A Cherished Collection: Antique Dolls & Doll Costumes of Madame Andree Petyt (Dollmaster May 2007 Auction Results)

This is a doll auction catalog including prices realized.

The elegant European lady whose collection was visited by Belgian royalty and whose other-than-doll life revolved around the society circles of Brussels, Paris and London, said in an early newspaper interview "I never played with dolls as a child." She came to dolls, she explained, through a love of fashion and an enduring fascination with doll costumes and the history of clothing those dolls personified. However, she clarified, the love of the doll itself soon gained equal footing with the love of costume and she began to seek both throughout Europe. This explains the particular vision of Madame Andree Petyt whose extraordinary collection of rare dolls in exquisite costumes will be sold in two important sessions entitled "A Cherished Collection."

It was in the early 1960's that the doll collection of Andree Petyt began. The family members were already noted antique collectors, their curious natures having led them to acquire fine paintings, furniture, porcelains and rare books. The first doll was a casual gift from her husband. But to Andree Petyt this was no simple plaything. It was a study in fashion, it was a porcelain work of art. Her interest aroused, she entered the doll collecting world with zeal, and in a short time her name became known in the doll salons and ateliers throughout Paris and London which were her favorite antique sources. The fifth floor of the Petyt mansion on Avenue Nestor Plissart in an elegant neighborhood of Brussels became her museum, the walls filled with shelves that soon became filled with the finest French and German dolls, and the cupboards filled with drawers and drawers of doll's and children's antique clothing. By 1975 her collection was so notable that she filled an exhibit hall with her choicest pieces, and welcomed the public to view the world of dolls. Among the visitors to this exhibit was the Belgian queen with her children, the young princess and prince. By the end of the century, the collection was among the largest private collections of French dolls existing. At her passing, her family determined to return the cherished collection of Andree Petyt to the loving arms of future collectors.