Flea Market Haul: Lots of Good Stuff of All Sizes!

  I still plan to show you my anniversary present, but in the meantime I wanted to show you the goodies I got a the flea market several weeks ago. Lori didn't want to go to our usual flea market because it was so far away and she didn't want to leave her dad that long. (If you read the blog you'll know he passed away recently.He was 93.) We went instead to a closer flea market and got home early. Some of the things we'll see in more detail in upcoming posts,but here's what I got that day.

Keep in mind that High School Musical school and the Monster High School (If you can see it) were already here. I still need to get rid of them.)

That's the Barbie Country Living House. The doll on the top isn't Pippi Longstocking. She's Minna from the book "The Rag Coat",by Lauren Mills,and she's made by Merrymakers. (I love their dolls. You may have seen my post about some Merrymakers doll HERE.)She's with the mini Chinese lantern,which I accidentally set up upside down. There's also a really nice pose doll,(wearing the red hat).

It has the couch,table,and chair,plus a homemade pillow and a clear plexiglass coffee table which I didn't photograph because I forgot all about it.It was invisible in the corner of the kitchen!

She came from the same dealer as the boxed Dr. Littlechap.

Doctor John Littlechap was in his box,(and in his underwear.),and came with some homemade clothes. The pink flip couch/bed is American Girl. The sheet music, from one of our favourite movies, is for Ivy.

The horse statue is a pencil sharpener. The hole punch makes flower shapes.

Recognize this girl?

She's Laurie Partridge (Susan Dey), from The Partridge Family. She was made by Remco and is pretty hard to find. These aren't her original clothes though. She's also from the Dr. Littlechap dealer.
 That dealer had loads of dolls. (I got Laurie Partridge,Dr. Littlechap,4 other dolls, and the flip chair from her.) She was desperate to get rid of them too because she was moving south and didn't want to take it with her. She really wanted me to take that Country Living house! It started out at $20. Then she said I could have it for $15. Then it became $12. She finally got it down to $10. I still didn't really want it because it had a broken spot and was so big it wouldn't fit in my cart,which was already full. She originally wasn't going to sell Dr.Littlechap or the Vogue Jeff doll,(We'll talk about him in a minute.),because she hadn't priced them yet or even taken them out of the tub. I asked her about them though, and she gave me a price finally. Then it started coming down. Then it came down more, and she knocked some off the Country Living house. Then she marked them down again,and offered to throw in the Country Living house for free. She gave me such a deal I took it. I asked her about the pose doll and she gave me the Bradley doll for nothing with it!
   There were lots of miniatures at that flea market.

I love the tiny Holly Hobbie doll. I bought a box of miniatures for $10,and it was full of stuff. From what you see here, the mini veg,the grandfather clock,the metal stuff, and the mini books all came from that box. The blue bowl with flowers inside was made in Germany. That bowl, and the fountain, (on the right), came from another dealer.

There's that fountain. Isn't it great?!The yellow thing is a tiny doll sized pocket knife type fork and spoon.That came in the box too, along with the porcelain head,and the tiny metal statues,(in front of Santa Claus.). Look at those! The doll top middle is Dolly Darlings John.He's wearing his original clothes except his shirt. I got him from the same dealer,but not in the box. The little porcelain figures top right came from a different dealer, along with the little plastic Cracker Jack girl,(middle right,to the right of the tiles.). I have a couple of those that I had as a kid.I always loved them for some reason,and when I was little I lost one. The tiles are real Delft. I got them from the dealer who sold me the fountain. She also sold me the tiny red candy dish, (next to the pocket knife),and the horse pencil sharpener.

    The box was worth the $10 for the little metal statues alone. Most of them were Tinkerbell! (You can see all the Tinkerbells in the plastic box bottom right.) The others were really realistic figures though.(They're by the porcelain figures.)

There's the Bradley doll that came from the same seller as Dr. Littlechap and Laurie Partridge,and the Vogue Jeff doll on the left. Jeff was Jill's boyfriend.
 

You can see the box of miniature books (on the bottom left.),and the porcelain Blue Boy and friend here,bottom right.

He's in really nice shape and has his clothes. There's also a Christmas ornament and a Happy Family Ryan doll dressed in the Tommy prince outfit. The cool little shelf full of minis was only $3 from the dealer I bought the box of minis from!

Look at all that great stuff. It's removable too.

  This flea market wasn't like the farmery flea markets we usually go to,so not only did I find alot more stuff, some of the prices were not as good,since these people often knew the value of the stuff I'm looking for better than the dealers at the farmery flea markets. I still got some really good deals though. When I bought several things from one dealer they usually discounted it for me. I'm not sure Lori will want to go to that flea market again,since the farmery ones are more her thing.It's closer though, so maybe I can get Emma or Ken to go with me sometime. Next time we'll see what Ken got me for our anniversary.

Doll-A-Day 2017 #312: Holly Hobbie

  Monday was Ivy's birthday,and she's still celebrating.

Ivy opening her signed copy of "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society". I've been sending the author,Annie Barrows, books to sign for Ivy since Ivy was little, and reading the "Ivy and Bean" books.

 Fuzzy and his girlfriend are coming over to enjoy Mexican take out with us and then Ivy will finally be blowing out candles on an ice cream cake. Ken likes to make birthdays stretch out at least a week, so we'll be at Ivy's mercy for a few more days at least.

Today's doll is one I had forgotten I had. I came across her yesterday while digging around for something else.

This poor lonely looking girl is Holly Hobbie.

At least, I think she's Holly. She could be a Holly friend. I'm thinking she's Holly because Holly seems to be the only one that came in brown boots, like this girl's. If anybody can identify her for sure,let me know.

She was made by Knickerbocker in 1974.

She measures 10" tall.

I'm guessing she originally had an apron or pinafore or something. She does have her original dress and bloomers, as well as her boots and stockings.

  And how do I know these are her originals? Because the dress is sewn up the back and can't be removed, and the boots are so hard to get off that there's no way the socks could be changed! Are the boots supposed to be non-removable? I have no idea, but I was afraid I was going to rip her leg off trying, so I gave up! That must be why her apron or whatever is gone: it was the only thing the kid could get off, so it was going!

She has cute freckles, and, as Ivy exclaimed in amazement last night, "These Holly Hobbie dolls have  practically no nose at all!"
 

Her tiny mouth and eyes are painted indentations.

Her knees don't bend, but her legs are plastic down to just above the knees. Then the rest of her leg is vinyl. Weird.

Her hair is pretty thin. I don't think it started life this thin, but probably not far from it. It's also the type that gets crispy on the ends. Her hair was pretty nasty before her trip to the Tam Spa.

These 10" dolls are a bit less known than the smaller Holly Hobbie dolls. This is the only one I've ever found, while the little ones pop up now and then.

You can see one of my small Knickerbocker Holly Hobbie dolls HERE.

While I was taking Holly's picture I noticed that we still have some sweet peas left.

But the Rose of Sharon's seem to have finally called it quits.

Although there are still a few viable looking buds.

Come back tomorrow to see what else I managed to run across yesterday.

Doll-A-Day 2017 #25: Holly Hobbie Amy by Knickerbocker

  Today we're looking at another popular doll from the past,a Holly Hobbie friend.

The first Holly Hobbie dolls were produced in the early 70's, and included several rag dolls of 'Holly', her friends, and even her brother, 'Robbie Hobbie'. This particular Holly Hobbie doll is Holly's friend Amy. This line was produced by Knickerbocker in 1975.

Amy's outfit consists of a long dress...

...with bloomers that match the sleeves...

 ...a bonnet with a band of that same fabric,and she originally had white stockings and tan shoes.

I think this doll belonged originally to the mother of Emma's friend Felicia. you may have seen some of Felicia's wedding pictures when I posted them after my first time being a wedding photographer.

Amy's sweet little face was simple,with minimal colour, like the original illustrations.Her hair came in braids.

Her dress closed in the back with velcro and tied.

And her bloomers, or pantaloons, have an elastic waist.

 

'Holly Hobbie' was named after her creator,Denise Holly Ulinskas Hobbie, a writer and illustrator.

The REAL Holly Hobbie.

She created the nameless character that became Holly Hobbie in the late 1960's or early 70's,(Accounts differ.),as illustrations for American Greetings. Holly originally had her bonnet covering her face, like the traditional 'Sunbonnet Sue', and always had a cat with her.

Her back is marked 'Holly Hobbie AGC 1975 made in Hong Kong'.

Her head is only marked 'AGC made in Hong Kong'.

  The real Holly Hobbie was born in 1944, which makes her 73 years old, and today she lives in Massachusetts, where she writes and illustrates the Toot and Puddle book series.

 
Toot and Puddle star in not only their own book series, but their own cartoon series as well. There are also loads of Toot and Puddle products, such as dolls, and Christmas ornaments. I love pigs and I own at least one doll and one Christmas ornament!

  Holly,(the real one!),has also written and illustrated the children's book "Fanny", and it's sequel, "Fanny and Annabel". "Fanny" is about a little girl,(named Fanny!), who wants a Bratz type doll called 'Connie', which her mother refuses to buy for her because she doesn't like how the doll looks. So Fanny decides to make her own  'Connie' doll. When Fanny's 'Connie' doesn't look like her friend's dolls, they scorn her. Fanny puts her doll, Annabel away in a drawer until she realizes that her doll has it's own unique qualities that make her special. While playing hospital with her friends, whose dolls are all nurses with faces full of make up, Annabel turns out to be the doctor who takes charge.

In "Fanny and Annabel" Fanny decides to write her own book.

Holly Hobbie became very popular, and appeared on a wide range of merchandise, including greeting cards, books, an 'Easy Bake Oven' type toy in the style of an old wood stove...

...ceramics such as plates and mugs, stationary products, fabrics,nick nacks, Christmas ornaments, bedding, and craft items.

Holly Hobbie sheets.

  Eventually Holly's popularity waned. In 2006 a new line of Holly Hobbie dolls was produced, featuring 12" versions of Holly and friends in modern styled clothes. The line was discontinued in 2010.

See you tomorrow for another doll.