Fun Ho! Children's Dollhouse Furniture From New Zealand

June 29, 2018

New Zealand manufacturer Fun Ho! made a rare departure from its wheeled toys in the cast aluminium series with a small range of dollhouse furniture. The pieces were made at the Wellington, New Plymouth and Inglewood factories but were not part of the catalogue when production of the original toys ceased in 1982.
When introduced in August 1942, the six models were as follows: no. 96 Bath, no. 97 Basin, no. 98 Toilet, no. 99 Stove, no. 100 Table, and no. 101 Chair.
In 1945, a kitchen sink was added to the range as no. 102. The toilet was withdrawn around this time, and its catalogue number of 98 was given to the newly allocated Kelvinator (fridge). Some catalogue renumbering took place then, with the Bath becoming no. 95 and the Basin no. 96.
A 1947 advertisement in the “New Zealand Free Lance,” once a popular New Zealand weekly newspaper, had the Table priced at one shilling and sixpence (15c), the Chair at one shilling and threepence (12c), and the Sink at two shillings (20c). The advertisement referred to the pieces as the “Kitchen Set,” although they could only be bought separately.
Another 1947 “Free Lance” advertisement was for the “Bathroom Set,” but again the prices were for single items. The Bath cost two shillings (20c) and the Basin one shilling and ninepence (18c).
“Fun Ho! Repro” magazine, Vol. 7 No. 4 (April 1996), published by the Fun Ho! National Toy Museum, records that the original four-leg sink design was a copy of the American manufacturer Arcade’s catalogue number 649, and the table no. 648. The chair was another kitchen model copied from a cast-iron Arcade toy.
Bathroom pieces also have links to Arcade. The Bath was copied from Arcade toy no. 676. Both the toilet and the basin were copies from the American manufacturer’s range, as well. But the bath and the toilet lacked the detail of the Arcade toys, with the bath having no taps and the toilet no seat cover. Fun Ho! did not manufacture the stool that was part of Arcade’s bathroom set. No records are known to exist in New Zealand to verify whether these were authorized or unauthorized copies.
There was even more copying by Fun Ho! with its dollhouse furniture line. The updated sink design, with cupboards and drawers, was copied from a Protex (PM) plastic toy, and the kelvinator and the stove were modifications of other plastic Protex designs. It has been said the least appealing feature of the second sink design was that no taps were included.
Cream, dark green and dark blue seem to have been popular colors for the Fun Ho! tables and chairs during the 1940s. Fun Ho! chairs had the seats painted in a different color than the frame. The chairs originally had a back with two open panels, as seen on the Arcade version, that was replaced in the 1950s by a flat back style due to casting difficulties. Outlines of those original markings are visible in the revised design. Molding plates contained 14 chairs and seven tables.
The kelvinator, stove and updated sink have hollow backs, and the bath only two sides, being designed to fit into a corner of a doll house bathroom. Keeping the bath steady are four short legs or feet cast into the underside. A bright yellow logo transfer replaced the gold one fitted to the bottom of the bath, and to most other Fun Ho! toys circa 1949.
“Fun Ho! Collectors Reference,” fourth edition (1997), lists all doll’s furniture sets with a singular apostrophe, which is kept for this article.
A nine-piece boxed set known as the “Doll’s Furniture Set” was issued from 1955 to 1958. This presentation comprised the original sink, a table, four chairs, bath, basin and toilet. No new catalogue number was allocated to the toilet at this time, number 98 being given to the kelvinator in 1945.
Three different boxed furniture sets were available between 1959 and 1965. Doll’s Set No. 1 comprised a table and four chairs; Doll’s Set No. 2 had the bath, basin, toilet and a chair; and Doll’s Set No. 3, the sink, kelvinator and stove. While the updated sink design was included in Set no. 3, it is not known if this was for the set’s entire catalogue life.
In 1990, the Fun Ho! National Toy Museum opened on the Inglewood site where the toys had been made. In 1996, boxed sets of the doll’s house furniture cast from the original molds, in both the nine-piece and three-piece packaging, were available from the museum as reproduction models.
The Inglewood Development Trust purchased the Fun Ho! National Toy Museum in 1999 and relocated the premises to 25 Rata St., Inglewood, where toymaker Richard Jordan continues to make the reproduction doll’s house furniture. Larger models are stamped “Repro” on the underside to distinguish them from the original models. Other differences are the powder coated paint finish, brighter colors and more hand detailing.
Little original Fun Ho! doll’s house furniture surfaces today. Play-worn original pieces seen in May 2018 were priced from $25 (U.S. $17) for a single chair, as opposed to $15 (U.S. $11) for a “repro” version. Three original sinks were priced from $35-$70 (U.S. $24-$48), a rare brown paint finish being more expensive than those in light blue. An original bath and basin were marked at $35 (U.S. $24) each, compared with $20 (U.S. $14) for a “repro” bath, and $25 (U.S. $17) for the “repro” basin.
The chairs are considered the easiest of the original models to obtain because the single chair included in Doll’s Set No. 2 seems to have become separated from the other pieces. There were also more chairs produced, as the Doll’s Set No. 1 and the nine-piece Doll’s Furniture Set each contained four.
Richard Jordan from the Fun Ho! National Toy Museum has known boxed, original Doll’s Sets Nos. 1, 2 and 3 to sell for $400 (U.S. $277) each, when complete and in good condition.
These boxed sets would be extremely rare now. Only small quantities would have been made for New Zealand’s domestic market, with a population of approx. 2.36 million when they debuted in 1959. For more, visit www.funho.com.
*New Zealand adopted decimal currency in July 1967.
*Detail and color finishes of present-day “repro” pieces could differ from those shown with this article.

Fun Ho! Doll’s House Furniture dimensions:
Bath (no. 96/95) 95-by-50-by-30 mm.
Basin (no.97/96) 50-by-45-by-38 mm.
Toilet (no. 98/Repro 98a) 45-by-45-by-25 mm.
Stove (no.99) 63-by-38-by-35 mm.
Table (no. 100) 76-by-55-by-50 mm.
Chair (no. 101) 63-by-30-by-30 mm.
Sink (no. 102) 93-by-60-by-42 mm.
Kelvinator (fridge) (no. 98) 85-by-50-by-45 mm.

Images courtesy of Ross de Rouffignac and the author.

 

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