THE LETTEROF SWEDEN

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

SEPTEMBER 2009Volume 6Number 3

www.toysmiles.com

Swede Summer Meetings Connect Lundby CollectorsWE LOVE LUNDBY CLUB CONVENTION • Coldwater, Michigan

THE FIFTH ANNUAL WLLC convention washeld August 22, at the Hampton Inn in Coldwater,MI. The meeting was convened in conjunctionwith the Dollhouse Toys n’ Us Club, which wascelebrating its 11th yearly gathering. Their four-daymeeting included trips to antique malls and mem-

bers’ collections and lots of good fun and great Midwestern dinners!Those members attending the WLLC meeting were Maria Canniz-

zaro, NC; Sue Morse, VA; Geraldine Scott, FL; Louana Singleton,IN; and Martha Stern, Israel. We were so excited to welcome Martha,who is our first member from outside the U.S. to attend a Lundbymeeting. Guests were George Mundorf, NY; Hal Morse, VA; BobScott, FL; David Stern, Israel; and Barbara Wedler, MI, sister of MarthaStern.

After a captivating round of introductions and show and tell, weconducted our annual Guessing Game. The attendees were asked toidentify eight 1/16th scale telephones, shown in the photo. One tele-phone was not identified and has been added to the Lundby Detec-tive page on the website. We’d like all our members to have a try atidentifying the Mystery Item. At our meeting, Geraldine Scott won theprize by identifying six out of the eight.

Members had an opportunity to view Jennifer McKendry’s CD, which is available forpurchase. Jennifer has compiled her 17-page Gothenburg article, a 10-page excerpt fromher history of dollhouses; (both in PDF and in Word formats); 19 images of people, whichcan be printed and framed; 9 images of her Stockholm house; 11 miscellaneous images ofdetails from Lundby houses, and catalogues and ads from 1974, 1976, 1980, 1989, and 1990.

All files on the CD contain highresolution images and can be printedat home or at a professional printshop. Proceeds of the sale of theCDs will go for club expensesbecause Jennifer is generously do -nating all her expenses in creatingthe CDs from www.mckendry.net.

The group indicated its desire tocontinue meeting with the Doll-house Toys n’ Us group, but alsostill persists with a strong hope tohave an international meeting inSweden in the near future. Weweren’t able to meet at ScanFest inNew Jersey this year, but hope totake in the Scandinavian festival in2010. ♥

Club members and guests gather behind the Swedish flag, Front row, left to right:David Stern, Barbara Wedler, Martha Stern, Louana Singleton, and Maria Can-nizzaro. Back row, left to right: Sue Morse, Geraldine Scott, and George Mundorf.The beautiful centerpiece sent by member Sharon Barton, CA, is surrounded by adisplay of Lundby items brought for show and tell.

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The correct identities of the eight 1/16th telephones are 1. Caroline’sHome; 2. Lundby; 3. Photo of Lisa phone; 4. plastic charm; 5. Lund-by; 6, Renwal, 7, Lundby; and 8. Unidentified. Member LindaHanlon owns this metal phone with a paper dial and black stringcord. Can anyone positively identify it?

Bonus 2010 Calendars Added to CDHere’s your chance to order yourvery own Lundby CD prepared byJennifer McKendry, who is anarchitectural historian in Kingston,Ontario, Canada, and expert on thehistory of Lundby and other doll-house manufacturers. Jennifer isadding to the new CDs a folder onLundby wall calendars for 2010,which can be printed. There are sixminiature designs and one full sizein PDF.

Add this excellent CD withhigh-resolution color images toyour collection and also help theclub with its expenses. The cost ofthe CD is $15.00, plus postage.Please email Sue at toysmiles@aol.com for more information.

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2 THE LUNDBY LETTER

“But It Looks So Real!” By Renee Ganim

MOMMY, I WANT TO GIVE ANNE A BATHbut she has Mary Jane’s on”! My

customer’s question was very simple,“Does Lundby have a doll without shoes?”At first I thought, a baby? But that wouldbe unrealistic. A baby cannot be bathed ina full-sized bathtub. The swimmer dollmight qualify, but he has a bathing suit on.Painted on shoes seem to have causedmajor complications.

Then I thought about an alternative.What about a shower and not a bath.Why? The child would not actually beadministering the washing, but only plac-ing the doll in the shower. Problem solved!But still, what about the shoes? A childwants realism, and showering with shoeson just doesn’t cut it! I posed the questionto my professor friend and after shestopped laughing, she said, “You havenothing better to worry about?”

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I asked my Dad, “Maybe the shoescould be “painted” out with a nude nailpolish?” The answer was “DO NOTH-ING! DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUTIT!” He reminded me of the Chinese toxicpaint scandal on the toys. He said all kindsof investigations could be launched if wedid such a thing. We have the FDA, EPA,NBA, ASDA, USFSA, and a thousandmore organizations ending with “A” to bewary of.

Oh well! It could have been worse. Afriend of mine came in and found her lit-tle one giving a bath to a boy doll and girldoll in the same tub. These dolls had shoeswhich could be removed. But boy and girlin the same tub? No way!

Anybody out there with an answer tothe question??? It is beginning to lookNOT SO REAL! ♥

“

IN THE JUNE 2009 ISSUE of The Lundby Letter, we revealed the ori-gins of BRIO’s licensing of the Lisa of Denmark brand to jointly

produce the BRIO Mobilia dollhouse. Even though the design of thedollhouse is clearly Lisa of Denmark, it is marked BRIO Mobilia.

When the Lundby company purchased Lisa of Denmark in 1984,part of its acquisitions included another Lisa dollhouse, the 525Tudor-type, which was also being marketed as a BRIO Mobilia doll-house. This unusual dollhouse is pictured in an advertisement sent tous by Paige Baird, who found it very intriguing that the house con-tains a mix of both Lisa and BRIO furniture. Although the image isfuzzy, it does provide the best visual reference we have available. ♥

Lisa of Denmark 525 Tudor HouseMarketed as BRIO Mobilia

The BRIO Mobilia advertise-ment shows the Lisa 525 Tudordollhouse. The Google translatordisclosed that the headline inFinnish says “Dollhouse andFurniture” in English and theword, “Uutuus!” at the bottommeans “New” or “Innovation.”

Patricia Harrington, ME, sent a photo of a “Tudor”style house, which is the term that Brits and Americansuse for this type of house. To Patricia’s knowledge, how-ever, Scandinavians do not use that name. What theydo call it is “korsvirkeshus,” which is the same word forthe English name, “half-timbered house.” Since the525 house is from Denmark, it would be well-knownto Danish children because half-timbered houses arefound all over Denmark, especially in the countryside,which explains why it has a stable in it.

The Danish word for the house is “bindingsvæk-shus.” The photo is of one in Ahus, Denmark.

European/Scandinavian Lundby FestivalDorset, UK

Stella Goodman, UK, hosted the sec-ond annual gathering of European andScandinavian Lundby collectors: Elisa-beth Lantz, Sweden, Linda Bancroft,UK, Lis Garner, UK, Claire Quick,UK, and Sieglinde Nedomansky, Vien-na, Austria. All of them congregated inSeptember at Stella’s home in thecounty of Dorset, UK, on the south-western Channel coast of England.

The group visited various sites inDorset, such as Milton Abbass, accord-ing to Stella, the most beautiful villagein Dorset; Poole, the most natural har-bor in Europe; the New Forest; andAllworth Cove, Linda’s favorite spot.

Even with all these charming sitesto see, we’re sure that the topic ofbuying and selling Lundby came up!Because the gathering occurred afterthe September newsletter deadline,we’ll publish a photo in the Decembernewsletter. ♥

Half-Size Display House Discovered on eBay

ABOUT SIX YEARS AGO, Heike Krohn, Germany, pur-chased a Lundby house on eBay. When she bid on it, she did-n’t realize that it was not a regular sized Lundby dollhouse.It was just half a house, only 13.5 cm or 5.3 inches deep andwithout windows! It is definitely an oddity that bears notice!

It is a normal business practice for dollhouse companies tosell display houses to retailers. The houses usually have thefurniture and accessories glued to the house floors or wallsto keep items from disappearing while on display at thestores. In this photo of the empty display house, it is possibleto see that Heike's house also has marks where kitchen andbathroom items were glued to the wall, and lamps and tableswere affixed to the floor.

Thanks, Heike, for sharing this mid-1970s design displayhouse. It’s one of a kind, so far! ♥

Heike’s half-size Lundby display house.

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By Patricia Harrington

LUNDBY IS JUSTIFIABLY RENOWNED forreproducing, in miniature, the latest in

Swedish interior design for dollhouses. Inthe June 2009 edition of The Lundby Letter,the two new sets of colorful furniture andtoys for the children’s room were present-ed. In addition, Lundby has brought outseven completely new furniture sets forthe kitchen, living room, bathroom, andgarden/patio, all designed by the architectsAnn Morsing and Beban Nord from theBox Design firm in Stockholm, Sweden(see articles about them in earlier editionsof The Lundby Letter: September 2005,March 2008, and September 2008). Onereally nice feature is all the extra itemsincluded with the sets.

LIVING ROOM/LOUNGE—two newsets: The hot-pink upholstered sofa andarmchair come with two white bolsters anda bright yellow “throw”; the pink and yel-low colors match the area rug. The set iscompleted by a white coffee table with atransparent top and a pull-out drawer wherethe owner can display collector’s items orjust use it as storage for the books and gamewhich are included with the set (60.2051).

In addition to this set, Lundby is offer-ing a new, more-modernized version ofthe electrified corner fireplace, completewith log basket and a small white area rug(60.3045). The white fireplace and smaller

white “sheepskin” rug complement thewhite bolsters and coffee table in the liv-ing-room set, creating a visual wholenessto the room.

KITCHEN: Lundby has produced threenew sets for a complete kitchen upgrade.Set # 60.2046 is a one-piece kitchen wallwith built-in dishwasher, sink, drawers,counter-tops, shelf, and overhead cup-boards. The tile is a new design and theappliances, cupboards, and drawers are afresh white. Four lights are included, aswell as 9 dish pieces and 2 food packages.

The second kitchen set #60.2047 has builtin cupboards, drawers, counter-top and ashelf which match the first set, as well asidentical tile and four lights. The free-standing stainless-steel refrigerator andstove have openable doors; the stove-hoodis stream-lined and white. Additionalincluded items are a cook book, two foodpackets and two pots with colorful lids.

The third set #60.2048 can be used askitchen furniture or in a dining room. Around wooden table matches the woodshelves and counter-tops in the kitchen.The deacon’s bench and 2 captain’s chairsare bright red, made of plastic, with greyseat-cushions, made to look like sheepskin.In addition, the set includes 2 kittens and

a potted plant. When youlook at all the photos, youwill see that the red in thefurniture set is picked up inthe glasses in set one and apot-lid in set two; the sec-ond complimentary coloris lime-green in bothkitchen sets.

September 2009 3

NEW LUNDBY FOR 2009!Part 2: Fresh New Items for the Småland House

Continued on page 4

Photos courtesy of Micki Toy Company.

BATHROOM: The architects have created a newmodern bathroom sink and WC/toilet (60.2049),which can be used with the original tub and showerset (60.2034). The sink has a “marble” counter-top andthe whole unit is free-standing with a separate largemirror. The WC/toilet is attached to a tile wall. Theset includes a lamp, glasses, towel, and bathroom matin a new color.

4 THE LUNDBY LETTER

GARDEN/PATIO: The new outdoor furniture set#60.3044 is wonderfully adaptable. Even though it isin new fresh colors to match other items in the newSmåland collection, it could be used with Lundby’sGotland summer cottage, or any earlier Lundby house,modern as well as vintage. While the two white plas-tic Adirondack chairs are new to the Lundby line, the“real” ones have been in existence for more than 100years in North America! The Lundby set includes asmall wooden table, glasses, a “Princess” cake, and 3potted plants, in addition to the two chairs.

The new Lundby items for the Småland dollhouseare expected to be on the market late summer 2009,ready for Autumn and Christmas toy sales, accordingto Kristina Aronsson, Product Manager for Lundby.Log on to www.micki.se to see these products, as wellas the current complete Lundby assortment. Unfortu-nately, there is still no Lundby distributor for NorthAmerica, so our American and Canadian members willhave to rely on their contacts in Sweden, UK, Europe,and Australia, as well as eBay in order to obtain thesenew items. ♥

ature reproductions of famous paint-ings or contemporary artwork.Recently, three more masters’ workshave been identified, one of whichwas actually reproduced in minia-ture by Lundby and sold during the1980s; the other two were SUFAproducts and sold in sets by one ofLundby’s many contemporary com-petitors, Lisa of Denmark, Lillbo,and Barton’s “Caroline’s Home,”during the 1970s:

Lundby LoreArt in Miniature: More Dollhouse Realism

By Patricia Harrington,with expert technical assisstance from Elisabeth Lantz.

LUNDBY COLLECTORS CONTINUE to be fascinatedby the devoted efforts made by the Lundby

company to recreate miniature items from the“real” world. An example of this is the sale of mini-

“The Courtyard of a House inDelft” by Pieter de Hooch; oil paint-ing done 1658. The original is inThe National Gallery, London. Elis-abeth and I have seen it as a verifiedCaroline’s Home item in assortment#2304 on p. 7 of the catalog markedCH 1980b on her website www.swedish-dollshouses.com.

Elisabeth thinks it is possible thatboth the Van Gogh and the deHooch were sold in Lundby assort-ments, like other SUFA reproduc-tions during the 1970s, but she hasnot seen them in new sealed pack-ages yet. Collectors can be sureabout which label the individualminiature painting was sold under,only if they can see it in a catalog orown a set MIP.

Previously in our newsletter, fourother famous paintings were identi-fied for our readers. Please log on towww.toysmiles.com and follow thelink to The Lundby Letter. See March2006 and December 2006. In addi-tion, the miniature reproductions ofcontemporary paintings by Lisa Rin-nevuo for the new Lundby Stock-holm 2005 house were featured inThe Lundby Letter June 2006 andMarch 2008. All of those miniatureswere made by Lundby.

“The Church at Auvers” by VincentVan Gogh; oil painting done 1890.The original is in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. This miniature hasbeen seen by Elisabeth sold as Lisaand Lillbo (both catalog # 62104)and Caroline’s Home.

“The Derby at Epsom” byThéodore Géricault; oilpainting done 1821. Theoriginal is in The Louvre,Paris. Due to variations intranslation, the painting issometimes called “The 1821Epsom Derby” and “TheEpsom Derby.” It is shown inLundby catalogs from early tomid-1980s and is markedLundby on the back.

The Courtyard of a House in Delft

The Church at Auvers

The Derby at Epsom

There are, of course, many more Lund-by reproductions of famous paintingswhich can be identified. Research willcontinue and WLLC members are encour-aged to submit other documented items.Most of the earlier Lundby miniatureswere produced by the other Swedish com-pany, SUFA, which also produced Lundby,Lisa, and Lillbo lamps.

At one point in the late 1970s, Bartonbought SUFA and then sold the miniaturepaintings as “Caroline’s Home” items,according to Elisabeth. And as we allknow, Barton was later bought out byLundby! ♥

♥IN THE JUNE 2009 ISSUE, LINDA HANLON,VA, noticed the photo of the Lisa items(knitting basket and How to Knit book) inRenee’s column and realized that Grand-mother Stover, a U.S. miniatures maker inthe 1950s and 1960s, sold sets that includ-ed the same knitting basket and book.Linda also noted additional GrandmotherStover accessories shown in the Old Cata-logues page on Peter Pehrsson’s web site.Both the 1979 Lisa catalog (the metal trayswith decals, listed as “telephone trays”) andthe 1987 Caroline’s Home catalog (thesalad bowl with wooden fork and spoon,the loaf of bread, and cookbook) displayitems marketed by Grandmother Stover.

You can see for yourself at www.peppesdollhousepage.com. Special thanksto Elisabeth Lantz, who gave the Old Cat-alogues Page a home, www.swedish-dollshouses.com, while Peter reinstituted hisown website.

♥EVEN BEFORE THE WE LOVE LUNDBY CLUBwas formed in 2004, a Lundby collectornamed Lynn Silvestri from Maryland sentme an odd photograph, and I’ve beenwondering about it ever since. Does any-one in the club know why Lundby madea large gaping machine-cut hole in theStockholm balcony?

Does it provide a slot for the frontpanel? Why do some Stockholms have thehole and others do not? It was not a mis-take because I have an instruction sheetfor assembling the balcony, which showsthe same hole. Please help clear up thismystery! Photo by Lynn Silvestri.

♥

September 2009 5

THE ORIGINAL CAROLINE’S HOME wasintroduced in 1976 by A Barton & Co.

(Toys) Ltd. of the UK. By 1984, the namewas owned by Lundby. We have recentlylearned that something fascinating thenhappened to Caroline’s Home. It moved toWest Germany!

A great deal of interest has surfacedlately about that Caroline’s Home doll-house, shown in an international Lundbycatalog, dated 1991. See the article in theSeptember 2006 issue of The Lundby Letter.Marion Osborne, UK, sent a photo of itfrom a Hamley’s 1990/1991 catalog. LindaBancroft, UK, also emailed photos of oneshe had purchased. Elisabeth Lantz, Swe-den, owns the same house and knows itwas sold in Sweden up until 1992 or 1993.

Some time after Lundby acquired theGerman company, Plasty, in 1984, the

Lundby Connections

OUR “ROVING REPORTER” FROM THENETHERLANDS, Reina Olthof, has

made two new discoveries about Hanse,the Danish company that created a doll-house similar to Lisa of Denmark. First,Reina sent a photo of a different and stur-dy style of a Hanse dollhouse, made espe-cially for the Dutch market. Reina’s friend,Willemien Hendrickx, also of the Nether-lands, is the proud new owner. Secondly,Reina saved this image of a Hanse boxfrom Marktplaats. Marked Princess andVeronique, the Hanse pieces were made fora particular market. Special thanks to Reinafor these fascinating photos.

same year that Barton was purchased, anewly designed dollhouse came on themarket. It was probably a more economi-cally-made combination of a Caroline’sHome and the Salame & Signor version ofthe Lundby Gothenburg. The dollhousehas the same multi-colored tile effect onthe roof. However, the house is made ofcardboard, including the roof. It has aplastic frame that just slots together. Lack-ing stairs, the house has arched interiordoors, and the windows and doors arepart of the wallpaper.

The dollhouse and its own special fur-niture were manufactured in Germany.Sold under the name Caroline’s Home,the boxes are marked Lundby Toy, Plasty-weg, Postfach 12:20, D 6823 Neulußheim,West Germany. ♥

A Caroline’s HomeMade in W. Germany!

▲ An empty 1991 Caroline’s Home.Photo courtesy of Linda Bancroft.

A furnished house from a box back.Photo courtesy of MarionOsborne. ▼

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ART IN MINIATUREcontinued from page 4

6 THE LUNDBY LETTER

Coming Up in theDecember 2009 Issue

� Five-Year Anniversary Issue� Member Interviews� 520-521 Bungalows

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© 2009, We Love Lundby Club. All rights reserved.

Permission has been granted to use the Lundby logo.

OF SWEDEN

IT TOOK SOME YEARS UNTIL THE LUNDBYFEVER came over Karin Schrey, Ratin-

gen, Germany, after she bought her firstLundby dollhouse only 10 years ago. Sheput it in her cellar and forgot about it.Then about five years ago she started tocollect German doll houses of the 1950sand early 1960s. Sometimes she found inthem “tiny little furniture,” which didn’treally fit the larger size houses. Much latershe discovered it was Lundby furniture.

When her parents gave her a 1970sCaroline’s Home, which was no longerloved by the people who owned it, Karinrealized that the “tiny little things” werethe right size for the house and started toseek Lundby on eBay auctions and at fleamarkets and antique markets. She raced tothe cellar to retrieve her Lundby dollhouseand “the rest is history...”

Karin wonders whether there are“male” and “female” Lundby dollhousesbecause it seems there are more and moreovernight. “They are like rabbits,” she says!Her collection has grown to five Lundbydollhouses from the 1960s (she would “diefor” the very first Lundby house with thered wallpaper and lovely staircase), onefrom the 1970s, two Stockholms, two Car-oline’s Homes, a Salame & Signor house,the later Caroline’s Home that resembles aLundby dollhouse (see the article on page5), a 1970s BRIO house, and a Lisa housewith two extensions.

Members in Focus NINETEENTH IN A SERIES OF ARTICLES

By Sue Morse

One day Karin googled Lundby ofSweden and found the club. It wasn’t toomuch later that she met Heike Krohn,who also lives in Ratingen. Heike taughtKarin so much about Lundby that, with-out Heike’s help, Karin believes shewould have made many mistakes.

One hat that Karin wears is producingmuseum exhibits; the other is being aprofessional journalist who writes for theGerman magazines, “DollsPuppen” and“Teddyskreativ,” books for museums, anda club letter for a teddy bear company.Together with Bettina Dorfmann, a Bar-bie specialist, she published a magazineon fashion dolls.

Karin has translated into English anarticle which she wrote on Petra, a Ger-

Clever Karin Schrey! She created a four-story dollhouse, which is a combina-tion of two Lundby dollhouses, the mail order dollhouse underneath her ear-liest Gothenburg from the 1960s. In addition to the Lundby items, her housecontains some 1950s German dollhouse pieces. Photo by Olaf Schrey,Karin’s nephew.

The front page of Karin’s articleabout Petra provides a sneak peek.Photo courtesy of Karin Schrey.

man fashion doll made by Plasty to com-pete with Barbie. Carolyn Frank, Vir-ginia, has edited the piece and it will beposted on the club website’s memberpage as a bonus for the September issue.

One of the best aspects of collecting,Karin feels, is the nice contacts shemakes. She thinks there are many moreinteresting facts to discover about Lund-by’s business connections with othercompanies, such as Plasty and Lego. Afterreading the newsletter article about theLundby items produced in the Germanfactory, Karin thinks there must be manyGerman doll households with Lundbyfurniture.

There’s much more to be discovered!♥

NEWSLETTER GOES ONLINEThe first issue of The Lundby Letter wasprinted in November of 2004. We arenow in our fifth year of production. To cel-ebrate this exciting occasion, we are postingthe September 2009 issue (Vol. 6, No. 3)onto the We Love Lundby Club website atwww.toysmiles.com. Details about access-ing the member page have been emailedto all WLLC members. If there are anyquestions or concerns, please email Sue.

Membership UpdateWELCOME TO OUR FIVE NEWCLUB MEMBERS, who have joinedsince the June 2009 Update: MaggieMartos, CA; Annemarie Thomas,MA; Kit Caton, our first memberfrom Denmark; Martha Stern, ourfirst member from Israel; and Jen-nifer Rosskamp, GA.

Contact information for our newmembers is included in the Septem-ber 2009 Membership DirectoryUpdate. ♥