Thursday, April 30, 2009

A Secondhand Furniture Shop!

Inspired by Pubdoll, I have put together a secondhand furniture shop.



It's not as pleasant as hers, but is based mainly on one here in Darwin where I have bought a desk, some bookshelves, etc. It is crammed - tables sitting on top of other tables, passageways so narrow in some places that you have to go sideways - and sometimes you come to a dead end and have to go back.


The other room in this little secondhand shop is more inviting - nice lounge suites, embroidered doilies and table cloths, tea-sets, nick-nacks, and even a couple of dolls - are all displayed to tempt the buyer.

The shop assistants are not here at the moment - it must be after closing hours. But I hope they do sell some of their stock - I could fill this space over again with other spare furniture!

The roombox I've used for this secondhand shop is one I bought from Germany in its box:


(The drawings along the bottom of this box no doubt illustrate one of the reasons for giving little girls dolls houses and roomboxes - so they could learn about housekeeping!)


It's a construction set, made of wood and masonite. The upright wall posts slot into the floor with pegs, and the wall and window sections slide down between the posts. It's very easy to put together! I've chosen to have both windows in one room, but you could put one in each, on the side walls or back walls, or even one in the wall between the rooms, I think. If I was using it for any other purpose (such as the hospital I need a building for), I'd probably want to paint or wallpaper it. But it's perfect as it is for a secondhand furniture shop!

As with the German bedroom furniture in my VERO house, the maker is a mystery here. DBGM just means 'Deutsches Bundes Gebrauchmuster' - 'German Federal Registered Design'. I suspect the castle motif on the top of the box signifies the maker - if only we knew whose motif it was!

PS - I forgot when I wrote this that I had seen a similar box on the Puppenhausmuseum website (50er - 32). I have checked, and indeed it is the same - according to their information, it was made by the firm W. Fritzsche, ca 1958.

3 comments:

  1. So fun that you were inspired by me:)
    I love that your second-hand shop is so crammed! I have been in quite a few second-hand shops and like the ones which are almost bursting at the seams best, where you can feel like you're on a treasure hunt!
    So many nice things in your shop, I will come back to see if I can find more treasures hidden away! That is, if my daughter's Carol Line doesn't beat me to it! My shop would have been a lot more packed hadn't it been for her.
    -Helene

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  2. Hi Rebecca,
    the photo of the box is in Swantje Köhler's "Lexikon der Puppenstuben", too. She has the following information about the firm:

    Burgdorfer Baukastenfabrik W. Fritzsche, Burgdorf.
    1951: Gründung durch Willi Fritzsche, Sohn des Baukastenfabrikanten Carl Fritzsche (Blumenau/Erzgebirge)
    1957: DBGM 1761174:"Puppenstubenbaukasten"
    1958: DBGM 1813047:"Baukastenteile zum Zusammenbau von Puppenstuben"
    1960: inseriert "Ideal-Häuserbaukasten mit Ergänzungs- und Zusatzkästen und -Beuteln für Miethäuser, Geschäftshäuser, Landhäuser und Puppenhäuser, Eigenheime usw. in allen Variationen und Größen, festgefügt und transportabel."
    1962: Erwähnt mit "Puppenstuben ein- und zweiteilig, zusammenlegbar, zum Selbsttapezieren oder lackiert - in Schiebehülle."
    1964: Tod von Willi Fritzsche
    1968 noch mal erwähnt und 1969 von "Juri" übernommen.

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  3. Thank you! I really hope Swantje can republish her book somehow - I would love to have a copy.
    So the castle motif stands for Burgdorf, very nice to know :-)

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