This was one of those poker face moments I thought would never happen to me at a garage sale. I nearly squealed when I saw this dollhouse because it was one of those treasure I thought I'd NEVER come across (at least not one within my budget). Somehow I managed to keep it together.
A Marx dollhouse!
As you might be able to see, the house is missing a wall between the bathroom and child's room. There are holes for the little metal tabs to go into, so I know there WAS a wall there at one time.
The bathroom and part of the baby's room, below.
And here is the living room.
And I just LOVE the read and white kitchen with it's little red clock on the wall, red and white tile and curtains!
The little plastic sink has drain boards! And look at that 1950s fridge.
And here is the kid's room or baby's room. I like the decorations on the walls.
Here is the master bedroom. (And no, that's not a subliminal billboard message through the window making you crave Taco Johns, it's just our cat's sleeping box that happened to be behind the house when I shot these photos.)
And the cute little laundry room on the end. Now, some of these I have seen as a garage, one was even a bomb shelter (1962) that I've heard is very rare as they were made in small quantities and didn't sell real well. I like that mine is a laundry room because....well, I like happy laundry rooms!
And here is the mark that makes it a MARX.
Originally, I think it's suppose to have a little patio tent like thing that stood over that patio, but mine is missing many pieces including the chairs for the kitchen table. My mother said her kitchen chairs were ivory, just like the table, with little red seats.
Below is a similar one from the 1952 Sears catalog. The one in the catalog is fancier with a den on one end (we call them man caves now), and a breezeway. And how much FUN would that gas station be for playing!?
Now, according to the internet and the big wide world of pinterest, there was another tin, lithograph, dollhouse manufacturer called T Cohn and the T Cohn 1948 house was a popular one it seems. Here it is.
It is very similar and has the "Victorian" looking living room furniture and red and white kitchen chairs my mother remembered hers to have. (Mom, it almost sounds as if you had Cohn furniture, but a MARX house just like mine.)
Here's another shot of a Cohn house from Pinterest. I thank up and down the person who posted these online, they are so much fun to see!
I really like the Cohn style furniture better because it is a bit bigger and has a bit more detail than the Marx furniture I got with the house.
Until another time, have a happy vintage day!!