miniature Stephenish things!

[nid_dabeille]

I miss my dollhouse (it's at my parents' house, and it's rather large) and I've been pondering the idea of making a small roombox of some sort to get my miniatures fix.  Tonight I suddenly had the idea to make a miniature version of Stephen Maturin's Realm in the orlop (or wherever it is that he goes) with bottles of medicine and tiny trephines and forceps and bone saws (BONE SAWS) and ... sigh!  I've been perusing page after page of online miniatures dealers who have things I could use or, more often, adapt - even some amazing things that are perfect in their own right but which I could never justify buying.  (Like this $100 reading glass, guhhh)  And I also looked back at the miniature things I had suggested to esteven for her Aubrey and Maturin bears.  I still love that jar of leeches and the mortar and pestle.

Also, this website has the most amazing historic medical miniatures which are so far beyond the scope of my comprehension that I can't even feel covetous for them.  They're like museum pieces.  (And that, children, is exactly why one must start a museum.  To have all the good stuff that one can't buy for oneself.)


And my inner Stephen swooned when I saw this:
Dollhouse Pharmacy on ebay

(It says it's antique German, but I don't believe that.  I think it's a modern replica of a German pharmacy of 1910, but almost certainly wasn't made then.)

Sure, it's 100 years later than Stephen - but oh, swoon!!!  My heart hurts!  And ALL that stuff for such a relatively LOW price.  I swoon to see those porcelain pots and mortars and pestles and orderly rows of bottles with their neat labels.  MY HEART HURTS!

Oh, and randomly, I saw this cute little milk box, which you would leave at the doorstep for the milkman to leave your bottle of milk - and I thought the label was cute. :D  Though I thought it said "M&C Diaries" at first, instead of "Dairies".

Comments

[esteven]

One of my "favourite-st" places has been the Museum of Childhood, a branch of the V&A in Bethnal Green. It has a wonderful huge collection of dolls houses, some as far back as the 18th century.

Unfortunately they were under glass, but my fingers itched to rearrange furniture. :D

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

Oh FUN!!! I love museums like that. Those dollhouses look fabulous! We have a toy museum in the next city, and it has lots of fabulous dollhouses too.

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

http://www.vam.ac.uk/moc/collections/dolls_houses/tatebaby/index.html
Although toy shops were well established by the time the Tate house was made, it was more usual for such a grand house to be a hobby for the mistress of the house. Guests would take small presents such as a little silver kettle as a token of thanks for their hostess's hospitality

I should totally bring back that custom, and inform my guests of it!!!

And then there's this (http://www.vam.ac.uk/moc/collections/dolls_houses/killercabinet/index.html)...
A doctor named Killer! What a combination.

[esteven]

So if you ever get to Bethnal Green, you know where to go. D

It may have been the Tate House where my itch was very strong. I loved the well stacked cellars with ham and sausages hanging on strings, bottles of wine, sacks of potatoes and vegetables all in neat rows. Hudson and Mrs Bridges would have been very pleased.
*g*