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(EMAILWIRE.COM, February 16, 2007 ) WYOMISSING, Pa. - Noel Barrett in association with Andy Ourant will present the final auction of dolls, toys, automata, dollhouses and miniature dollhouse furnishings from the Mary Merritt Doll & Toy Museum March 31 and April 1 at the Inn at Reading, Wyomissing, Pa. The 1,069-lot sale features many bonus categories, including Kewpies, paper dolls, sample-size furniture and miniature versions of redware, tableware and English Staffordshire china. “We made a special point of saving lots of goodies for this last sale of the Merritt Museum series,” said Ourant. “Bidders are going to be very happy with what we’ve held back.” Both Ourant and Barrett expect the final installment of toys and dolls from the legendary Merritt museum – whose auction proceeds to date have topped $4 million – to attract a crowd just as large and eager to buy as the one that came to the fall sale. “By New Year’s Day we had already sold 1,000 catalogs for the spring sessions,” said Barrett. “We’ve never seen anything like it. The interest has been huge, and we expect this auction to bring results similar to those of the fall sale. Andy thinks the automata in part two are even better than what we offered previously.”An extensive selection of antique automata and French mechanical toys will cross the auction block. Within the inventory are more than two dozen automata by such prestigious European manufacturers as Roullet et Descamps and Vichy. A standout lot is a Renou woman magician who presides over a puppet show and conjures an illusion with dice and three puppet heads. The grouping also includes a magician with ball, and several flower vendors.Early pull toys comprise another featured category. “There’s a great one of a woman riding a cloth-covered donkey on a wheeled platform,” said Ourant. “It’s a very nicely crafted German toy. The doll has a bisque head.” Within the selection of crank toys to be offered is a four-member black jazz band.Family-owned Merritt’s, which closed its doors on Dec. 31, 2005 after more than four decades of operation, was known for its magnificent collection of antique dollhouses. Among those to be sold in the spring event are a mammoth Regency Gothic townhouse, fine English and American hand-crafted houses, and examples of production dollhouses from such makers as Silber & Fleming. An entire section of the sale is devoted to furniture and miniatures. Bidders can look forward to an extensive array of Walterhausen Biedermeyer furniture, ormolu dollhouse accessories, dollhouse dolls and an Evans & Cartwright oversize chair.The 25 lots of paper dolls include a 19th-century French assortment with its original box, and several English paper-doll sets, including Little Henry and Little Fanny, plus many paper dolls from makers such as Raphael Tuck, McLoughlin, and Austin & Smith. Additionally, the sale features an incredible collection of German pincushion half dolls. Many high-quality examples are to be offered, including several versions of La Belle Chocolatiere and more than a dozen examples of large and exceptional Dressel & Kistel half dolls.The Merritt museum was internationally known for its spectacular collection of antique dolls of every type, including papier-mâché, French fashion dolls, bébés, German character dolls, crèche, English wax, china and wooden types. Among the highlights are three French fashion dolls that originally had belonged to three sisters. Two of the dolls are by Bru, and one is a Jumeau. All will be accompanied by their extensive wardrobes.Another featured doll is a superb Bru bébé modele – a fully articulated wood doll with 10 extra dresses – that was discovered in Reading, Pa. “It’s probably from around 1875,” said Ourant, “and it’s exceptional – truly one of the finest dolls in the sale. It’s sure to bring a lot of money.”Other noteworthy doll lots include two coveted Hurets, a Simon & Halbig 1303 American Indian and other character dolls, a circa-1840 Jacob Petit French china doll with wardrobe, bébés by Bru, Steiner and Jumeau (including a triste Jumeau), a portrait-face FG and a German Morning Glory china doll with molded flowers in its hair. A fine selection of French fashion doll accessories, 20th-century baby dolls and a long-admired Merritt Museum fixture – a French cast-iron spiral staircase that was used to display dolls – round out the exciting final sessions. In summarizing the contents of the final Mary Merritt Doll Museum auction, Ourant remarked, “I’m as proud of this sale as the last one. It may not contain a Hope Villa dollhouse, which sold in the fall session for $225,500, but it’s full of untouched, original pieces that are exactly as they were in their museum showcases 40 years ago.”Part II of the Mary Merritt Doll Museum collection will be auctioned on March 31 and April 1 at the Inn at Reading in Wyomissing (greater Reading), Pa. Request a special auction room rate by calling 1-800-383-9713. Repeating the method employed during previous Merritt auction sessions, the preview will be held onsite at the Mary Merritt Doll Museum, 843 Benjamin Franklin Highway (Route 422) in Douglassville, Pa., on Thursday and Friday, March 29 and 30. All merchandise will remain at the museum (15 minutes from the Inn at Reading, 45 minutes from Philadelphia) and may be picked up there after the sale.The sale will be conducted using slide-show images of the items as they are introduced at the podium. All forms of bidding will be available, including absentee, phone bidding (on higher-priced items), and live Internet bidding through eBay Live Auctions. View the entire electronic catalog online through www.liveauctioneers.com. The hard-copy catalog, which includes a souvenir DVD tour of the museum, is available for $45 ($50 to Canada, $55 to other overseas addresses); or bidders may opt to pay the discounted rate of $80 ($90 to Canada; $95 to other overseas addresses) for catalogs from both part I and part II of this auction series. To order catalogs, call 215-297-5109. International shipping of goods can be arranged. Enquiries regarding the sale and requests for a private preview may be directed to Andy Ourant at 610-662-5473 or e-mail ourant@ptd.net. Noel Barrett Auctions can be contacted at 215-297-5109, fax 215-297-0457, e-mail: toys@noelbarrett.com. Web site: www.noelbarrett.com.
Joseph Nchor
britamermedia@aol.com 
Source: EmailWire.com
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