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Tynietoy

Tynietoy was a company started by two women, Marion Perkins and Amy Vernon in 1917 in Providence, Rhode Island. Marion Perkins who was an interior decorator. Struggling in her interior design business at the onset of World War I, she began to make miniature reproductions of authentic period furniture in a loft above the Handicraft Club on Market Square in Providence, Rhode Island. Marion Perkins displayed her creations at the Handicraft Club. They were seen by Amey Vernon, a society matron, who began promoting the furniture by having sales in her home. They made miniature replicas of popular furniture designs in the styles representing Early American through to the Victorian era. The scale of TynieToy pieces is 1/12 or 1" to the foot. The creations were eventually seen by a representative of New York’s prestigious Metropolitan Museum of Art which acquired a collection for permanent display.

The first pieces consisted of ladder-back chairs, demi-lune tables, and bow front dressers. The story goes that the first piece that was made was a ladder back rush seat chair. Over the years, or decades rather, leading to approximately WWII the women grew the company to include other employees, craftsmen, and a huge line of miniature furnishings. They even began importing accessory items from Gerlach, a company in Germany. Tynietoy's accomplishments included displays at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, working with famed New England artist Sydney Burleigh, and working on projects with art students from the Rhode Island School of Design. Tynietoy also attracted a following of upscale clientele, including Hollywood types.

The miniature furniture was initially made independent of display spaces, but eventually Tynietoy began making miniature replicas of New England style houses to sell along with the furnishings. The houses share the same handcrafted and almost naïve characteristics of the furniture. Although simple in construction and materials as well as being entirely handmade, the pieces have a real sense of artistry and sophistication to them. Business began to grow and Marion Perkins and Amey Vernon opened a TynieToy workshop in Providence in 1920. The individual pieces of furniture were expanding so the TynieToy Company started making dollhouse replicas of famous New England homes to hold them and by the 1930s, they offered 10 styles of houses and more than 120 furniture items.

The company employed students to do the painting that decorated the chairs and upholstery (to represent fabric). TynieToy’s authentic period miniature American furniture came to gain the endorsement of the country’s leading arts and crafts societies.

While their very first trademark was a paper label, Tynietoy dollhouses and furnishings, spanning the 1920s into the 1940s, are usually stamped with a stylized tree, house and ladderback sidechair.

Today the pieces of furniture and especially the houses are highly collectible. Furniture pieces can be bought online from a few dealers, at auctions, or on eBay when pieces become available. While quantities are limited and many collectors cherish what they have been able to find, there are pieces available to those who are patient enough buying a piece at a time. The houses are another story and are much harder to come by.

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