A Poole resident has left an extensive dollhouse collection to a London auction house in her will, with any surplus to be left to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.
The elderly resident’s collection of 180 pieces was discovered by Chiswick Auctions in the lady’s ‘modest’ home.
The lady was an obsessive collector of dollhouses, furniture and juvenilia, and was an expert in the field, a spokesperson for the auction house said.
A find like this was "incredibly rare" they added, saying for proceeds to be left to charity was also rare.
The owner was meticulous in recording when and where each item was purchased, with a ledger detailing that most were acquired in auctions across the south coast between 2000 and 2008.
Amongst the collection is a ‘Normandy’ style dollhouse, dating from around 1880, which is guided at £800-£1000. This house features eight fully furnished rooms, including a fully stocked miniature kitchen full of tiny jelly moulds, casserole dishes, pewter tankards and serving dishes. Tiny portraits adorn the walls of the house, in the style of Holbein.
The rest of the collection includes items from New Forest toy maker Frank Whittington, whose toy workshop was established following the First World War, with a factory built in Brockenhurst in 1922.
His clients included Queen Mary, who ordered two dozen Noah’s arks after seeing his work at the British Industries Fair.
Other pieces of interest include items produced by some of the most celebrated British and German toy makers of the 19th Century.
In particular, a lot of five pieces of miniature furniture made by Wolverhampton-based toymaker Evans and Cartwright, who produced toys between 1816 and 1880, is guided at £600 to £800.
Other celebrated toymakers featured in the collection are Rock and Graner of Goppingen and workshops from the town of Waltershausen, known for making gilt decorated dollhouse furniture.
Alongside the dollhouses and furniture there is a tiny leather-bound book entitled Schloss’s English Bijou Almanac, 1839. It comes housed in a red baize case with a miniature magnifying glass, and it is hoped to fetch between £100 and £200.
The auction house anticipates a lot of interest from collectors when the collection of 180 pieces goes up for auction on November 29.
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