The Collecting Gene Part II

The Collecting Gene Part II

I moved to California just after graduation from high school and two years later when I moved back Mother had switched from teaching ceramics to teaching porcelain doll making.  She had also begun collecting antique and collectible dolls. Then there were the Teddy Bears....so many Teddy Bears that the Museum of Natural History in Denver borrowed her bears at one time for a display they put on for school kids....

Mother's favorite color was blue.  You could say she collected that, too.  When she painted the house, every room got painted varying shades of blue.  The exterior, too.

The photo shows a newspaper article from a local paper in the 1970's.  (And if you knew just how small that house was....It was a small ranch house with a double carport and a basement.)

When I moved back home after my two years in Southern California I would go along with my mom and sister to go antique shopping.  I liked to look at the dolls, but I was living on a $140.00 a month Navy allotment and couldn't afford anything but looking.  (My collector gene had to remain dormant for the time being.)   One day we were at Mother's favorite doll shop and I saw an antique little boy doll dressed in a brown velvet suit.  I said, "Oh!  He's so cute!" and Mother immediately took the doll to the counter.  I said, "Mother, what are you doing?"  and she replied, "If you like that doll, I'm buying it for you.  I've never heard you say you liked any of them before!"  Needless to say, the gene started to rear up....

I began a few years later trading other artists, my dolls for theirs, and built quite a nice little collection.  Then, when I was a single mom, I had to sell most of the collection during a very rough period.  But I couldn't part with the little boy....I did part with him later....I was going to have to sell him and my mom bought him.  The next Christmas, she surprised me and gave him back to me!!!  I was so touched I sat there and cried my eyes out.  And I won't ever part with him again!  As a matter of fact, he now has a little brother.