Purchased from Christie’s South Kensington in the 1980s, the group doubled the top estimate to take £6000 from a UK private collector in the November 22-24 auction.
Folk art and toy making merged when the seams of the silver and tin mines in the Ore Mountain area of Saxony started to dry up in the late 18th century. The locals turned their hands (and later, lathes) to making wooden toys using another abundant resource.
Such woodcarving delights inevitably reflected local figures, characters and customs.
As the world changed, so did the products made in Erzgebirge. At SAS a mid-19th century painted wooden train in an original 2ft (61cm) long split-wood box sold to a US private collector for £4200 against an estimate of £800-1200.
Park Lane residence
A 19th century Park Lane stucco dolls’ townhouse – £6800 at Special Auction Services.
Highest price of the auction came for a large late 19th century Park Lane stucco dolls’ townhouse sold for £6800 (estimate £1000-1500) to a German private collector.
SAS said the house, measuring overall 5ft 2in (1.66m) high, was sold at Greenslades in 1985 for £3190 and was described as modelled on a residence in Park Lane, London, by J Henson, 1878.
It was offered ”with a print of the catalogue page and a newspaper advert from Greenslades stating that this house sold for more than the vendor paid for his real house”.
The three-day sale total was £210,000.
