not come along until later. So he may have been bought as a memento of a royal occasion. He was certainly considered an important item and could even have been a gift from the royal household.”
Day two of the auction comprises The Margaret Towner Dolls’ House Collection of 500 lots which are expected to fetch £100,000. Margaret wrote well-known books on dolls' houses, and her collection is an academic study of dolls' house manufacture from the 18th to 21st century.
Highlights include an early 19th century English Gothic dolls’ house on a stand (estimate £2,000-£3,0000), a large late 19th century Christian Hacker wooden dolls’ house (estimate £800-£1,200 and a Gothic box-back dolls’ house from the same period (estimate £600-800). The Kaleidoscope House designed by Laurie Simmons and Peter Wheelwright, circa 2000 is just one of the more modern examples and is expected to fetch £200-£300.
Other highlights of the auction include a Merrythought Bingie guardsman teddy bear, 1935 (estimate £800-£1200), a Steiff wool plush Peter Rabbit, circa 1906 belonging to Antiques Roadshow's Bunny Campione (estimate £4,000-£6,000), a mid-19th century Erzgebirge farm in original wooden box for the 'Civet Cat' shop in Manchester (estimate £2,000-£3,000) and a late 18th century Jacobs Ladder toy (estimate £300-£500).
In addition, a mid-19th century Mathäus Trentsensky (Vienna) hand coloured printed and cut out card ‘The Vineyard’ scenic toy is expected to fetch £400-£600, a rare early 19th century John Hempel British automaton pedlar toy doll with Soho Square shop label is estimated at £600-£800 and ‘Belinda’, a mid-19th century English poured wax child doll with provenance from the Huntley & Palmer biscuit family could make £300-£500.
Stanton Harcourt Manor in Oxfordshire has been the ancestral home of the Harcourt family since the late 14th century.
In the 11th century, Errand of Harcourt and his three brothers followed William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, on the Norman invasion of England, and the brothers were installed with English lands. The English Harcourt branch entered the English peerage and Simon Harcourt was created Baron Harcourt in 1711 and Viscount Harcourt in 1721. The third viscount was created Earl Harcourt in 1749. All their titles were extinguished with the death of Marshal William Harcourt, 3rd Earl Harcourt, in 1830.
At first the Harcourts had lands in Leicestershire, but in 1191 Robert de Harcourt of Bosworth inherited lands of his father-in-law at Stanton in Oxfordshire, which then became known as Stanton Harcourt. The manor of Stanton Harcourt has remained in the Harcourt family to the present day.
