A perfect miniature investment

If you’re looking for an excuse to buy that dolls’ house you’ve had your eye on, then we may have the answer – a dolls’ house makes the perfect family heirloom and is a fantastic investment!  If you needed any more convincing, then just look at this beautiful 18^th Century dolls’ house that was sold at an auction in the US earlier this year for over £30,000.

This exceptional English wooden dolls’ house, known as The Balustraded House built around 1775, sold for an amazing $47,500 (£32,970) against an estimate of between $25,000 and $35,000.  The house was previously owned by Vivien Greene, the wife of author Graham Greene, who displayed it at her Rotunda Museum and featured it in the book, The Vivien Greene Dolls’ House Collection.

The wooden-framed house, on its original faux-brick stand, measures 57 inches wide, 62 inches high, and 20 inches deep.  Its exterior walls are scored and painted to simulate stone and brick and its façade has a panelled double front door which is flanked by columns and protected with a small portico or balcony.  Six-pane windows appear on the first and third floors with a central Venetian window flanked by two 15-pane glazed windows on the second floor.

The interior is accessed by three front-opening wings that reveal six rooms, a hallway and two landings, each of which is framed in an unusual proscenium arch.  The otherwise unfurnished house has two old plate racks and a work table in the kitchen.  Other rooms have fireplaces with surrounds and four of the rooms retain their original paintwork.

You may not see a huge return on investment in your lifetime, but just think of the legacy you will be leaving!