The only thing missing was the baby. Week after week, baby gear kept appearing at auction. First, I saw a heavy wooden cradle with rockers at both ends. Then, I began seeing carriages and strollers, potty chairs and rocking chairs.
Everyone seemed to be tossing out these vintage pieces all at the same time – maybe because there were no more babies in the house and there was no need for the gear or because it was out-dated. Today, parents push their babies and toddlers in fancy strollers – some costing up to a thousand dollars or more – and lay them down to sleep in bassinets made comfortable with layers of soft fabric and warm pastel colors.
Looking at the ones at auction, it seemed that they were more functional than appealing and were a vehicle for showing off baby. Today, the gear is as much a show-off as the child it’s supporting.
A few of the auction items, though, were rather interesting: The sky blue potty with a note pointing out that it played music. I wasn’t sure how it worked and the note didn’t offer a clue.
Or this inscription on the bottom of a bright red rocking chair with yellow striping:
1947
Ye Dutch Haven
Soudersburg, PA
Route 30
7 miles east of Lancaster
Given to Donn Marie Rhan
By Frank Di Joseph 1947
One site noted that the old strollers aren’t safe, and that some people now use them to hold vintage dolls. At one auction recently, I saw a lovely wicker carriage with a vintage Gerber baby doll in it. New strollers have to adhere to safety standards.
These mother-propelled vehicles, I learned, were also called prams and the earliest ones were made of wicker. Strollers have been around since the 1700s, but were markedly changed in the late 1880s. They were affixed with two wheels to make them more manuervable and a cover that could be moved from front to back. Here are photos of baby carriages through the years. By the 21st century, they had gotten funky, like the bassinet I saw on one retail site that converted into a stroller as the child grew.
Here’s a photographic sampling of the vintage baby and toddler items I observed at auction:
Strollers have certainly come a long way.
A reminder of a tough job that hasn’t gotten any easier.
Cradles with rockers looked so uncomfortable.
Rocking horses never seem to lose their appeal.
High chairs don’t seem to change much.
More high chairs.
Rocking chairs and more.
Vintage accessories included a wooden chest, rattlers and other playthings.
