Buy Dolls House Dolls Online
When searching for Dolls House Dolls online you are faced with the undeniable fact that your choices are almost limitless.
Dolls house dolls range from simple, rather poorly made mass produced dolls for equally massed produced dolls 
house’s to exquisite artisan produced masterpieces’ suitable for discerning collectors. So where do you start?
The answer to that question rather depends on where you are in the dolls house cycle of interest. One thing for certain is that dolls house dolls would not exist without dolls houses. The earliest representation was found in an Egyptian tomb circa 2000 B.C. where a group of models included the garden or Meket-Re. The landscape was a pond surrounded by sycamore trees overlooked by a porch of an Egyptian house. This may well have been the first ever ‘dolls house’ which even included tiny figures consistent with the scenes.
It was in the middle of the sixteenth century that the earliest recorded replica of a dolls house was commissioned by Albert V, Duke of Bavaria. A copy of his own house it was possibly intended for his daughter but became such a lavish project that visiting aristocrats soon saw the potential and began commissioning craftsman to build their own replica houses. These were no toys, rather more like scale models, and were used to reflect their owners wealth and social standing.
The fashion continued through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and eventually the doll house became a teaching aid for young Victorian ladies learning the basics of household management. It was the Victorians that really began mass producing dolls houses and as they became affordable more families would own one. Their popularity as children’s toys had finally arrived. Meanwhile Germany, where it had all begun, were concentrating on building miniature items including doll house furniture and dolls house dolls.
Now that the dollhouse had evolved into a children’s toy the road forked into two distinct routes. Mass production led to a huge range of doll houses and accessories being manufactured all over the world, some of rather dubious quality it has to be said. Suitable for children of all ages can there be anyone in the western world who has not had access to one of these dolls houses at sometime in their childhood. However adults had never lost their interest and passion for these miniture treasures and a new market began to open for bespoke dollhouses, kits and dolls house dolls.
In 1924 King George V commissioned a dolls house for his wife Queen Mary, designed by famous British architect Sir Edwin Luytens. Known as “The Queen Mary Dollhouse” it can still be seen on display at Windsor Castle. This would be no ordinary affair and Sir Edwin was quoted as saying “Let us devise and design for all time, something which will enable future generations to see how a King and Queen lived in the twentieth century, and what authors, artists and craftsmen of note there were, during their reign”. There were contributions from 1500 tradesman including authors and artists and the house was completed in time to be on show at the British Empire Exhibition in 1924.
Standing a magnificent five feet tall it is over eight feet wide and nearly five feet deep and was built to the now very popular 12th scale. Famous name contributors and items of the time included clocks by Cartier, Doulton China, cars from Rolls Royce, Singer sewing machines and even champagne from Mumm. Interestingly despite the magnificence of this masterpiece there are no tiny figures to enjoy the palatial surroundings. It was not for the want of a good dollmaker either, one school of thought is that it was considered a folly to install dolls house dolls into these settings as they may distract the eye of the beholder.
The house is quite stunning, cost was not a consideration in its construction and it’s no wonder that anyone who sees it is left spellbound. It’s a masterpiece of modelling, more of an exact scale replica of the period really rather than a dollhouse. One can only marvel at the skills and craftsmanship that went into its construction. It’s doubtful that anything quite like it will ever be produced again. This video shows the Queens Dollhouse in every detail and is well worth a few minutes of your time – Miss it at your peril!
It maybe that this was where the hobby of dolls house building and miniature collecting actually began. Many of those who saw the house were inspired themselves to begin their own collection of miniatures.
Across the Atlantic others were also pursuing the idea of producing scale like replicas showing different styles and periods in small individual room boxes. The socialite Mrs James Thorne collected miniatures from around the globe and by the time she was finished had completed sixty eight room settings showing European and American interior design. The collection is housed in the Art Institute of Chicago, Mrs Thorne’s home town, and was built to a scale of one inch to each foot, again the popular 12th scale so well used today.
These days a massive worldwide industry supplies the insatiable market for doll houses and doll house dolls collecting. There are many doll house kits on the market many intricately detailed and aimed at the adult collector and enthusiast. Alongside this are dolls and dollhouses that are meant purely as toys, such as the mass produced Barbie type houses, Barbie fashion dolls and celebrity dolls seen in most toy stores.
The hobby of miniature collecting is becoming even more popular and a growing number of specialist shops, fairs and publications are ready to instruct the beginner or expert in this satisfying hobby. There is something special about creating a miniature representation of past eras or even present events and who knows many of these may well become heirlooms of the future. There is a whole group of artisans that have grownup to supply craftsman made pieces or even special commissions to particular client designs. This level of dedication and interest has served to raise the hobby of dolls house dolls and doll houses to something of an art form and what’s wrong with that?
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