Creating Lundby FamilyChristmas Memories

OUR READERS WILL DELIGHT in peek-ing into two warm and wonderful

Christmas holiday happenings. These twowindows into Lundby family celebrationsin their living rooms were fashioned byWLLC members, Jennifer McKendry andPeter Pehrsson. Thanks to Jennifer andPeter for helping us to wish you all a veryMERRY CHRISTMAS and GOD JUL!

Merge with LerroAssured Lundby’s

Later SuccessHISTORY OF LUNDBY OF SWEDEN

Part IISecond Ten Years—1957-1967

AFTER LUNDBY RECOVERED from a dev-astating fire at its Lerum factory in

1950, another fire in 1959 hit Lerro, a doll-house firm that began in 1949 and washoused in a family residence. Lerro wasowned by a well-known Swedish houseinterior designer, Per Börnfelt (1926-2005).

When the Thomsens offered Börnfelt apartnership with Lundby, he accepted theproposal.The two companies merged theirassets and opened a new factory in Lerumin 1962.

Hundreds of designs from everydaySwedish life, from interior wallpapers tofurniture to accessories, were Börnfelt’spriceless contributions to the company.You will note from the photos of theboxed 1950s Lerro furniture howBörnfelt’s early patterns and decorationshugely influenced later Lundby kitchens,living rooms, and bedrooms.

Best Toy of the Year in 1967Börnfelt’s conviction that children wantedtheir toys to be realistic paid the companygreat dividends. The 1967 Lundby catalogadvertised that the Swedish Toy MerchantsAssociation presented their highest awardto Lundby, as best Toy of the Year. Thatsame year the factory in Lerum produced35,000 dollhouses. ♥

THE LETTEROF SWEDEN

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

DECEMBER 2006Volume 3Number 4

Pho

tos

by B

ecky

Nor

ris.

Editor’s Note:This is the second of six articlesto commemorate the 60th Anniversary ofLundby of Sweden dollhouses and furniture(1947-2007). For more information on Lerro’srole in Lundby’s history, read the article on PerBörnfelt in The Lundby Letter March 2005,posted on the We Love Lundby Club website atwww.toysmiles.com.

� Memory created by Jennifer McKendry. � Memory created by Peter Pehrsson.

Becky Norris of Fort Wayne, Indiana, transported these extremely rare boxes of Lerro furniture for“Show and Tell” at the recent Dollhouse Toys n’ Us convention in Elgin, Illinois. Becky purchasedthe furniture about 15 years ago at the Shipshewana Flea Market.

2 THE LUNDBY LETTER

The Children’s Corner

By Caitlin Butchart

HELLO AGAIN.It’s getting cold, isn’t it? So I thoughtI’d do a little Christmassy article.

I was searching through my sparedoll’s house box, trying to find myChristmas decorations, when I startedto think. Why do we have Christmastrees? What do they mean?

Apparently, back in the 7th Century amonk from Creditor, in Devonshire,traveled to Germany to spread theword of God. As legend has it, he usedthe triangular shape of the Fir Tree todescribe the Holy Trinity of God.

The German people started to wor-ship the Fir Tree as “God’s Tree.”During the next five centuries, the treebecame a symbol of Christianity allover central Europe. Prince Albert whomarried Queen Victoria, introducedthe traditional Christmas tree, as weknow it, to England in the 1800s.

So I hope that has interested you.

Warmest Christmas Wishes from Caitlinand Family ♥

Caitlin

Caitlin’s doll’s house box of spares yielded a charm-ing scene around the Lundby Christmas tree.Photo by Lis Garner.

ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING THINGS about collecting Lundby is the devoted effortmade by the company to recreate miniature items from the “real” world. Anexample of this devotion is the reproduction of famous paintings or contempo-

rary artwork, such as Lisa Rinnevuo’s paintings for the new Stockholm 2005 house (seeThe Lundby Letter June 2006). Previously, WLLC member Jenny Bredenberg identified“Grindslanten” (see The Lundby Letter March 2006) by the 19th Century Swedish artist,August Malmström.Three more paintings shown in Lundby catalogs are:

Lundby LoreArt in Miniature: Lundby Devotion to Realism

By Patricia Harrington,with many thanks to Antje Baxpehler for identifying the Fragonard painting

and to Elisabeth Lantz for her photographs.

1. “The Reader” by Jean-Honoré Frago-nard; oil painting done c. 1770-72. Theoriginal is in The National Gallery ofArt in Washington, D.C. First shown inthe Lundby catalog 1967 and not shownafter 1974-75.

2. “The Gleaners” by Jean François Millet;oil painting 1857.The original is in The

3. “Ballerina” by Edgar Degas; pastel1878. The original is in The Museéd’Orsay, Paris. Shown in Lundby cata-logs from 1967-1970.

There are, of course, many moreLundby 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 another Swedish com-pany, SUFA, which also produced Lundby,Lisa, and Lillbo lamps. ♥

You Pick the Winner of our 60th Anniversary ContestIn September we announced a contest for a catchy theme song or slogan that symbolizesthe celebration of 60 years of Lundby of Sweden dollhouses. Honestly, we expected a tor-rent of replies, but we actually received only a few entries.

Because we want to give more of you a chance to win, we have extended the deadlinefor ideas for a song or slogan to use all during 2007 on our website. Please put those think-ing caps on and come up with a great theme.The prize is a Lundby advent calendar.

Send all entries to toysmiles@aol.com by Friday, February 10, 2007.Three top choic-es will be emailed to the membership, and you will get to pick the winner! The Marchissue will reveal the successful slogan or song. ♥

Louvre, Paris. First shown in the 1983Lundby catalog, and production contin-ued until 1995.

December 2006 3

OF SWEDENOF SWEDEN

Join Jennifer’s Quest for Dated Early Photo of a Lundby Dollhouse

THIRD IN A SERIES

By Jennifer McKendry

WHILE A NUMBER OF ACTUAL LUNDBY DOLLHOUSES have been attributed to the 1950sor early ‘60s, it is difficult to date them precisely without comparing them to dated

printed material in the form of catalogues or sales receipts. Unfortunately, there is littleprinted visual evidence that has survived from the 1950s of Lundby products. (The read-er is referred to http://dollhouse.mine.nu/ for scans of later Lundby catalogues and fly-ers.) Until such material is discovered, it will continue to be a guessing game about suchimportant questions as — when did Lundby introduce the asymmetrical roof of theGothenburg house?

The earliest surviving catalogue of ABLundby Leksaksfabrik — once thought tobe from the company’s founding year of1947, but now re-assessed as dating fromthe late 1950s — shows a house with a tra-ditional gable roof over two-storey box-like form. By the next surviving cataloguein 1966, the ancestor of the GothenburgHouse is easily recognized.

I have, however, discovered a relevantillustration from the 1961-62 catalogue ofFranz Carl Weber, a toy seller with a chainof stores in Switzerland, which is repro-duced in Dian Zillner’s Dollhouse &Furniture Advertising, 1880s-1980s (page115, under “Weber”). Although Zillneridentifies it as a German dollhouse, its formis that of a Lundby product, indirectly con-firmed by Weber’s caption, which begins,“Modernes schwedisches Puppenhaus…”(Modern Swedish dollhouse).

The caption goes on to note that it wascompletely papered and painted, heldmany charming pieces of furniture andwas safely wired for electricity. The doll-house was 71 cm wide, 26 cm deep and 45cm high. These measurements are aboutthe same as a Gothenburg House from themid 1970s, except the latter is a littlelower because, by then, it no longer incor-porated the television antenna that toppedthe 1961 house behind the chimney. It is

worth noting that the chimney cap has alower open part in the top centre, charac-teristic of Lundby houses in the 1960s andfirst half of the 1970s.

Aside from the confirmation, via theantenna, that a television was part of the1961 furnishings, other pieces appear to bein a simple “modern” style.The independ-ent fireplace with its white slanted upperpart is familiar because it was carried inthe Lundby line until 1975 (cataloguenumber 5773).

The interior plan of 1961 is familiarincluding the balustrade protecting thestair-well in the large upstairs room (fur-nished as a sitting room with fireplace)with its open modern form that includes alower portion (sort of an extensive stairlanding) accessed by a single long step.Thestaircase descending into the centre main-floor room (furnished as a dining room) isdistinguished by floor-to-ceiling wood rec-tangular spindles, seen in real houses of thisperiod and surviving in Lundby houses toat least 1972. Shortly after, they were

replaced by less “dated” white, turneduprights under a hand-railing.

The 1961 bedroom, kitchen and bath-room were in their familiar locations. Thebathroom with its “built-in” tub andpedestal sink had a wide opening off thedining room — probably the same arrange-ment seen in the 1966 catalogue. Thisseems odd design concerning privacy butit was likely that the area at the front ofthe bathroom was meant to represent ahall with an imaginary wall and door sep-arating the bathroom proper.

One day, someone may find a datedsnapshot of some lucky little girl playingproudly with her new Lundby dollhouse.If it is a photograph taken sometimebetween 1947 and 1961, it will be deeplyappreciated as an aid to reconstructing thehistory of the earliest Lundby houses. ♥

Is this the first known dated photograph of a LundbyGothenburg house?

Editor’s Note:To add to the search for informa-tion on Dating Lundby dollhouses, JenniferMcKendry, Ontario, Canada, has writtenanother article entitled “The LundbyGothenburg Dollhouse: Its Evolution andSurvival from ‘Modern to Traditional’.”You canread Jennifer’s article, along with another one ofinterest, “Collector’s Fever: Coveting DollhouseFurnishings” on her website, www.mckendry.net.Click on Antiques, Collectibles, & Vintage. Shehas just posted the section on 1890 to 1930 ofan ongoing history of dollhouses 1890 to 1990.

Birthdays Always Remembered!Not only is Christmas coming for Caitlin, but her 12th birthday is also approaching. Weknow that date because all 10 of the Junior Members of the WLLC receive special birth-day presents every year. The gifts are purchased by Carolyn Frank, VA, former AssociateEditor of The Lundby Letter, and currently an Advisory Member of our Club. StellaGoodman, UK, has also joined in with this generous effort by mailing the gifts whichCarolyn purchases for the children in the UK.

Club members, and especially the children, give special thanks to both Carolyn andStella for their devotion to keeping the hobby of dollhouse collecting alive for our nextgeneration. Listed below, are the names and birthdates, from January to December, of allour Junior Members.

Madlen Boutry-Klingbeil Camryn Long Brodie Butchart Caitlin ButchartJanuary 21, 2003 June 2, 1995 September 24, 2000 December 20, 1994Joelle Williams Catherine McNeil Natalie SchlagerApril 24, 1998 June 5, 1994 November 10, 1995Johnie Freiwald Charlotte McNeil Shannon LongMay 22, 1993 August 17, 1996 November 30, 1993

The second annual mini-convention of theWe Love Lundby Club was held October 20in Elgin, Illinois. Those in attendance were

Sharon Barton, CA; Maria Cannizzaro, NJ; RitaGoranson, IA; Linda Hanlon,VA; Sue Morse,VA;George Mundorf, NY; Geraldine and Bob Scott,FL; and Roy Specht, CA. Two new members,Marilynn Abrams, CA, and Judy Toolen, MO,joined during the meeting and were welcomedinto the club.

During show and tell, George displayed his yel-low bat chair, one of the earliest pieces thatLundby made. Maria shared her purchases of aLundby Christmas tree and some bunk beds.Thebunk beds were the earlier ones because theyhave a ladder between the two beds.

While Marilyn was in Stockholmrecently, she found a new 2006/2007 cat-alog of Lundby items, printed in Swedish,and brought it for the club’s files.

Even though Jennifer McKendry wasn’table to attend the meeting, Sue displayedJennifer’s framed pictures of the Lundbyfamily. Sue also showed a boxed set ofNorwegian living room furniture in thesame scale as Lundby that she had won oneBay. Some pieces, such as the corner fire-place, are very similar to Lundby.

Photos of Jennifer’s box of portraits anda photo of the Norwegian living room willbe added to the We Love Lundby Clubwebsite.

The members present discussed the cel-ebration of Lundby’s 60th anniversary in2007. A June 1-3, 2007, gathering wouldcoincide with the Eastern NationalAntique to Modern Doll Show inGaithersburg, MD, and a trip to Sweden isplanned for September. All members areasked to answer the enclosed question-naire regarding your possible attendance ateither or both of the celebrations. Markyour calendars! ♥

Did I Let One Get Away?By Sue Morse

It was a dark, cold Sunday morning inOctober when Linda Hanlon, SharonBarton, and I drove into the Antique-Collectible Toy & Doll World Show(Chicago Toy Show) at Kane CountyFairgrounds in St. Charles, IL. Each hadher mission and we only had two hours.We were on the hunt!

The object of my treasure-seeking wasa Swedish dollhouse other members toldme they had seen in the Poultry Buildingthe day before.Would it still be there?

When I finally discovered the mysterydollhouse, I was a little disappointed. Itwas small and rough hewn, possibly hand-made. The dealer, Bob Mannella fromMinnesota, told me that he bought it froma Minneapolis couple who imported itfrom Sweden in 1954. They rememberedthat the house cost them $354, includingshipping.

Perhaps that frosty morning I made theworst mistake of my collecting life. I did-n’t buy it for the $200 price that the deal-

4 THE LUNDBY LETTER

WLLC Members Meet, Share, and Plan for 2007

Linda Hanlon’s Corner Fireplace, from theGift Exchange

George Mundorf’s Bat Chair for Show and Tell

Dol

lhou

se p

hoto

s by

Ger

aldi

ne S

cott

.

Pho

to b

y B

ob S

cott

.P

hoto

by

Bob

Sco

tt.

er was asking. I just couldn’t shake myoriginal feeling that it was a one-of-a-kinddollhouse, not really associated withLundby. But, foolishly, it didn’t occur tome to pick up even one piece of the din-ing room or bedroom furniture to see if itwas marked. It’s possible that the furniturepieces were manufactured, as most certain-ly are the lamps. A month after the show,I keep asking myself, “Could the furniturehave been early Lundby or Lerro?” Whatdo you think? Does anyone recognize thedollhouse or the furniture? ♥

King and Queen AttendCeremonies at House of

Sweden

TWENTY-EIGHT MONTHS after ground-breaking, a sparkling new Swedish

embassy building now graces the PotomacRiver in Washington, D.C. The House ofSweden was inaugurated October 22-23by their Majesties, King Carl XVI Gustafand Queen Silvia. While in the nation’scapital, the King and Queen presided at agala embassy dinner and lunched withPresident Bush and the First Lady at theWhite House.

We will bring you more exciting newsabout the new embassy in future issues. ♥

Lundby Connections

IN MEMORIAM…We have received the sadnews that one of our members, LiseJensen, Canada, passed away from compli-cations of leukemia on October 14. Ourclub has joined many of Lise’s friends inmaking a contribution to cancer researchin her memory. To use a phrase I onceheard another Canadian say, “Lise lovedLundby madly!”

Another great supporter of Lundby,Richard Matthes, 85, father of LindaHanlon, also died in 2006. In the monthssince he passed, I personally have missedhis cheerful smile, his devotion to minia-tures, and his willingness to fix any brokenLundby piece in the “Rick’s R&R bag”that I left at his doorstep. Now he looksdown on me and guides me every time Iuse the Duro Super Glue he recommend-ed. Rick, may you always Rest in Peace.

♥Mystery Fireplace #1 on the WLLC web-page has been identified. Ingela in Swedenvisited the section under LundbyDetective and emailed us that the fireplacewas made by Lerro. Since MysteryFireplace #3 has a similar look to it, itmust also be Lerro. Mystery Fireplace #2has also been identified as Hanse ofDenmark, but Jes Kelly’s fireplace remainsunidentified.

It’s time for some new mysteries. Pleasesubmit your photo of an unknown item tome at toysmiles@aol.com.

♥The October issue of “Romantic HomesMagazine” featured a beautiful six-pagearticle about Klaradal, Swedish Antiquesand Furnishings, owned by Sue and PeterKopperman, and located in Olney, MD.Sue and Peter also participated inScanFest, an annual Scandinavian fair heldthe Sunday before Labor Day in Vasa Park,Hackettstown, NJ. The website iswww.scanfest.org.

♥Lundby will always be a standout! Ten-year-old Rachel visited Linda Hanlon’sdollhouse collection in Williamsburg, VA,recently. She was awestruck with the vari-ety of dollhouses (Linda’s collection con-sists of dozens of dollhouses and room

Tomte Is Coming!

December 2006 5

Pho

to b

y M

ario

n O

sbor

ne.

Pho

to b

y S

ue M

orse

.

Carl XVI Gustaf became King in 1973 and marriedSilvia Sommerlath on June 19, 1976.The portrait ofthe King and Queen that Lundby used is the officialportrait at that time. It was shown as a new item in the1977 Lundby catalog.

boxes from England, Germany, Sweden,and the US). At the end of her tour,Rachel remarked that she liked theLundby house best. The things she lovedmost about the dollhouse were the electriclights and the opening doors of the ovenand the refrigerator.

♥Louana Singleton, IN, wants to buyanother Lundby Chesterfield sofa (#9528)and a copy of back issue #8 of Dolls HouseWorld magazine. Please contact her at812/422-3304.

♥Has anyone ever heard of or used a sol-vent called Plasticote? It supposedly turnsdiscolored plastic to a brilliant whiteagain. None of the US members has seenit for sale here, so we wonder if it’s avail-able in the UK or in Europe.

♥

Tomte, one of the most familiar creatures of Scandinavianfolklore, is the Swedish version of Santa Claus.ViktorRydberg’s poem, Tomten, featured the first painting byJenny Nyström of this traditional Swedish mythicalcharacter, which she turned into the white-bearded, red-capped friendly figure associated with Christmas eversince.

A LundbyGem!

Marion Osborne, UK, sent thisphoto of a rare Lundby twin bed set(#9714), believed to be shown onlyin the 1972 catalog. The cardboardinserts were used to support lacebedspreads. One of the rare redorange twin beds is shown in theplain Lundby dollhouse.

OF SWEDEN

From

the

Mor

se C

olle

ctio

n.

6 THE LUNDBY LETTER

Coming Up in theMarch 2007 Issue

� Lundby’s Third Ten Years—1967-1977

� Plans for Gatherings in Juneand September

� Announcement ofSong/Slogan Contest Winner

� Member Interviews

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: Carolyn Frank

Patricia HarringtonLarry HotalingMarion OsbornePeter PehrssonRichard SmithYvette Wadsted

Design: Don Christian© 2006, We Love Lundby Club. All rights reserved.

Permission has been granted to use the Lundby logo.

OF SWEDEN

JUST PROVIDE Sharon Barton, Highland,CA, with a Red-Eye airline ticket for a

weekend in Chicago, Washington, DC, orPhiladelphia, and she will be completelyhappy. She knows that she’ll soon be join-ing her fellow Dollhouse Toys n’ Usand/or We Love Lundby Club collectorsat a nearby vintage doll and toy show. Onthese jet-setting two-day trips, Sharon hasattended some of the biggest shows in thecountry in Brimfield, MA; Atlantic City,NJ; Allentown, PA (her favorite show); St.Charles, IL; and Gaithersburg, MD. Manyof her destinations have been meetingvenues for the past eight conventions ofthe Dollhouse Toys n’ Us group, as well astwo mini-meetings of the WLLC.

What drives Sharon to squeeze thesetrips into her already busy schedule? Onereason is because she likes to be with herclosest and dearest friends from dollhouse

c o l l e c t i n g .However, aneven more pro-found experi-ence, the sec-ond childhood,grabs the doll-house collector,and it usuallystarts to growduring a lifecrisis. Sharonsays of herreawakening,“At the young

Members in Focus EIGHTH IN A SERIES OF INTERVIEWS

By Sue Morse

age of 45, I began searching for ourchildhood dollhouses to help my sisterheal after our mother died.” Sharonand her sister played with a Marx redroof house, which she hasn’t been ableto identify and find, but she remem-bers hours and hours of fun.

During her regular weekdayschedule at home in California whereshe has lived since she was threeyears old, Sharon’s job and family liferevolve around the people who meanso much to her. Her family consists ofher husband, Steve; two daughters,and three granddaughters.

After working as a vice presidentand director for the Easter Seals andGoodwill Industries, Sharon becamethe owner In-Roads Creative Programs,Inc. six years ago. Her business providessupport for patients and their families,both adults and children, who are termi-nally ill, mentally retarded, or mentally ill.Sharon comments that her business andher family and pets keep her busy 24/7,but she is so thankful she can help ease thepain and provide comfort.

Fueled by her initial desire to help hersister, Sharon’s knowledge of vintage doll-houses and toys has grown as she meetsmore club members and visits places coastto coast. She advises beginning dollhousecollectors to educate themselves by talkingwith individuals they can trust.Additionally, Sharon highly recommendsreading Dian Zillner’s books on dollhous-es, where collectors can glean informationthat will help them make good buyingdecisions.

Sharon’s most beloved holidays areHalloween, her family’s birthdays, and

Who knew that the Sopranos would be in Atlantic City, NJ, dur-ing the same March 2006 weekend that Sharon and Sue attend-ed the Collectibles Show at the Convention Center? Here Sharonshares the spotlight with actors from the hit HBO series: Bobby,played by Steven R. Schirripa; Christopher, played by MichaelImperioli; and Pauli, played by Tony Sirico.

Christmas. It’s no surprise then that herfavorite Lundby items are the children, thefamily, and the Christmas tree! ♥

Pho

to c

ourt

esy

of t

he A

tlant

ic C

ity H

ilton

.

It’s Time to Renew for 2007Stay connected to the world of Lundby.Many great things will be happening in2007 that you won’t want to miss! Weinvite all our members to rejoin for nextyear. You will receive four issues of TheLundby Letter, opportunities for networkingand gatherings, chances to sell, purchase,or swap Lundby items, and access to theWe Love Lundby Club website anytimeday or night. Each membership is “perhousehold” and includes all family mem-bers who are interested in Lundby.

A 2007 renewal membership form anda return envelope are included with thismailing. All NEW members will receive ared heart-shaped We Love Lundby Clubpin. Please renew by February 10, 2007. Ifyou have any questions, please send anemail to toysmiles@aol.com. ♥

Club Membership Stands at 59Our heartiest welcome to three newmembers, Marilynn Abrams, Union City,CA, Judy Toolen, Lake St. Louis, MO, andCheryl Miller, Oakton,VA. Contact infor-mation for our new members and addi-tional address changes are included in theDecember 2006 Membership DirectoryUpdate. Interested readers can obtainmembership information by emailing SueMorse at toysmiles@aol.com. ♥

Pho

to b

y B

ob S

cott

.