Mid-century miniatures

Hot weather started early this year. Ugh! The days of slathering Johnson's baby oil on my body and blissfully frying in the sun for hours are long gone. Until the cats and I acclimate to the heat we vegetate in the house, sluggish and lethargic and uninspired. Poor, poor pitiful us. :) Finally, after weeks of lolling around and doing nothing, there are signs of life. The kitties have finished the long process of selecting their summer snoozing places and I feel like blogging again. Yay! 

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Several months ago while looking around in the attic I found a forgotten relic of a popular 1960's television show. Richard Chamberlain, who played the title character of Dr. Kildare, was so young and so cute. Little albums like this one were designed to hold our yearly school pictures. 

 
I looked online to see if I could find something similar to the photo album. A search at eBay produced odd results: vintage doctor and nurse dolls. I scrolled down the page and saw something that triggered a slow dawning of recognition. Whoa! I have that!

The nurse is part of a nursery set made by Renwal in 1954. She's posing in a pop-up book that opens to reveal a complete doll house.

Everything from the nursery had been tossed into a box instead of being stored properly. I almost didn't include the bassinets here because they are so dirty and one of the babies is missing but they're an integral part of the set and it's unusual to find all 7 together.

Accessories and furniture fared better. The set originally included a second identical table and five additional baby bottles.

 

I intended to take all my photos with the faux dollhouse. However...

 

Cat-magnet!

This hand-painted china furniture marked "Occupied Japan" was used to decorate a birthday cake. The object on the far right is a chair with broken legs.

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When I was a child I adored my cousin Teddy and was thrilled when he gave me several of his childhood toys, including a little wood apple and an interesting walnut shell. After Teddy grew up he became Theodore and is an antiquities expert specializing in 18th century French art and furnishings.  

 

The apple contains a tea set.

There are minuscule men inside the walnut. One is sitting on a swing in the center, another on the right is playing a guitar and the others are dancing. Or something. The figures are so small I can't tell what's going on. The pretty little dish is a Theodore Haviland Limoges butter pat.

 

Occasionally the Naval fleet based in Newport would take cruises to allied countries. Dad always brought me nifty souvenirs like miniature copper pots and pitchers from Chile.

Santa brought these tiny housewares. They were "lost" for decades and I did a happy dance when I finally located them. All lids, round stopper in the bottle and top of the percolator are separate pieces. There are so many itty-bitty parts I'm surprised that only one or two are missing.    

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My wonderful pack-rat mom saved this page from the 1957 Sears Christmas catalog. When I found it I immediately framed it. My mother's hoard collection of picture frames is a whole other story.

WishbookWeb.com has a fascinating collection of scans of old Christmas catalogs. This is the same picture.

And this is my farm.

The trademark of Marx, a manufacturer of tin lithograph toys.

Everything is still here.

20 years ago I set the whole thing up on a card table. My beloved kitty Weasel immediately staged her interpretation of Catzilla Visits the Farm.

I miss my Weasel.

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***Recommendation: Aardvark Antiques, a local business, has an new blog at http://aardvark-antiques.blogspot.com/. The owner, Charles Pharr, has appeared on Auction Kings as an expert consultant.