A rare 18th century doll's house has sold at auction for more than double it's estimated price.
The Evans Baby House sold for £47,500 at auction in Edinburgh today. Its estimated price was £15,000 to £20,000.
The Evans Baby House, part of the ‘Five Centuries: Furniture, Paintings & Works of Art’ auction is an amazing piece of social and cultural history showcasing 19th century interiors and tiny artefacts.
Read more: Edinburgh auctioneers to lead sale of rare 18th century doll's house
The Baby House, an earlier term for what became known as a doll’s house, was first documented in a book by Vivien Greene in 1955, reprinted in 1979, in which she recounts the fascinating history of The Evans Baby House. Ms Green, a notable authority on English dolls’ houses of the 18th and 19th centuries, was also the wife of novelist Graham Greene.
Theo Burrell, specialist in fine furniture and decorative arts with Lyon & Turnbull, said:” I’m absolutely delighted that the Evan’s Baby House sold so well with us today. It has provided us a unique opportunity to work with something extremely special and rare, and we know that the new owner will love and cherish it."
The house came into the ownership of the Evans family in Buckinghamshire in the early 19th century and was given to a female member, Anne, by a Miss Hancock,thought to be her godmother.
Anne Evans, an English poet and composer, and her sibling Emma, were sisters of archaeologist, geologist and collector, Sir John Evans. Sir John went on to have a son, Sir Arthur Evans, their nephew, and the archaeologist best known for his excavation of the so-called Palace of Minos in 1900 and his discovery of the Minoan civilisation.
Anne’s sister Emma Hubbard, (née Evans), became the biographer of their doll’s house, detailing that some time later it was given to a younger member of the Hancock family, the original owners, and was never heard of again until 1886.
However, by remarkable coincidence, in January of that year, Emma visited the Evelina Hospital for children in London and happened to see and identify the house, buying it back for a donation of four guineas in 1890.
After 'rescuing' the Baby House, Emma set about renovating it. A special feature from this era being miniature framed photographs depicting members of the Evans and Hubbard families, which hang in the first-floor drawing room.
The original tinted prints in the upper and middle floors were retained, one of which depicts the Gothic tower at Whitton Park, Middlesex, as well as a small sepia drawing by her father.
It’s thought that Emma sourced some of the current furniture, which includes a lovely little chest of drawers on the ground floor, 19th century bedroom furniture and an earthenware dinner set, complete with original box. Later additions include the children in the nursery and a male doll which Emma described as having ‘mutton-chop whiskers.’
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here