An Antique Doll Auction of the Puppen Spielzeug Museum of Vienna Austria - hardcover

For nearly three decades, this must-see doll and toy museum housed in a splendid baroque building in old Vienna, in which Mozart is said to have once lived, thrilled the thousands of doll collectors who passed through its doors. The legendary collection is the vision of one man, Vaclav Sladky, a native of Czechoslovakia, who escaped the Communist Wall with only one ill- filled suitcase in hand, but with the dream of a new life. His entrance into dolls was accidental, happening upon one bedraggled and forlorn doll at a street flea market, he bought it for pennies, brought it home and saved it. His love of dolls had begun. 10 years later, his pennies saved, and his doll collection grown to an astonishing and splendid array, he realized his dream, to open a childhood museum. The entire contents of the Vienna Puppen & Spielzeug Museum, as well as private dolls from the Sladky collection, will be offered during a two-day auction. The collection is presented in this splendid commemorative hardbound 188-page full-color catalog whose theme is inspired by the 19th century Viennese opera "The Doll Fairy.