Day 1 - Tuesday 24th November 2020 at 11.00am
Lot 1 to 82 - Limited Edition and Collectors Teddy Bears
Lot 83 to 359 - Antique and Vintage Teddy Bears and Soft Toys
Lot 185 to 233 - Grandma’s Teddy Bear Museum
Lot 241 to 307 - The Teddy Bear Collection of Marion Sisley
Day 2 - Wednesday 25th November 2020 at 11.00am
Lot 360 to 431 - Post-war Dolls
Lot 432 to 485 - Dolls’ Houses and Chattels
Lot 486 to 508 - The childhood collection of Ethel May de Wolf
These twenty-three lots relate to the early years of Ethel May Codrington, née De Wolf (1883-1972). Ethel was born in Boston, Mass., to a wealthy Anglo-American ship owning family. Her father's family had emigrated to New England in the 1650s, but her grandfather James De Wolf moved to Liverpool in around 1850, marrying Ellen Bibby from a notable shipping family in 1849. Their son Charles (1859-1934) married Isabel Meredith, who was brought up in Boston, but her grandmother Wagstaff's line came from Lancashire, and the Merediths from Lincolnshire. Ethel was subsequently brought up in the Liverpool and Birkenhead area and married Claude Codrington in 1917; their son and only child William died in 1941, serving with the Coldstream Guards in Egypt.
Lot 509 to 642 - Traditional Toys
Lot 643 to 905 - Antique and Vintage Dolls and Accessories
Lot 643 to 656 - The childhood collection of Anne Parsons (née Messel), Countess of Rosse
These fourteen lots belonged to the vendor’s Grandmother Anne Messel (1902-1992). She was born in London and brought up at Nymans, now a National Trust property in Sussex, along with her brothers. The Messel family were originally from Germany (from Messel). Anne Messel married the 6th Earl of Rosse, when she married she brought her dolls with her to Birr Castle where they have remained ever since. Her son was Anthony Armstrong Jones, 1st Earl Snowdon and husband of Princess Margaret. There are an older group of dolls included here, which probably belonged to Anne’s grandmother, Mary Ann (Marion) Sambourne (1851-1914).
Lot 702 to 842 - The Jean Keen Doll and Teddy Bear Collection
Jean Keen’s collection also includes teddy bear lots 71 to 82, 240, 308 to 343, 355 and further doll and toy lots 410 to 421, 442 to 461, 473 to 475, 485, 597, 598, 638 to 641, 847 to 872, 876, 905.