My last post was about a case of mistaken identity. Imagine my surprise at the following case of un-mistaken identity.

My mother found a doll in a trunk owned by her mother. She knew my mother-in-law and her sisters had a great interest in dolls that she had passed on to me and her granddaughters. She asked me to look at the doll and asked me what I thought. I’m not an expert, but I knew she was very special. Her limbs were loosely fixed to her body, but her face, torso, arms, legs and delicate fingers were intact. She was clean and her bisque face had no marks.

“Let me take you and her to the Doll Hospital,” I suggested. “I know just the place to take her near the house.”

Both of us went together. The owner of our doll hospital has been in business for decades. If anyone could tell us about mom’s doll, I knew it would be her. The owner greeted us with her “doctor’s coat”, very carefully took the doll from my mother, placed her on a “hospital bed” and quietly but confidently stated, “This is a Picasso in the attic.”

“What do you mean?”, we inquired.

“Yes, she’s a J.D. Kestner…made around 1910 in Germany.”

We left the “baby” with the doll house doctor who restrung her limbs and laundered her original dress, diaper and stockings. She gave her new shoes as Mom’s had lost hers long ago.

And so we left knowing the identity of Mom’s doll. How satisfying to have unraveled this mystery and to have had this treasure restored.

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"new shoes" georgettesullins.wordpress.com

Life comes at us so fast, we put things away in the attic or trunk or on the back burner until there’s time to search for answers. Thankfully we found out what my mother’s mother must have known but we had to seek out.
What precious mysteries do you wonder about?

Berlin, Wilmi
Mi, 4. 11. 09

Mit dem Übergang zur dunklen Jahreshälfte wird das alberne Rauchverbot wieder unangenehm spürbar. Als ob es nicht schon genug wäre, sich an das trübe und feuchte Wetter, die sinkenden Temperaturen und die immer früher hereinbrechende Nacht gewöhnen zu müssen, was ja allein schon eine größere mentale und physiologische Umstellung bedeutet, die erst mal ohne Depression und Erkältung bewältigt werden will, hält dieser jahreszeitliche Wechsel (jaja, der November macht seim schlechten Ruf alle Ehre und geht heuer gleich in die vollen – Regen, Regen, Regen ) für den Raucher weitere empfindliche Einschränkungen bereit. In fast allen Stätten der Gastlichkeit, abgesehen einmal von den Eckkneipen und Spelunken , gilt er als unerwünscht, dh. er ist so lange gern gesehen, wie er dem neuen Reglement Folge leistet und es hinnimmt, für eine Zigarette wie für ein anderes physisches Bedürfnis auch (hin)auszutreten, an die frische (schön wär’s) jetzt leider naßkalte, mit Regentropfen und ersten Schneeflocken gespickte Luft. Die große Zumutung bei diesem unchristlichen Wetter wie ein räudiger Hund vor die Tür geschickt zu werden, darf nun wieder bis auf den letzten Zug ausgekostet werden mit der Option auf ärgerliche Gedanken wegen dieses Schildbürgerstreichs. Zum normalen Wahnsinn und dem ganz speziellen Irrsinn demnächst ein Buch oder zumindest ein Büchlein; wobei das RAUCHVERBOT einen Ehrenplatz erhalten wird. Der Titel steht bereits fest und wird demnächst verraten. Daß dieser unerquickliche Zustand nicht ewig dauern und dies bevormundende, die Freiheit einschränkende Gesetz vor der Geschichte keinen Bestand haben wird, möchte ich an dieser Stelle schon einmal prognostizieren. Spätestens wenn die Dinge mal wieder großflächig ins Rollen kommen, mit einigen falschen Prämissen abgerechnet und von einigen gefährlichen Lebenslügen Abschied genommen wird, dürfte auch dieser weltfremde Gängelungsversuch Makulatur sein. Die Geschichte des Rauchens und des Tabaks in Europa ist stets von wechselnden Epochen geprägt, in welchen der Tabak entweder anerkannt und gesellschaftsfähig war oder eben übelst verteufelt und die ihm anhingen mehr oder minder von der Obrigkeit verfolgt wurden. In diesem Zusammenhang hier ein Auszug aus eim vergnüglichen (Pro-Raucher) Büchlein von anno dunnemals, genauer von 1715, mit dem unmißverständlichen Titel:

Auserlesene Ergötzlichkeiten vom TABAC

/Worinnen nicht nur Desselben Ursprung / Würckung / medizinischer Nutzen / Annehmlichkeit und Zierde auf ein anmutige Weise in allerhand poetischen und andern aus Berühmter Männer Schrifften gesamleten Gedancken vorgestellet / Sondern auch Desselben Recht / wie es ehemals Von Herrn Heinrich Ernst Kestnern J.U.D. und Prof. Juris ord. Auf der Universität zu Rinteln in Lateinischer Sprach öffentlich verteidiget worden / dargetan wird. Allen seinen Liebhabern zur Vergnügung mitgetheilet von einem beständigen Tabacs=Freunde. Leipzig / Auf Kosten der Compagnie. 1715Aus diesem Büchlein als Facsimile die erste Seite. 

Geneigter und Tabac=liebender Leser

Über ein anderes, ein furioses Buch hier in eim neuen Beitrag auf eos-o-ton.

…Musikspur: Lionard Cohen – Passing through (Live Songs)…

So, last week, on rather short notice, I ran away from home. A friend wrote in the middle of June, asking if I’d like to go to Atlanta for the UFDC Convention. I had next to no money, but I couldn’t resist the draw of some time away from home, so as crazy as the idea was, I said yes. I knew I could scratch together enough for my flight and my share of the room (which wasn’t inexpensive!), but past that, I would have to depend on peanut butter crackers, potential birthday money, and whatever sales I could stimulate in the few weeks before the trip. Happily, I came up with enough that I could eat one cheap meal out each day and have something to spend in the sales rooms, and a last minute addition of another roommate made it even a bit better. Still, I have to say that it was really tough being in such a fantastic sea of awesome dolls and accessories with so very little money, and there were a couple of wonderful dolls I lost out on because they were just a little beyond what I had in my pocket. But I didn’t come home empty handed -  and now that it’s a week after the event, I don’t even mind having eaten so much peanut butter.

Hotels that look like this inside don’t come with cheap rooms…

View out our window – see the capitol building?

Martine and Hitty Darlene went along with me, so they did a bit of looking around for treasures. Hitty D. found little in her price range that she liked, but she was quite pleased with the pretzel, which reminded her very much of the huge German pretzels one can purchase at Englischer Gartens in Munich.

She really wished she had money to purchase the great bobbin lace pillow, but it was definitely out of her price range,

and the horse was fun to ride, but she couldn’t imagine paying $200 for it!

Martine, with some judicious bargaining and her sweet smile, brought home all sorts of goodies for her brothers and sisters, and a pair of Joyce Nicholsen’s espadrilles for herself. The little doll in the trunk is one of Alison Harwood’s fantastic creations. Jean-Paul apparently already ran off with his little wooden floor puzzle. Martine has promised to teach Gayelle to knit with the dress kit she bought for her. The purse is “so Malloree” that I chipped in a little bit of my money when Martine found herself a bit short at the end of the day.

We also picked out a few pieces of fabric.

And I bought a little something for my sewing room…

I really had a strong desire to bring home a new doll this year, but on my budget, the only things I was finding I could afford were the mundane – which I really don’t need. I’m definitely sufficiently stocked with those. If money were no object (That will be the day!), this is the one doll I’d have had to have owned. She wasn’t the most expensive doll there by a long shot, but she’s the one who stole my heart most completely.

This beautiful Kestner pink tint, covered wagon, china I thought was going to be mine. She wasn’t priced too badly, but still out of my range, but since it was the end of the last day of the show when I found her, I took the info and intended to contact the seller in a few weeks. However, I went back a half hour later and she was gone – sold. I embarrassed myself by crying. I’d so wanted her! However, she was $25 more than every penny I’d brought along, so…

I did find someone to come home with me, though, and she’s a pretty little gal who is unlike anyone else I have, so a nice addition to the family. And I could actually afford to adopt her, which was a big plus. She’s an ABG Dolly Madison china doll, from the early 1870′s, about 25″ tall. Clothes are not original, nor do they come remotely close to fitting her. In fact, they are so small that it’s going to be a trick getting the dress off of her. Her seller was a bit of a sourpuss, too, so she was more than happy to come home with me. I’m looking forward to having some time to dress her more appropriately, and I’m hoping I happen to have at least some underthings to fit her – though I’m not holding my breath on that count.

On Friday, we went to the Atlanta History Center. We saw some wonderful stuff there, but sadly weren’t allowed to bring any of it home in pictures, making it hard to retain what we saw and learned during our visit. These are two of the period homes which we toured – the Swan House and the Tulley Smith Plantation, two totally different types of homes, and each utterly charming in its own way.

And our trip through town netted me one of my favorite styles of city pix.

And in addition to the touring and shopping, there was all sorts of great fun, meeting a number of people I’d only known online until now, room parties, aching feet, and the pride of conquering the public transit system in Atlanta… All in all a very nice week!