Tynietoy Archive

The Tynietoy Colonial Mansion

This Tynietoy Colonial Mansion is the same one featured in Antique Doll Collector's December 2006 issue, and was owned for many years by noted collector Dorothy Dixon. The house and its amazing one-of-a kind dollhouse dolls are shown in Evelyn Ackerman's book about miniature dolls and I was enchanted with the dolls the first time I saw them pictured there. Several years later, I was thrilled to see them in person when the house became the property of Becky and Andy Ourant, who commissioned me to build new facades to replace the ones that had been missing for many years. I took my time as I searched for quality materials and did the painstaking work of cutting out all those windows, filling and sanding imperfections and experimenting with paint colors, all the while coveting the house as it sat looking empty and forlorn in my dining room. As work neared completion (some six months later), Andy mentioned that they had re-arranged their furniture and he had no idea where it was going to fit when they got it back. I was happy to store it while they figured that out and eventually they decided they wanted the space more than they wanted the house - and all its contents, including the amazing dolls! While this is the most expensive single purchase I have ever made for my collection, I felt the price was still advantageous and I was well aware that there are other collectors who would have paid twice what I did without even blinking, so my husband has to wait another year to replace his truck and our planned trip to London has been postponed yet again. No matter, the object of my Quixotic desires now occupies a place of honor in the Mural Room. I am keeping everything that came with the house, but I have redecorated it a little to incorporate some things from my own collection and added curtains, etc. I've been so happily occupied with the interior that I still haven't attached the hinges for the roof!

When Dorothy Dixon owned this house, there were no front panels and part of the roof had been removed. She had wooden frames applied over the open front for sliding glass panels to keep out the dust. I made these facades based on photocopies of original blueprints owned by Ann Meehan, and studied photos of Flora Gill Jacobs' Mansion. The window moldings are painted to match the originals on the sides of the house, and the dimensional shutters are attached with tiny nails. The new roof sections are painted to match the Spanish Brown color that was applied by someone else over the original grey paint and I think I will try to go back to that grey. I made the walled garden on the right about five years ago for my New England Townhouse.

I actually enjoyed painting the fanlight and sidelights on this classical doorway and it was very pleasant for me to use my father's old drafting tools when I penciled in the semi-circles, but it was nerve-racking actually painting all those curved lines so closely together. Do come in!

Since the butler is busy upstairs, Mother is greeting visitors in the entrance hall. The very fine English perambulator is tucked under the stairs and is in excellent condition considering it does appear in the early photographs of the original house. If you are unfamiliar with the story of this collection, the dolls and the furniture have been together for about 80 years and were captured in an early photograph with a beautiful Tynietoy mansion complete with TWO gardens, but the original mansion that contained them was lost somewhere in history. After Dorothy Dixon acquired this collection, she found this early mansion on the west coast. The hallway is furnished with a painted highboy, green vase, sconces, rugs and an umbrella stand from my collection while the card table, screen, green painted chairs, the green telephone and the collection of French porcelains on the highboy are from Dorothy's collection. The carpet in the back is a fragment of a needlepoint handbag I found in damaged condition at a flea market, and has a nice worn feeling to it.

 

 

I just love this doll. Her expression is one of utter serenity. She is wearing a silk blouse with a ruffle beneath her Italian knit suit and she wears a pearl choker. There was no corresponding father doll when Dorothy acquired the collection. These dolls are so unique I do not think I could find someone to make a convincing replacement, so I've decided that the patriarch of this brood is away on an extended yacht race and has left everything in the capable charge of this charming lady.

The parlor is furnished primarily with Dorothy's things, but I've added the Tynietoy secretary and the elaborately patterned felt rug. I also place my Mt. Vernon harpsichord in this room - I've waited a long time for a house big enough for that piece. All the lovely oil paintings in this room are Tynietoy, and there is a small sterling hinged case containing playing cards on the Mt. Vernon tilt-top tripod table .

I've had this Mt. Vernon harpsichord stored away for years, waiting for the day when I might own a Colonial Mansion. I think this piece dates from the later years of production and, as far as I know, there wasn't a specific bench or stool made to go with it.  Revolving piano stools are a Victorian invention that allows musicians more flexibility when playing very expressive music like Chopin or Schubert, etc, where the entire keyboard needs to be comfortably reachable. The ceramic parrot was Dorothy's.

The rare maple grained Windsor chairs that were previously in this room have been moved over to my Nantucket house and replaced with Chippendale chairs with painted seats. I also added the oval firescreen and the large sideboard on the back wall, which is maple and matches the knife boxes very nicely. Both the ladies depicted in the two oil paintings are dressed in yellow
The roomy kitchen features three different Windsor chairs painted green (oh, bliss!) and there is an unusual cast metal wall phone. I've only added a few foodstuffs here, and the Thermos.

This close-up shows the telephone and the lovely Grace Drayton watercolor landscape. There are other Grace Drayton pictures in the children's rooms.

Because the sink is chipped on one side, it was tricky finding a good layout for the bathroom. I added the Tynietoy medicine cabinet and the painted pitcher and bowl sitting on the unusual painted demilune table. The toddler girl has figured out how to climb out of her crib, maybe to get a better look at the Grace Drayton picture hanging over the fireplace. The bath towels draped over the rim of the tub are initialed "D.D." for Dorothy.

Just off the bathroom, the master bedroom has been decorated in shades of pink and pastel green and features a rare four-poster bed and three oil paintings depicting floral arrangements against a black background. The two small ones came with the house and the larger one over the fireplace was a much appreciated gift from Gloria Hinkel, founder of the Delaware Toy and Miniature Museum. The upholstered chair is one of the few non-Tynietoy furnishings in the house. The lace curtains are antique panels that came from another old dollhouse and are just a touch too long for the eye hooks that were already mounted over all the windows, but they add warmth and coziness to the rooms even if they puddle on the floor a little.

One of my favorite rooms in the house is the old-fashioned bedroom set aside for the grandparents. I added the canopy bed with its pretty floral upholstery and matching painted chair, the hooked rug from Maynard Manor, and the knitted throw keeping Grandmother cozy while she reads the Times. A Tynietoy oil portrait is mounted over the grained desk, and the other oval paintings are floral arrangements on cream backgrounds. The chest of drawers to the left of the bed is a unique Tynietoy piece not shown in any catalogues, but bears the Tynietoy imprint.
Another view of the grandparents sharing a tender moment after he has checked her heartbeat. The butterfly table has crisply turned legs and I love the lampshade with birds silhouetted by the moon. The old-fashioned washstand in the background is fitted with a Limoges pitcher and bowl.

Out in the hallway, the butler is pausing before bringing a cup of tea to Grandmother. The folding screen by the stairs is wonderfully decorated with a hand-painted map of the world. A sweet oil painting of a young girl in a green dress is mounted on the wall above the desk.

This bedroom set is a fairly recent acquisition with the bed, dressing table and rocker painted a soft greenish gray, and I was pleased to find the chest of drawers in almost the exact same color in the collection I recently purchased in Pennsylvania. This is a teenager's room with a blue candlestick phone for her personal use, and a little dog very similar to the one shown in the picture next to the Tynietoy lamp. When Andy and Becky agreed to sell me the house, my husband and I hauled it upstairs from the dining room to its new location in the dollhouse mural room, yet it did not really feel like it was mine. As I unpacked the dozens of boxes of furniture and accessories that came with the house, I was stunned to find the lace trimmed coverlet which now dresses this bed with the name "Suzie" embroidered in red across the top. This is a nickname reserved for my closest family and friends, and finding it among the unpacked boxes made me blissfully recognize that this house was indeed meant to be mine one day!

The attic hallway is cheerfully decorated with red Windsor chairs, a red folding screen and predominently red carpets. Even the Tynietoy paintings feature hunters dressed in red riding jackets. It can get pretty warm on the third floor so all the rooms up here have electric fans, with the largest one here in the hallway. The corner chair is a very rare piece which I have never encountered before.

The two little girls share this other attic bedroom which is decorated in yellow and blue. I had the sleigh bed set for some years and like how the pieces complement the wing chair that came with the collection. The cotton calico curtains were made from a pretty dress my aunt wore as a girl some 50-60 years ago. One more Grace Drayton picture is mounted between the windows, and a vintage goldfish bowl rests on the rare Tynietoy round table. The china jug of flowers on the chest was my mother's and I've had it in various dollhouses over the past - gulp - 45 years or more. One of the reasons I adore these dolls is because the little girl with dark hair looks almost exactly like my grandmother did as a girl and I almost wonder if she might have posed for the sculptor - she did grow up in Rhode Island!

An acquisition with an original TynieToy letter

 

I recently had the opportunity to purchase a collection of early Tynietoy furniture that had been in the same family for 86 years. One of the reasons I found the collection so interesting was that it included a letter on Tynietoy stationery written and signed by Amey Vernon in June of 1922. On the front of the letter she stated that she was sending a box of “samples” for his criticism as to design and finish. I found this quite fascinating as the letter predates Sidney’s Burleigh’s re-design of the line in 1923, so it appears that Tynietoy approached others about improving their designs before cementing their association with Burleigh. She also asked the gentleman if he would try to make a thatched roof for their crèche and could he supply 50 of them? It was obvious there had been some previous contact between them as she mentioned she had not yet tried the brand of paint he had earlier recommended to her. While we’ve known that the painting of furniture was farmed out like a cottage industry, it is interesting to consider that perhaps some of the construction work we’ve assumed was done in Tynietoy’s own workshops may have been outsourced as well.

 

On the back of the letter is a hand-written inventory of the pieces that were sent along with prices. Most of the prices match those listed in the oldest catalogue I have, but some are lower and the highboy is more expensive. It was surprising to me that the collection seems to be complete with nothing lost over the years, but a few of the pieces were slightly damaged or repaired. The seller told me the recipient of the letter had been his mother’s uncle,  who had been a woodworker, and the furniture was given to his mother when she was a little girl living in Mechanicsburg, PA. He’d also made her a rather crude dollhouse that I left behind. Other items that were added to the collection include a German bisque-limbed gentleman, various non-Tynietoy accessories, and several pieces of Roger Williams furniture, including a charming yellow blanket chest with painted floral decoration.

 

Some, but not all of of the Tynietoy furniture is made of plywood and there are several items that differ from the typical designs we are so familiar with. The cradle lacks an apron under the bonnet with no signs that there ever was one, and it is wider than expected, but it does have the familiar tufted silk bedding. The banjo clock is noticeably chunky with wooden ornaments instead of stamped brass, but the sides of the pieces are painted with as much detail as the front, which is quite charming. The mirrors are not exactly the same size as later examples.

 

The Sheraton settee has a rather awkward apron cut as one piece with the two center legs, but what impresses me is how many of the designs seem to remain unchanged after 1923, such as the kitchen furniture, the sideboards, sleigh bed and most of the chairs. I also found it interesting that the rush-seat settee lacks the front rail and is painted yellow rather than the usual black or red, and the high chair is painted a very dark green.

 

One of the most charming pieces is the sewing table that is delicately painted on the top, front, both sides and along the length of all the legs. The design is not the expected floral bouquet, but a charming woven basket of flowers. So New England!

 

Negotiating the purchase of these items was a little tricky because the seller had a videotape of the Antiques Roadshow segment with its greatly inflated appraisal, and he wanted twice as much for the collection as I felt it was worth. Also, it was difficult to assess the value of the letter that came with it. I ended up paying pretty close to what I think the items would be worth in the marketplace but I am delighted to have the letter and its provenance and I plan to do some more research on the man who first received this furniture from Amey Vernon this winter.

 

I feel it's important to note that for many years, collectors have repeated the assertion that Sidney Burleigh redesigned the Tynietoy line in 1923 and at that time, standardized the scale at 1" to the foot. But these well-documented pieces from 1922 demonstrate that Tynietoys were already standardized in scale by then and most remained exactly the same after 1923, with perhaps an improvement in the finishing techniques and the type of wood used. 

 

 

These pieces are all documented as being made by Tynietoy in 1922.

TTSSmithchair.jpg

This rare mahogany chair made by TynieToy was copied from an original in the historic home of Sophia Smith, the founder of Smith College. It is one of three in my collection and a few years ago, I acquired a copy of the original shop drawing for this chair. It is in 1.25" scale and measures 5" tall.