When Stuart Holbrook, president of Theriault’s, the doll auction firm, first visited the home of Vera Bryant to view her doll collection, he reported, “The dolls are extraordinary!” but even more, “They are a splendid blend, a perfect harmony.” And so the auction catalog that featured the Vera Bryant collection was named In a Perfect Harmony .
The auction was conducted on January 9 and collectors surely agreed with Holbrook’s assessment, because beginning with a 12-inch size I Bebe Bru Jne in entirely original taufling presentation that sold for $28,000, doubling its high presale estimate of $10/14,000, record prices continued throughout the ensuing 360 lots of dolls, automata and doll furniture, accessories and costumes.
Featured on the cover of the catalog was a pair of bisque dolls by Emile Jumeau, likely presented by that famous French doll maker at the 1899 Universal Exposition in Paris. One of the dolls featured the rare laughing character face, model 203, from the firm’s art character series, and the pair wore their matching, perfectly preserved lady and gentlemen silk carnival costumes created in the Jumeau ateliers. The pair sold for $72,500.
Other works by Jumeau were notable at the auction, too. A 26-inch first-period Bebe Jumeau with eyes known by collectors as “wraparound eyes” and having superb pale bisque rocketed to $53,000, a size 12 E.J. bebe in original couturier costume went to $18,000, an early 14-inch portraitlike model with wooden articulated body reached $16,500 and a size 11 “Paris Bebe” with expressive features fetched $13,000.
French dolls by other makers were center stage, too, particularly those of Leon Casimir Bru, Jules Steiner and Andre Thuillier. Bryant had sought rare models by those makers, and collectors responded to this rarity with electric bidding that topped estimates over and over again. Dolls by Bru included $33,000 for a classic size 2 bebe, $30,000 for a “circle-dot” model, $39,000 for wooden-bodied Bebe Modele, $52,500 for an Asian model bebe, $34,000 for a classic size 11 bebe and $27,000 for Bebe Gourmand, among others.
Jules Steiner’s bebes ranged from the rare 24-inch series E bebe that reached $31,000 to a 19-inch Series G with original costume that topped at $19,500, a 37-inch Series C that reached $18,000 and an all-original bebe with a silk costume that topped at $10,500.
Bebes by Andre Thuillier were highly desirable: a 19-inch kid-bodied model went to $46,000, and a 15-inch kid-bodied bebe and 16-inch and 27-inch composition-bodied bebes each reached $42,000, all exceeding their estimates. Other French bebes included an early model by Adelaide Huret with painted eyes and wooden body that reached $33,000, a glass-eyed Huret bebe with gutta percha body selling at $19,000, a 33-inch Bebe Mothereau that topped at $20,000 and a classic Bebe Schmitt realized $15,000.
French bebes harmonized perfectly with rare German bisque characters that also realized strong prices, including Simon and Halbig’s 153 model known as “The Little Duke” that sold for $22,000, Heubach Koppelsdorf’s 319 googly that soared to $24,000, Franz Schmidt’s 17-inch 1263 painted eye solemn-faced girl that went to $18,500, Kammer and Reinhardt’s 21-inch 107 model known as “Karl: that nearly tripled its high presale estimate at $46,000, Simon and Halbig’s 22-inch 1305 “Witch” model at $14,000 and a 21-inch bisque girl known as “A.T. Kestner” at $7,250.
Prices reported include the buyer’s premium.
For information, 800-638-0422 or www.theriaults.com .
