THE LETTEROF SWEDEN

A Quarterly Newsletter Published for Members of the We Love Lundby Club

DECEMBER 2008Volume 5Number 4

WE GET MESSAGES from Lundby Loversall over the world! Here is an example:

“My name is Becky Bradley. My par-ents purchased a wooden dollhouse andfurnishings for me for Christmas in 1971.At the time, my father was a tech rep forthe US Air Force and we were living inBitburg, Germany. We lived in town on thetop floor of a three-story house. My doll-house had exactly the same number ofrooms as our home—an eat-in kitchen, aliving room, one full bath and two bed-rooms. Did I mention there were seven ofus? Yes, two parents and five kids aged 10,9, 6, 2 and a newborn. I don’t know howmy mother did it!

“My parents purchased my dollhouseand furnishings at our favorite toy storeDie Ecke, and I spent my allowance thereadding Lundby pieces to my house. I havea lot of interesting non-Lundby items aswell—a wooden go-cart, baby carriage,rocking horse, and a wicker baby cradle

Becky Bradley, who now resides in Florida, shares this photo of her beautiful Lundby house, all decked out forChristmas! Dollhouses are so important in our lives because they place us in a period in history, and we can returnto those days any time we like!

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with the teepee top. I still have the Lund-by catalog, which is of course in German.

“Out of curiosity, I searched on theInternet to see if I could find anything onmy dollhouse. Imagine my surprise to findthe We Love Lundby Club site with a pic-ture of my dollhouse, including at leasthalf of the furnishings I have! It’s nice toknow I have something special.” ♥

www.toysmiles.com

Anna-Maria Sviatko answers questions about her col-lection for a local radio station.

Playing House, Contemporary Dolls’ Houses

1957–2007Canberra Museum & Gallery

Canberra, Australia

AUSTRALIAN MEMBER Anna-Maria Sviatkoadopted a homemade dollhouse from aneighbor’s shed when she was nine or tenyears old. That was the beginning of heradmitted obsession with dollhouses andminiatures that continues to this day.

Her exhibitionof fourteen ¾ inch(1/16th and 1/18th)scale houses atCanberra Museum& Gallery was

opened by the Swedish Ambassador, HESven-Olof Petersson, in front of an enthu-siastic crowd of 70 people on October 11this year.

The houses were acquired over the pastfive years. Her first purchase was a Lundywhich she bought at a local miniaturesshow in March 2003. Other dollhouses inthe collection on display include Brio,Caroline’s Home, Kaleidoscope, Lisa,Tomy, Triang, and Vero. The exhibit runsthrough January 26, 2009.

Lundby Evokes Memories of Our Childhoods“It’s Nice to Know I Have Something Special”

Grand Projects in Store for Members FOUR YEARS AGO we first welcomed you tothe We Love Lundby Club newsletter.Since then, we’ve uncovered many inter-esting tidbits about Lundby, both old andnew.

Don’t miss the “Letter from the Editor”which is included in your mailing. It ischocked full of information about renew-ing your dues, the website, annual conven-tion, and future articles. You’ll want to bepart of all our plans as we endeavor tolearn more about Lundby’s history. ♥

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2 THE LUNDBY LETTERP

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See Anna-Maria’s posts about thegallery opening here:http://theshoppingsherpa.blogspot.com/2008/10/opening-shots.html

and here: http://theshoppingsherpa.blogspot.com/2008/10/thats-so-yesterday.html

or download an interview she did with alocal radio station about her collection here: http://theshoppingsherpa.blogspot.com/2008/11/cmag-cmag-cmag.html. ♥

Playing House—continued from page 1

“But It Looks So Real!” By Renee Ganim

IT’S HOLIDAY TIME and many of us wantto “check out” our dollhouses. We dustand clean, check the lights, etc. Those

of us who celebrate Christmas might evenput up a tree. We indulge in a hobby forpleasure. Our rewards are both immediateand continuous. We don’t expect a returnon our investment other than pleasure.

Does that mean therefore that weshould overpay for damaged goods? This isan intriguing question and can be arguedboth ways. If a party planner requires tablesand 200 chairs to set up an exhibit, we askright away if three legged furniture orpieces with damaged paint can be includedin the lot. Usually the answer is, “as long asit looks good.” In this case the purchaser ispaying for your ability to provide a pack-age that contains both first quality and nicesecond quality (i.e., three legs) pieces inorder to fill such a large demand.

But how about the swimming pool soldon eBay without ladder or diving board?We know how to reproduce a board, butwho’s working on the ladder? Sometimes,it’s our fault. We get caught up in theexcitement and forget that we are payingmore than we should for a good piece. Theonly one that can save us is ourselves.

Knowledge is power!!!

Two hot tips from the Lundby lab. Aprestigious research foundation has foundthat people are more inclined to “observe”in the direction of the language they read.When collecting three-legged furniture,try to get examples where the right sideleg is missing when viewing the piecefrom the front. Less likely to be noticed.

In conclusion, our Swedish scientistfriend says that we would be deprived ofcollecting three-legged furniture but notfor Lundby’s gluing the legs to cardboardbacks for packaging. However, thesepieces will become scarce like everythingelse and still be in hot demand. Therefore,we welcome comments and criticism, butwe do not sell three-legged furniture.Only when it becomes rare, will we trulyenjoy the profits!

Also, the orange color needed for thediving board and ping pong table paddlescan be found on the large Centrum bottles.It is rather hard to soak off though. Or bet-ter yet, use the large Centrum box becausethe paper is easy to peel from the box.

We wish you the Happiest Holiday Sea-son!!

Next time, the auction where you don’tknow who the bidders are, the seller is, orwhat you are buying. ♥

THIS WONDERFUL RESOURCE BOOK, fea-turing more than 525 color photos of

over 1500 dolls, traces the history of com-mercially made miniature dolls—families,household help, community professionals,nationally costumed, and storybook char-acters over 150 years. Dolls made of wood,cloth, china, parian, all-bisque, painted-over bisque, paper, cardboard, plastic, rub-ber, composition, celluloid, and vinyl arepictured, many with dollhouse miniaturesappropriate to their period.

Special emphasis is given to the dollsand doll makers of the Great Depression,

Editor’s Note: The promotion above will beprinted on the flyleaf of this new dollhouse dollsbook, due to be published in the spring of 2009.A “collector’s discount” will be offered to WLLCmembers. When the book is available, a noticewill be posted on the club website.

WWII, and the Baby Boomer Era, includ-ing many examples from Germany, theUnited Kingdom, Scandinavia, Japan, theUnited States, and elsewhere around theworld. New research, some based oninterviews with relatives and friends ofmid-20th Century artisans, is featuredthroughout.

The place of these dolls in their histor-ical context is also explored to helpexplain how their fashions, hairstyles, andsubjects evolved over a century and a half.A richly detailed bibliography will helpguide collectors to source material on thisdelightful subject, both traditionally pub-lished and on-line.

Current estimates of value accompanythe photo captions to help collectors anddealers determine current market pricing.The wide range of dolls, manufacturers,and dollmakers discussed and pictured

will make this an indispensable identifica-tion guide for anyone interested in thehobby. ♥

Dollhouse & Miniature Dolls 150 Years 1840 to 1990

By Marcie and Bob Tubbs with Dian Zillner

Marcie and Bob Tubbs created this title page sam-ple for Lundby dolls for their publisher, SchifferPublishing Ltd.

Jolly Old St. Nick wishesyou all a very MERRY

CHRISTMAS as he sitsatop a Stockholm roof

just waiting to go down the chimney. The

Lundby grandfather dollplaying the role of Santa

looks dashing in the “tomtedräkt,” or

Santa suit from the 2007 Lundby Advent Calendar (the belt is

from a Lundby father doll).

Lundby Connections

YES, RITA, THERE WAS A LUNDBY CAS-TLE. In the September 2005 issue of

The Lundby Letter Rita Gorenson, Iowa,asked if Lundby had ever made a castle.Until now we couldn’t say for sure, but,thanks to an eBay seller, we can now def-initely say that Lundby once made a cas-tle. The one we were tracking sold for $45.Photo from eBay seller.

♥WHATEVER HAPPENED to the transformerhole in the back of the Lundby house?Elisabeth Lantz, Sweden, has solved thatmystery in her role as our “Lundby Guru.”Elisabeth answered Vermont member JuliePlovnick’s question about why her 1987dollhouse lacked a hole in the back for thetransformer. Elisabeth tells us that theopening disappeared on the Gothenburghouse in 1981, with the house that cameout with flowered wallpaper in the upperliving room.

♥ALL OF US CAN USE A LITTLE RESTORATION!We’re speaking of our Lundby dollhouses,that is! There are kits out there to help usremodel our dollhouses, but they are fewand far between. Anna-Maria Sviatkosent these photos which were on eBayrecently. Don’t we all wish they showed upmore often!

♥MARION OSBORNE, UK, KEEPS SENDING USMYSTERIES! The photo of this “Puppen-TeeService” made in West Germany appearsto have some of the same pieces as theLundby coffee party set #6604, but it’s in

December 2008 3

Making Old ‘Bits & Bobs’ New

THE BASHING/RE-PURPOSING CONTEST,our competition for 2008, has pro-

duced dual winners: Patricia Harrington,ME; and Julie Plovnick, VT. Both Patriciaand Julie used vintage Lundby items tocreate new pieces.

Patricia re-purposed a flower stand totransform a wall cabinet and a sink unitinto a free-standing kitchen unit. Juliebashed a glass cabinet to construct a dress-er and a medicine cabinet.

Heartfelt congratulations are extendedto our two 2008 winners, who will havecomplimentary memberships during theyear of 2009.

Photographs and instructions for thewinning projects are given in the Craftingwith Lundby insert which is included inyour packet. The winners will also beshowcased on the club website during2009. ♥

an unusual packaging. Could this be yetanother Lundby item made and packagedby a different company?

♥HAVE YOU EVER SEARCHED Google’s Images?You can look forever at Lundby dollhous-es by clicking on Images (located on thetop left hand side) on www.google.com.Enter “Lundby” and Voila. Click on anindividual image and Google takes you toits home on the Internet.

♥

BEWARE OF NON-LUNDBY ITEMS ON EBAY.Not only do sellers misrepresent non-Lundby miniatures and list them as Lund-by, recently we’ve also seen some non-Lundby items sold in Lundby boxes, just asthe one pictured here. If you are in doubt,be sure to email us. ♥

Me and My Childhood LundbyHEATHER MCCOY, who grew up in GreenValley, Minnesota, realized her Lundbydollhouse was something special from thebeginning. She says it was her “most playedwith toy” ever. Her brother and she spenthours playing with the house—she was themother and psychiatrist, and he was theteenaged daughter who had a band called“Jenny and the Marshmallows.”

How precious is this photo of Heather McCoy? Wewould love to see photos of other grownup kids with theirLundbys! We appreciate Heather’s spirited response to ourrequest to publish her 1970 childhood photo beside herbeloved Lundby dollhouse. It appears on her Flickr page,h t t p : //www. f l i c k r. c om/pho t o s / addkn i t t e r /2807525756/. ♥

Rare Lundby Brackets

WOULD YOU HANG YOUR LUNDBYDOLLHOUSE ON THE WALL? Shown incatalogs from 1983 to 1987, a set ofmetal brackets #6056 was sold byLundby for mounting a dollhouse onthe wall. My MIP set of brackets is asyet unopened because of my concernthat the metal is not strong enough tohold a furnished house safely, as ispictured in this 1983 catalog. Photofrom 1983 LundbyToy catalog. ♥

4 THE LUNDBY LETTER

Coming Up in the March2009 Issue

� German-Made Lundby� Lisa-Brio Connections� Lundby Tudor House� Interviews

The Lundby Letter is pub-lished quarterly for members ofthe We Love Lundby Club.If you have any inquiries aboutan article, or if you are inter-

ested in submitting a story or project of your own,please do not hesitate to write or email us.

THE LUNDBY LETTERWe Love Lundby Club

6347 Waterway DriveFalls Church, VA 22044

www.toysmiles.com Email: toysmiles@aol.comEditor: Sue MorseAdvisory Members: Kristina Aronsson

Carolyn FrankPatricia HarringtonElisabeth LantzMarion OsbornePeter PehrssonYvette Wadsted

Design: Don Christian© 2008, We Love Lundby Club. All rights reserved.

Permission has been granted to use the Lundby logo.

OF SWEDEN

CAN YOU REMEMBER gifts presented to you when you were three years old? The mem-ory that Zelma Fink, MD, has of receiving her first miniature (a little closet that

opened to reveal an ironing board and iron) at the tender age of three is so strong thatshe never stopped collecting.

One of the best-known and best-loved miniature dealers on the East coast, Zelma hasshared and passed on her passion to many others. Her loyal following includes WLLCmembers Marilynn Abrams, CA, Sharon Barton, CA, Maria Cannizzaro, NJ, CarolynFrank, VA, Linda Hanlon, VA, Geraldine Scott, FL, Roy Specht, NV, and me too! Theeight-story dollhouse (comprised of a two-story Gothenburg and six extensions) on theWe Love Lundby Club website is one that I purchased from Zelma several years ago.Being the clever dealer she is, Zelma bought the dollhouse from a collector and sold itto another one!

At any toy or miniature show where Zelma and her husband, Jules, set up their tables,the display always draws in many buyers to look through the charming miniatures for sale,some of them very old.

There’s so much more to learn aboutZelma. As her husband Jules would sing, “Ifyou knew Zelma like I know Zelma!” We’llfind out more about Zelma in our next issue!♥

Members in Focus SIXTEENTH IN A SERIES OF ARTICLES

By Sue Morse

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As Jules Fink hands a purchase to one customer at the Eastern National Antique to Modern Doll & Toy Show inGaithersburg, MD, Zelma inspects a miniature for another collector.

Zelma Fink flashes a terrific smile as she presents a pro-gram at a dollhouse club meeting.

THE SEPTEMBER 2007 ISSUE of The LundbyLetter reported on yet another Lundbyproduct, the Apartment set, that wasunknown before Patricia Harrington,Maine, and Elisabeth Lantz, Sweden, eachacquired a set for their very own. TheApartment set produced for the French/Belgian market consists of small boxes offour rooms that could be stacked orarranged horizontally.

To quote the article, “No evidenceexists that they were ever exported world-wide nor do they appear in any catalogs.”However, now that we have learned aboutthe German factory in Hohenwestedt, wesurmise those Apartment sets were pro-duced there.

Through photos of the Apartments, weknow that the design and colors of someof the furniture were unique. Now we seethat the items were also packaged differ-

ently. Reina Olthoff, our roving reporterin the Netherlands, sent us an eBay listingfrom a French seller showing theunopened packet containing theblue kitchen.

Paige Baird,UK, emailed the second photo of the unpackaged single kitchen units in blue. She says she has seen the unusual single units inthe red color scheme many times. The blue,however, appears to be very unusual. Paigealso believes that the blue kitchen, as wellas the red kitchen, may have been producedonly for the French-speaking market as itsays “Frigo” on the front of the fridge—thisis the word for fridge in French. ♥

MIP Apartment Furniture Discloses Unique Packaging

THE GOTLAND DOLLHOUSE is a charm-ing addition to your Lundby collection

and a great gift for a child over three. Itrequires partial assembly, so I have collect-ed experiences from four We Love Lund-by Club members so far, including myself,and two Lundby fans, one each from Aus-tria and the UK. General advice is that itcan be a bit tricky and time-consuming, soif you have bought it for a child, do notleave it until the night before Christmas toassemble! The Lundby directions are reallygood visually, and you will have no prob-lem following them, but the following tipsshould help:A. PRELIMINARIES

1. Before you even open the carton,make sure you have Phillips-headscrewdrivers #0 and #1. I checkedand they are available in model-trainstores, computer/electronics stores,and even at chain hardware stores. InSweden they are called “stjärnskru-vmejslar” and in UK “pozidrive” or“crosshead.” Make sure you buyones with very small-diameter han-dles due to small spaces you will beworking in under the roof.

2. It also helps to have good lighting aswell as a small hand-held flashlight.

3. More tools to have handy: a smallhammer, an awl, and a small blockof wood.

4. You will need an extra person tohelp you when you install the Frenchdoors, back wall, and roof; also tohold the flashlight while you installthe teensiest screws under the roof instep B-7.

5. Place a towel on the large flat sur-face where you are going to work; itnot only protects the house pieces,but when you drop a screw (and youwill), the towel also keeps it frombouncing far.

6. Have handy a small bowl to hold allthe teensy screws.

7. Unpack Gotland and make sure youhave all the parts shown on thedirection sheet.

B. ACTUAL ASSEMBLY1. Follow the Lundby printed directions

step by step—it is really easy in thebeginning.

2. When you are installing the side

walls in the first 2 steps, hold theblock of wood on top of the plasticedges and tap GENTLY with thehammer at 2-3 places to make surethe walls are set down as far as theywill go in the base plate—this helpsavoid some tiny misalignments in thenext steps. Please do NOT use thehammer directly on the plastic housepieces—you don’t want to breaksomething.

3. Install the doors as directed and in -sert the wall over the doors and intothe base as directed. Have yourhelper hold the wall and doors up -right while you GENTLY apply thewooden block and small hammeralong the top edge of the wall tomake sure the plastic pieces are tamp -ed down into the base plate as far asthey will go. Many of the problemsthat my sources have had have beenat this step. So check to make surethe doors will open easily and alsothat they will remain in the closedposition.

4. Continue following directions for thefireplace and remember to plug it in!

5. Now for the roof. At this point it isalso handy to have your helper holdthe side walls absolutely vertical andstable while you place the roof on allthree walls. Check around in everydimension to make sure all connec-tions are properly aligned. If neces-sary, tap with the wood block andhammer if you see any little gaps.With your helper still holding theside walls, slide the roof section asshown in the diagram to “lock it” inplace. Again, if necessary, tap withthe block and hammer to ensurethat it is firmly in place.

6. IMPORTANT: Now look carefullyall around at every point where awall meets the roof. If you see anyirregularities, do some more tappingand see if the alignment improves.

7. Continue assembly and make sureyou use the 14 longer screws in thebottom of the house as shown.Repeat step B-5.

8. Next there are 6 teensy-tiny screws tobe placed and they will set perfectlyIF you have properly aligned every

December 2008 THE LUNDBY LETTER

connection! I had to do some tap-ping with the woodblock and ham -mer at this point because even 1 mmmisalignment will mean the screwswill not set. This sounds worse thanit actually is—I am just trying tohelp you cope. One of my advisorssuggests that you skip any of the 6teensy ones if you are having trou-ble, and are only going to use theGotland as a display house! But if itis going to be played with by achild, then you will have to get mostof those screws set properly. Advicefrom Austrian owner was that shedid not have as difficult a time as therest of us had at this step, so I sus-pect that even miniscule variationsin manufacturing tolerances willmake this step more or less difficult.

9. When you go to install the kitchenshelves, you may discover the kit -chen wallpaper is a solid piece. I ranmy fingers over the paper until Icould feel the openings for the shelfbrackets. I then used an awl to openthose holes. I found that tapping thefront edges of the shelves with theblock and hammer also made it eas-ier to get them in all the way.

10. Use the block and hammer to helpyou install the soap dish in theshower stall.

11. Another club member slightly mod-ified the plastic sprues (little plasticknobs that stick out from manufac-tured plastic items where they wereattached to the mold) on the shelvesand soap dish by “shaving” them tomake them fit, but I would try theawl and hammer-tapping trick first.

The lights and the rest of the housepieces are easy to install. Plug in yourtransformer and ENJOY your little cot-tage. The lighting system is ingenious,allowing you to “play” from all four sides.Love that Lundby! ♥

Gotland Assembly Tip Sheet

By Patricia Harrington, with super assistance from Elisabeth Lantz, Stella Goodman, Linda Bancroft, Seiglinde Nedomansky, and Carolyn Frank