Tuesday, May 3, 2011

What is a Dolly Gram??

I wasn't expecting to find any new "treasures" this weekend as my mom and I were planning on attending a doll auction where, apart from maybe a troll or 2, the items don't really fit my taste. They did have a box with a few trolls but I had all of them and they went for over $60 soo that is a little out of my allotted troll doll budget. But wait, what on earth are these guys!?

 They are marked Dolly-Gram by Western Union on their rear ends.
I will have to guess they are from the mid-late 1960's and were a gimmick by Western Union to try and regain some interest into the dying art of a Telegram. 

The one on the left is a paper mache bank.

Obviously these guys caught my eye and they were tossed into a box with several other boxes near the end of the auction so I was crossing my fingers all day no one else was itching to buy them. 

Surprise? No other interest whatsoever in them so they came home with me!!

We also managed to squeeze in a fun estate sale which had a basement packed FULL of various holiday decorations. It was mostly cutesy stuff from the past 10 years but I managed to find some festive Halloween and Christmas things. I also found this neat World's Fair book from 1893 for $2 and a 1933 World's Fair plate for $1.

Super cute mini Tupperware which came with the auction lot

Darn it Cara! Is that another piece of Pyrex!? Yes, but it was only .50 and look how lovely it looks on my orange counter! 
I thought it was $1 but it turns out everything was 1/2 price the second day of the sale. The metal stand is too big but I think it will fit my snowflake casserole. 

And I couldn't go the weekend without adding to my troll family. This guy, er, gal is ceramic with very poorly painted eyes for some nice character?

6 comments:

  1. Great finds! I have to admit to never having seen those Dolly-Grams. Very cool!

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  2. They make me laugh - which is how a lot of stuff finds a home here :o)

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  3. I may be way too late to comment on this, but the Dolly Grams were made by The Vermont Toy Farm in Essex Vermont...where I live. The company was run out of a local house/factory with many home sewers. The Vermont Toy Farm went out of business in 1983. Do you still have the dolls?

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  4. Nah, fortunately blogspot makes it easy to check on new comments.
    Of course I still have the whole herd and put them out for different events plus I collect dream pets and they blend right in with their velveteen fabric-ness. Thanks for the history! It's fun to know since I didn't find much about them on the internet.

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  5. My name is melissa singleton and I have two western union Dolly's are they worth anything today

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