An “antique” doll bed with a pedigree

The doll bed was in awful condition. It was dusty. It was dirty, and the ropes that once crisscrossed its bottom were busted, now only remnants. The bed still had its four wooden posts and rails, which had tiresomely survived the ages but not very well.

The bed’s appearance was off-putting, and normally I would have walked right past it. But I stopped to check it out when I saw a tag rope-tied to one of the posts:

“Doll bed said to have been made by Joseph Webster, first cousin to Noah Webster.” The donor’s name was written on the tag.

The name Noah Webster sounded familiar from some long-ago history lesson but I could not place it. I turned to the auction bid sheet to learn more. The bed was described as an “early 19th c. gray buttermilk painted rope poster doll bed, 16 ½” x 14 ½” x 8 ½.” It was a miniature version of the four poster or rope beds that used a series of ropes to hold up a mattress or tick made of corn, horse hair or other materials. Here are illustrations of some antique full-sized rope beds.

As usual, the auction house did not vouch for the authenticity of the bed. According to an auctioneer, the bed was a deaccession from the old Atwater Kent Museum, now known as the Philadelphia History Museum at the Atwater Kent. The auction house had sold several items from the museum over the past few years, and this bed was one of them. The buyer had returned it.

The bed was part of a special auction of vintage dolls and toys recently. The dolls – from early German Armand Marseille and Handwerck to 1960s Mattel Barbies – came from the shop of a New Jersey woman who had sold dolls, sewing items, glassware and china for more than 15 years, according to an auctioneer. Once she sold the shop, the items became her collection and filled her apartment. The dolls were the first to sell at auction, followed by half dolls and sewing items scheduled later.

Museums get donations all the time, and I’m sure it’s hard to authenticate the items – as I suspect would be the case of the Webster doll bed. A handwritten tag isn’t good enough.

When I went searching the web for a Joseph Webster, I could find no such person related to Noah Webster, who himself has his own place in history. Noah Webster changed the face of teaching in this country, replacing the British model with a uniquely American one during the period of the Revolutionary War. It all grew out of the poor education that he said he had as a child – attending a dilapidated school with awful teachers. When he became a teacher himself – being a lawyer did not work out – he created his own speller, grammar and reading books. His blue-backed speller was said to have been a favorite in schools for at least a century. He was also known for producing the first dictionary – the Merriam Webster – in 1828.

At auction, the doll bed sold for $35. I found antique doll beds and furniture selling on the web for prices in the thousands of dollars. This one was said to have been given to a woman by her grandmother nearly 80 years ago.