Dolls, Teddy Bears & Tinplate - Tuesday 19 February 2013 | 10:30

Hertel Schwab & Co Bisque Googly Eyed Doll, German, 1914, impressed 165.6, "Georgette", with weighted side glancing blue eyes, watermelon mouth, 5-piece curved limb composition body, original blonde wig and pate, fingers are toes are chipped, faintest of hairline cracks extends from corner of right eye rim to top of pate, 16"/41cm. NB Simonne Bareau was born in Antwerp, Belgium on 17 August 1902, only daughter of Jean Louis & Eliza Bareau. At her birth she was presented with a lovely doll made of composite by Hertel, Schwab & Co. When she was 7 years old Simonne's mother passed away and she was sent to live with her great aunts. In 1913 when she was 11 her father brought Simonne and her elder brother Paul to England before the outbreak of the First World War. They moved to Dulwich, London where Simonne was sent to Jane Allen's Girls School. At this time the head of Georgette became damaged and was replaced with a Hertel, Schwab & Co "character googly eyed head smiling with closed mouth". The clothes worn by Georgette were knitted by Simonne when she was a young girl. Simonne kept Georgette until she passed away in 2001 aged 99. It was then kept by her daughter June and is now being sold to raise funds to assist Simonne's eldest granddaughter Lynda, who was badly injured in a road traffic accident in 1981. We hope that the person who buys Georgette will look after her and treasure her as Simonne did for so many years. Please see photo showing Simonne at primary school in Antwerp aged 5. Seated front row 2nd from left.