Enthusiasts seek doll valuations

Doll enthusiasts travelled from near and far to find out about their dolls and their value.

The valuation day, at the Vina Cooke Doll Museum, Cromwell, was hosted by auctioneers and valuers Bonhams.

One German doll, dating to between 1900-1920, was expected to fetch £1,400-£1,800 at auction. She was identified as a Kathe Kruse doll.

The specialist toy and doll valuer for Bonhams in London, Mr Leigh Gotch, valued the items.

He said it was rare to find a Kathe Kruse doll and that in about 14 years he had seen only a couple of examples.

Mr Gotch said: “I have seen some things today that I maybe haven’t seen before, but they all did not have that much value.

“I have seen a lot of German dolls.”

The dolls available for auction will feature in a specialist doll and toy sale, in London, next month.

People queued for up to two hours in the morning to get their items valued.

More than 50 people, including visitors from Lincoln and Bolton, were estimated to have attended throughout.

Mr Andrew Middleton of Bonham’s Retford branch also attended.

Mrs Vina Cooke-Chambers has owned the doll museum for 25 years and has four rooms full of dolls she has both made and collected. She did not have her dolls valued.

She said the dolls she had made, which included The Beatles, could not be valued because they were the only examples in Britain.