(EMAILWIRE.COM, April 19, 2006 ) NEW HOPE, PA. – The celebrated toy inventory of the Mary Merritt Doll Museum, which closed its doors on Dec. 31 after 42 years of operation, will be sold May 12-13 in New Hope, in a 1,133-lot event produced by Noel Barrett Auctions of Carversville, Pa. Barrett and his associates, noted antique doll and toy experts Becky and Andy Ourant, personally inspected and cataloged the Douglassville, Pa., museum’s eclectic contents, which included late 19th and early 20th century German, American and French toys, trains and villages of carved and painted wood, vintage games and Noah’s arks.

Barrett, who is an Antiques Roadshow appraiser and has a practiced eye for identifying pieces of exceptional quality and design, remarked, “As we went showcase by showcase through this amazing museum, we never knew what we’d find. There were European tinplate carriages pulled by cast-metal horses, intricately designed European carousels, a penny arcade fortune teller, clockwork and cast-iron toys – even an old American National pressed-steel Packard roadster pedal car that sat on top of a shelf, undisturbed, for decades.”

The museum toys will be sold together with items from other private collections, including a consignment that came to Barrett packaged in an unusual manner. After an appearance on the Antiques Roadshow in which Barrett appraised a rare clown skittles (ninepin bowling) set, he received some photographs in the mail, in an envelope that begged to be opened. “The woman who sent it probably figured I get a lot of mail, so on the outside of the envelope she Scotch-taped one of the images to attract my attention – and it worked. The photos she sent were of an absolutely remarkable skittles set consisting of a wheeled camel with nine Arab skittle figures stored inside the camel’s hump.” The consignor had purchased the set in 1940, and its quality, according to Barrett, is “breathtaking.”

Another attic find was a grouping of extremely rare figures from the Teddy’s Adventures in Africa set, made by the Philadelphia toymaker Schoenhut for only a brief period (circa 1909-1912). The figures to be auctioned include Teddy Roosevelt, Kermit the Naturalist (Roosevelt’s son), The Great Guide, five natives and an Arab chieftain.

Barrett said the extraordinary additions, together with the sale’s other featured collection – the lithographed paper-on-wood American toys of Bostonian Bert Cohen – “spiced up what was already a very spicy sale with the Merritt museum things.”

The Mary Merritt Doll Museum was founded in 1963 by Mary and Robert Merritt Sr. The couple traveled the world extensively, before and after World War II, purchasing antique dolls and toys at a time when few collectors were actively acquiring such things.

Contact: Tel. (215) 297-5109, Fax: (215) 297-0457, E-mail: toys@noelbarrett.com, www.noelbarrett.com

Contact Information:

Catherine Watson
Tel:
Email us


This is a press release. Press release distribution and press release services by EmailWire.Com: http://www.emailwire.com/us-press-release-distribution.php.