Rare antique doll was almost thrown away in house clearance sells for over £50,000
Posted on 15th June 2023 at 14:02
Rare antique doll was almost thrown away in house clearance sells for over £50,000
At an auction in Teesside, a doll that was rescued from a skip during a house clearing brought in over £50,000.
TextThe doll was identified by antique specialists at Vectis Auctions in Thornaby as a 'Kammer & Reinhardt Walter 102 bisque antique character', which was made around 1910.
The doll was damaged, yet an initial estimate of £12,000–17,000 was given for it.
Tuesday, June 6, the doll was sold at auction for £52,657. He was in high demand and attracted interest from all across the world, with a buyer from Germany losing out to an American phone bid.
The doll measures around 56 cm (22 inches) high and is dressed in an original knitted ecru cotton bodysuit, a handmade contemporary cotton checked shirt, navy woollen shorts, and a navy wool cloak with hood.
The vendor told the auction house: “The doll belonged to my grandmother who passed away 30 years ago. Since then he has been in my mum’s possession.
"He has always lived in the living room on the sofa for as long as I can remember and our late dog chewed his foot off when he was a naughty puppy."
"My mum unfortunately is now unwell and emptying her house we found him again. Due to having so much furniture and mementos to sort out, we were having to be quite ruthless with what we were keeping so I put him on the pile of things to be skipped."
However, my husband remembered the doll fondly and decided to put him in the 'to keep pile' and afterwards we realised how special he was.”
Few examples are known to exist, and the doll is one of the world's rarest in this larger size with fine modelling, intensity of expression and translucent painting.
A 1912 newspaper cited they were “Not dolls - they should be called real children”.
These expressive, life-like antique dolls were modelled on real children from the 1909-1912 period and were the passion of adults, rather than children.
According to Vectis Auctions, during 1909-1914 almost all sales of dolls disappeared overnight when the war and inflation resulted in the production of more popular baby dolls and expressionless “pretty” faced dolls.
Worried about throwing the wrong items out call us now to help with your clearance 01438 215018
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