Two Collections Of Diverse Toys and Dolls To Be Sold
The items are from two collections, the Jane Anderson Family collection, and the collection of the late Faith Atkinson. The collections of the Jane Anderson family are centered on childhood themes, particularly as they relate to American childhood of the 1880-1945 era. Items from the Jane Anderson family which will be sold at the “A Long Walk Home” auction will include antique dolls and automata, antique tin and cast iron toys, antique toy horses and wooden toys, and Christmas ephemera and ornaments. The collection of Faith Atkinson centers on spectacular French dolls.
Candy Containers, Tin Penny Toys, Vintage Tin Sand Pails
On November 9th, a separate auction will highlight 250 Antique Candy Containers from the Jane Anderson Family collection. And, the Jane Anderson Family collection is so diverse that there will be two additional auctions featuring items from their collections in January--one auction will center on antique tin penny toys, and another on the very hot category of vintage tin sand pails and beach toys (which look great displayed with vintage dolls, as do most of the other items from the Anderson Family collections).
Icons Of Early American Culture
Florence Theriault says that there is a common theme in the diverse collections of Jane Anderson. She said: “There is a sense in the collection that Jane Anderson wanted to recapture the many nuances of the average American household at the turn of the century. Her collections are tied together by a theme of popular culture icons of the time, giving each collection a sense of cohesiveness within the whole. Icons and comic characters of the time can be traced throughout her candy containers, Christmas ornaments, bisque doll, tin toys, and sand pails.”
This was also reflected in the dolls that Jane Anderson collected. Florence explained: “She collected dolls that tended to be sold in America at that time – some very rare all-bisque Mignonettes; a collection of Googlies; some wonderful German bisque character boys representative of the times; and wind up mechanical arrangements and toys by Zinner and Sohne. The mechanical room named ‘Christmas Morning’ captures the true spirit of the collection - as the small bisque children unwrap and play with their holiday presents, they, too, discover the magic of childhood.”
The Magic of Childhood
It seems that Jane Anderson truly reveled in the magic of childhood. Florence reflected that “Jane Anderson kept her Christmas tree up all year long. This captured her sense of spirit and love of childhood.” Her family also recognized this spirit of childhood in Jane. Jane Anderson-Sussman, Jane Anderson’s oldest daughter, said that ““Mother never met something she didn’t like.” “She began collecting sand toys when she was at an auction and saw an early tin sand pail. Living at the Jersey shore, there were always sand toys around the house. She thought, ‘I have a beach house . . . how cute this would be!’ It all started there. After that, looking for pails was like a search for the Holy Grail!”
And, Jane Anderson got the entire family involved in her collecting. Her daughter continued: “Collecting for mother was like finding someone else’s catsup in your grocery bag. You would go home and try it, and the next thing you knew, you couldn’t live without it!”
Auction Details
The auction will be held at the Hanover, Marriott Hotel in Hanover New, Jersy, November 8th and 9th. Catalogs can be ordered for $39 at 800-638-0422.
