(EMAILWIRE.COM, September 28, 2006 ) READING, Pa. – As the name suggests, the world-renowned Mary Merritt Doll Museum was known for its incomparable archive of 18th to 20th-century dolls, but collectors who attended Noel Barrett’s May 12-13 auction know the legendary museum that closed last Dec. 31 also held a trove of superb antique toys. At the spring sale, record-setting prices were achieved for Schoenhut figures from the Teddy Roosevelt African Safari series, and German Easter rabbit clockwork toys sold for six and seven times their estimate. Canny bidders recognized and acted upon unique opportunities to purchase unusual German toys like the painted-wood “Man with a Girl on His Mind” lever-action toy, which brought $26,400 against a $600-800 estimate.

On Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 at the Inn at Reading in Wyomissing (suburban Reading), Pa., Noel Barrett, in association with Andy Ourant, once again lifts the lid on the Merritt museum’s copious toy chest, offering a spectacular selection of antique dollhouses, furnished German-made room setting, automata, 90 Schoenhut figures and accessories, and a tantalizing array of German toys. As one might expect, the 1,075-lot inventory also includes exquisite dolls, highlighted by a pair of 12-inch, circa 1880 AT French bébés – one with a kid body and one with a composition body – which will be auctioned separately (estimate $30,000-40,000 each).

In the wonderfully varied fall sale, Barrett will satisfy the appetites of Schoenhut collectors who missed out on rarities at the spring event with another menagerie of superb glass-eyed animals. A stand-out in this section is an especially rare glass-eyed lion with a carved mane and leather ears. Another grouping of Teddy Roosevelt character figures has been cataloged, including Roosevelt, the Arab chieftain and photographer, as well as seldom-seen accessories, such as a tent and camp stool. Other highly desirable Schoenhut pieces in the sale include a large Humpty Dumpty circus tent with sideshow banners, a special-order 15 1/2-inch Japanese man and a rare photo of a Schoenhut delivery truck that dates to the second decade of the 20th century.

Approximately 20 automata by premium-name manufacturers will be offered. Highlights include a Roullet et Descamps boy on tricycle in all-original condition, a smoking marquis, and a standing woman holding a theater that features a trapeze rig. Also featured is a Lambert clown in all-original condition. The section is rounded out by several fine French clockwork toys of a type regarded as automata by some aficionados.

The museum was home to a ritzy neighborhood of dollhouses. One of the finest examples in the collection is the Hope Villa, a wonderful mid-19th-century English doll residence that features quoining, grained and marbled faux painting and other fine detailing. On par with the “Mexican” and “Spanish” dollhouses that made headlines in past Barrett sales, the Hope Villa is estimated at $50,000-75,000.

The museum’s founders, the late Mary Merritt and her husband, the late Bob Merritt, were globetrotters who spent considerable time in Great Britain and Continental Europe prior to and just after World War II. It was there that they acquired German-made antique room settings at a time when they were still readily available to purchase. Among those to be auctioned are a Christian Hacker grocery store, a butcher shop and one of the largest-scale German kitchens ever to be offered at auction. All are lavishly outfitted with the appropriate accoutrements.

Many other treasures from the incomparable Mary Merritt museum will be available in the fall sale, including miniature paintings, a Marklin carriage, several Nuremburg toys, Napoleonic-era prisoner of war bone carvings, and an outstanding German crank toy depicting a nursery scene, complete with pet cat and bisque-head children at play.

The auction will be held Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, at the Inn at Reading in Wyomissing, Pa. Request a special auction room rate by calling 1-800-383-9713. Repeating the method employed successfully at Barrett’s sale of the Washington Doll’s House & Toy Museum, the preview will be held onsite, at the Mary Merritt Doll Museum, 843 Benjamin Franklin Highway (Route 422) in Douglassville, Pa., on Thursday and Friday, Sept. 28 and 29. All merchandise will remain at the museum (15 minutes from the Inn at Reading, 45 minutes from Philadelphia) and may be picked up there after the sale.

The sale will be conducted using slide-show images of the items as they are introduced at the podium. All forms of bidding will be available, including absentee, phone bidding (on higher-priced items), and live Internet bidding through eBay Live Auctions. View the entire electronic catalog online through www.liveauctioneers.com. The hard-copy catalog, which includes a souvenir DVD tour of the museum, is available for $45; or bidders may opt to pay the discounted rate of $80 ($90 to Canada; $95 to other overseas addresses) for catalogs applying to both part I and part II of this auction series. International shipping of goods can be arranged.

Part II of the Mary Merritt Doll Museum collection, containing both dolls and toys, will be auctioned by Noel Barrett in association with Becky and Andy Ourant on March 31 and April 1, 2007. Enquiries regarding either sale, or requests for a private preview, may be directed to Andy Ourant at 610-662-5473. Noel Barrett Auctions can be contacted at 215-297-5109, fax 215-297-0457, e-mail: toys@noelbarrett.com. Web site: www.noelbarrett.com.

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