Auction catalog from an auction of rare antique dolls. The auction was held in April 2009. Prices realized are included.

Auction description:

The pastoral scene conjured in the line from the Edna St. Vincent Millay poem seems appropriately apt for Theriaults Springtime catalog auction on Sunday, April 26, 2009 auction at the Hilton Hotel in Short Hills, NJ. A sense of innocence, of the unfettered freedom of wildflowers that nod in greeting to the rarified beauties of cultivated gardens or to baby lambs that gambol in the meadows, evokes childhood and our childhood love of our little play friends. In this mood Theriaults offers a springtime bouquet of dolls, a felicitous mixture of beautiful bbs and innocent cloth folk dolls, of tiny yet elegant all-bisque mignonettes and rowdy plump-bodied toddlers, of saucy studio cloth dolls and slender-bodied paper mache and bisque ladies whose perfectly-coiffed hair has never bent to Spring breezes in their more than 150 years of life though their proudly-held faces do, indeed, seem inclined to capture Springtimes promise.

Featuring the Museum Collection of Gladys Lux, founder of Lux Center for the Arts in Lincoln, Nebraska, as well as other exceptional de-accessions from a well-known East Coast Museum, the important doll auction is as wonderfully inspiring as Spring itself. More than 300 fine antique and vintage dolls are featured, along with a garden of other childhood fancies and ephemera. Dolls are notable for their rarity and enhanced by original costumes. Bbs by Jumeau are wearing their original couturier costumes, and there are other superb bbs by Steiner, Schmitt and Bru. German bisque characters from the art character reform movement of the early 20th century feature rare models. A Kewpie collection ranges from rare all-bisque action figures to dinner services to large antique prints. Cloth dolls sweep the landscape, from a pair of wonderful Izannah Walker dolls (one from each Museum) to rare Martha Chase models, Columbia doll, and other folk models, to superb mint Kathe Kruse, the very rare Madame Paderewski doll and saucy Lenci ladies and children. Elegant 1870-era bisque ladies with fancily sculpted hair are rivaled by a collection of Martha Thompson works inspired by 19th century fashion plates. There are fine original Neopolitan figures, early wax dolls in original costumes, pretty all-original bisque dolls, French poupee ladies, 1860s era porcelain dolls with rarity features, dolls with trousseaux, and a pristine group of Vargas wax dolls. There is a wonderful French horse on tricycle, a collection of Lehmann tin mechanical toys, a collection of early French board games, two extremely rare early Magic Lanterns, and, of course, there is the lamb which, just like Marys little lamb, follows along throughout the catalog and will make you laugh and play.