Diane the Bride, c.1880s

From my one winning bid at the Letty Schwarz auction: Diane the Bride was part of a small lot of cut paper dolls. Isn't she lovely?

Letty's Auction II

At Letty's Auction

The Letty Schwarz Collection

Letty Schwarz at the 2009 Paper Doll Convention in Las Vegas. 

She was smart, funny, sharp. I didn't know her half as well as I would have liked. We always had a lot of catching up to do at the convention. I was so looking forward to seeing her last year in Virginia. I will miss her.

Letty collected antique paper dolls, and she had a keen eye for 19th century hand-mades -- delicately drawn and painted, rich in detail. She also collected contemporary paper doll artists, especially in the silent auctions for original artwork. 

On Friday, April 3, the Rhoads Auction House in Pennsylvania will be auctioning off the lifetime collection of Letty Schwarz's paper dolls. Online bidding has already begun. 

You can find out more about the auction by clicking here. 

More from the Crossley catalog

 Online bidding has begun at Theriault's. Bid here.(Link fixed)

Some rare Sunday supplement sheets.

The Crossley Paper Doll Auction

Theriault's will once again auction items from the Virginia Crossley paper doll collection on Sunday, March 27. The online bidding has already started. You can view the full catalog and place a bid here.

Virginia had a phenomenal collection of uncut celebrity books, in addition to all kinds of vintage and antique treasures. Here are some of my favorites. Several items I've never seen before; the last picture shows a handmade collection. Click images for a close-up view.

Penny Ross paper dolls

This lot of Penny Ross paper dolls went for $1,000 at the Monday auction of Virginia Crossley paper dolls. Whoa!

Convention 2010: Dress Up Night

UPDATE: Be sure to visit Marge Schaffer's blog for many rare and wonderful comic strip paper dolls.
And be sure to click image above to see detail.


For those of you who might be new to the site: The International Paper Doll Convention will be July 1-4 in Kansas City, Mo. Click on the link to the left for more information. I've been running updates for those who are attending. Hope this piques your interest for attending future conventions!

Dressing Up
Dress is casual at convention but one night is usually reserved for a themed dress-up party.
Saturday, July 3 is that night this year, and the theme is "Paper Doll Ladies and Gents of the Comics." Your inspiration can come from a comic strip or comic book: Boots, Jane Arden, Brenda Starr, Winnie Winkle, Tillie the Toiler or Archie, Betty and Veronica--and dozens of other possibilities. If only I could find a frock as fetching as Fashion Fanny's (try saying that three times!), I'd be set...  

Above: "Fashion Fanny and Her Friends/ The Paper Doll that Sets the Styles," drawn by Winifred Goodsell, appeared in the Detroit Free Press in the 1920s.

Fashion Fanny is part of the Virginia Crossley Paper Doll Collection which is being auctioned by Theriaults on June 21. Click here for more information.

Here are some other comic strip dolls from my collection that I've featured in the past:

Convention 2010: The UFDC Museum Tour

 

THE UFDC DOLL MUSEUM (The United Federation of Doll Clubs)

 

There's no easy way of getting to the museum via mass transit, so a carpool is being organized. Contact Sandy Vanderpool at Sndyvanpool(at)aol(dot)com before June 28 if you're interested in driving or riding along. Sandy needs to know how many cars will be available so please contact her as soon as you can.

 

The plan is to have all those going assemble in the hotel lobby at 9:45 AM on Wednesday, June 30, with the car pools leaving at 10 A.M. sharp.

For more information about the museum, check out the  UFDC web site.

Above, Betty Jane by Fern Bisel Peat from the Crossley collection.

Convention 2010: Airport Shuttle

It's that time of year! In less than 4 weeks paper doll collectors from around the U.S. and the world will gather at the Embassy Suites Country Club Plaza in the heart of Kansas City, MO. Over the next few days, I'll post excerpts from Garth Lax's highly informative e-mail messages. For those who haven't registered, it's not too late. Click on the Paper Doll Convention icon to the left of your screen for the registration form.

THE AIRPORT SHUTTLE

 

For those flying to Kansas City International Airport (MCI), your most sensible transportation to the Convention Hotel is  the Supershuttle (which holds up to 10 passengers). The current price between airport and hotel is $18.00 one-way, $36 round-trip.

 

If you make a round trip reservation by telephone at 1-800-258-3826, and pre-pay it, the round trip fare will drop to $31.00.

 

Above, another great image from the Theriault's online auction catalog of Virginia Crossley's paper doll collection. These are the calendar dolls from 1917. They remind me of the large Woolworth dolls of the same era.

The Virginia Crossley Collection III

 

Virginia Crossley had many World War II era paper dolls, the era of her childhood.

Theriaults auction: June 21.

The Virginia Crossley Collection II

You can register for the June 21 Theriaults auction of the Crossley collection at Proxibid.

  A Nell Brinkley paper doll.

The Virginia Crossley Collection I

Theriaults has posted an online catalog of the Virginia Crossley Collection of Paper Dolls in anticipation of the June 21 auction. It's a terrific collection, with many rare items. Even the familiar ones are in rare mint condition.