Philadelphia Dolls and miniatures auction
Published March 31st, 2006
Dolls and miniatures from a number of well-known private collectors will be featured at two auctions in the suburbs next week, while an estate sale this evening also will offer the opportunity to think small.
Sanford Alderfer Auction Co. will offer more than 1,100 lots of dolls, puppets and marionettes; teddy bears and other stuffed animals; dollhouses; miniature furniture and tableware; and doll parts at a two-day sale titled “Sweet Memories.”
Most of the items – many from the estates of Louise Winkler and Philadelphia opera singer Pauline Birdsall Adamy and from the Pennsylvania Doll Club – will be sold at the sale’s second session, beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday at Alderfer’s gallery, 501 Fairgrounds Rd., Hatfield.
About 50 of those lots also will be offered live on eBay, including a French bisque doll from the Adamy estate that is expected to sell for $1,750 to $2,000. One or two other dolls also may sell for more than $1,000. But most of the 140 traditional bisque dolls that will open Thursday’s session are expected to bring modest three-figure prices.
Two German-made bisque dolls that depict bathing beauties and will be sold on eBay are attracting a lot of attention, said doll consultant Roxanne LeMay Morison: One has a swimsuit painted on, the other is in the buff. Morison said presale estimates were $150 to $300, but that she expected the prices to go far higher.
An American Indian doll about seven inches high is expected to sell for $300 to $400. “People like it because of the beadwork on its costumes,” Morison said.
The 500 lots in the first session, to begin at 1 p.m. Wednesday, will include small dolls, some of them tourist figures, doll clothes, body parts, and supplies.
Previews are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday and 7 a.m. to sale time Thursday. For more information, call 215-393-3000 or go to www.alderferauction.com.
