Miniature world can fetch some life-size prices

Do you have a doll's house at home and if so what might it be worth? Not that many collectors would part with their doll's house, regardless of the price.

Mrs Phyllis MacNamara, proprietor of Cobwebs antique shop in Quay Lane, Galway, knows what it is like to have a passion for the fantasy world of miniature. "I've had tremendous pleasure from my doll's house. When I lived in England I met people whose total lives turned around their dolls' houses. It's a fantasy world - the world of small things."

When she got married, her husband bought her a Victorian doll's house. "I did with it all I wanted to do with my real home," she recalls.

For some collectors, the doll's house becomes an overriding passion. Mrs MacNamara knew a woman in England who moved house because of a doll's house: "Every wall, every inch was covered in dolls' houses. The last one didn't fit, so she moved."

Dolls' houses can be valuable, as is evident from part of Vivien Greene's doll's house collection which is to be auctioned at Bonhams in London on December 9th. More than 20 dolls' houses will be sold together with a large selection of miniatures. Estimates range from £80 to £16,000 sterling and the auction is expected to fetch in excess of £120,000 sterling.

Mr Leigh Gotch, head of the toy department at Bonhams, says a 17th or early 18th century doll's house known as the William and Mary House, made from straight grained oak, should fetch £3,000 to £4,000 sterling. It has a simple plain design, close to the style found in German and Dutch dolls' houses of the period. Another doll's house in the sale "would have been very expensive and owned by a very rich family at the time", he says. Known as Quantock Oak, it is a vast miniature stately home in the Palladian style. It has original wallpapers and walk-in cupboards for hanging game. Probably an adaptation of a real home, it has an elaborate facade with pillars and finials and it even has cellars. The house can only be opened by the insertion of a small hand through the open front door to remove a hidden bolt to gain access to the front. It is estimated at £12,000 to £18,000.

The Great House, dating from about 1750 is "a large and impressive country mansion" measuring 63 inches by 71 inches. Mr Gotch notes that the kitchen is painted sugar-bag blue which, it was believed, kept away flies. It is expected to fetch £8,000 to £12,000. Another doll's house in the auction is expected to fetch £10,000 to £15,000. The Balustraded House, from about 1775, has an elaborate exterior with stonework and brickwork and a fine balustrade. There are eight glazed windows to its front and six more to the side which have been blackened, as if to avoid the window tax.

Mr Gotch says the 1865 Bidder House should fetch £10,000 to £15,000. It has all its original contents and wallpaper and when Vivien Greene acquired it, "it hadn't been played with for about 100 years".

If you want to have your doll's house valued, you can contact Mr Leigh Gotch, head of the Toy Department at Bonhams. Telephone: 0044 171 393 3951

Given the enthusiastic response to the recent column on toy soldiers, readers may be interested to know that a Toy and Train Collectors' Fair takes place in the Rochestown Lodge Hotel, Rochestown Avenue, Dun Laoghaire next Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The 11th Dublin Antiques and Fine Arts Fair will take place at the RDS tomorrow and Sunday.