Estate Sale of Dean Betsey Brodahl A Call for Dolls

Anyone who attended this sale May 11, 2013 at Lincoln, NE, may have bought some of the dolls that were part of this collection. The sale was held by Ford and Ford at Ford.net. If you are interested in selling any of the dolls purchased from Dean Betsey's estate, please contact me via this blog. Also, if anyone bought an olive green tweed dress with a matching olive green tweed scarf and you would part with it, also contact me. I reviewed some real estate this past week for the brick/mortar museum. It is somewhat disheartening. I am looking for the not-too-distant future, but I know that I will need nonprofit fundraisers and sponsors. Heating alone could cost thousands each year, let alone insurance, air conditioning, security, code compliance, etc. If all else fails, I'll remodel our house. We have too good a collection to just let it sit or slip into oblivion. I hope the beneficiary of the H. Clarke collection will cherish what she has, and consider a public display, just as I hope Shirley Temple will one day again allow her doll collection to be on display as it was at the Stanford Children’s Hospital for so many years where I saw it and even photographed it as a child. Our book on metal dolls is doing well, and a signing will be announced soon on Facebook. Look for the book to land at Alibris, but you may also buy it from me. The cost is 20.00 plus $5.95 postage. I will sign it. Those who buy it, please leave comments here or on my other blogs. I know there are those who would copy me, and I feel as though I have been in an uneasy and unhealthy race the last two years, but I did get the book out. Perhaps the UFDC will be kinder about reviewing this book. I asked if I could send my bibliography to them gratis for their archives in exchange for a review, and they pretty much accused me of trying to write an ad. I was not. They directed me to their advertising department, costs listed and everything. This is not what I wanted at all. I thought they would be thrilled as alleged doll scholars to have copy of my book, but apparently I was very wrong. Still, I think this and the book on metal dolls and automatons will be valuable for dealers, libraries, doll collectors, doll makers, and museums alike. I spent over 25 years on the metal dolls, and will bring out other editions. Janet Johl and Luella Hart are my muses in this, as are my dear friends Mary Hillier and R. Lane Herron. Doll Castle News, on the other hand, was amazing at reviewing the Bibliography of Dolls and Toys. Again, if anyone has information about the Pewter Headed Huret that once belonged to Dorothy Dixon, I would like to know. I'd also like to know if there is a catalog of the sale involving the Dixon/Langley collection. We have added our share to the museum collection; today I found cast iron fire engines and carriages, 1 dollar each, and a whole set of cast iron racing horses for five dollars, paint perfect. Also, I found two mass produced porcelain dolls for $1.00 each!! One has its box. These are already in museums in Canada, and I saw them there as late as 1989. I was able to find a miniature doll under a dome made of burrs, twigs and straw flowers. It is very intricate, and a real sculpture. There is a wonderful black wool jointed Puss in Boots with little red boots, and a painting which features him. At this sale I also found a pressed German figurine, probably Meissen, representing a young milk maid gracefully bending at the waist. I was reading Lever's Marie Antoinette, The Last Queen of France and that influenced me. I also bought a small, about 4 inch, bronze Buddha head, professionally mounted. It is probably 18th century. Doll clothes and smocked baby clothes of the right size seem to find me. I found some gorgeous Silvestri automatons for our next book on the topic. These have special meaning because my husband's grandfather once designed lights for them. At our Greek Festival, held at my Church, I found a soft sculpture Ethnic doll, one of the female dancers of Crete or Lefkada. She is new to me in the realm of Greek dolls, and very pretty. I refer you to my colleague Maria Argyriades, friend of Mary Hillier, at the Benaki Museum in Athens for Greek dolls. She has written more than one book or article on the subject. I found a lovely turned china head, with the more common black curls, and two tiny crawling piano babies. I am very fond of small dolls, and I believe our collection at the Museum has one of the most important collections of miniature dolls in the entire world. My research on Hugo continues. I am looking forward to that conference. Dolls and automatons pop up often in my Intellectual Property class, and my students enjoy them.