Doll News Winter 2019 - 147

A sweet and heart felt salute to America's little sweetheart.

This slide of Shirley Temple and her tea party with Raggedy Ann
was part of the many slides.

train to translate it for him. To his shock, the details of the
sale were out there for everyone in the country to read.
After departing the train, he called her and asked what
happened. Apparently, "she had gotten really drunk while
bartending the prior evening and spilled the beans to one
of her customers who happened to be a writer." Stuart
loves the unique character and feels that many times
the most difficult collectors to work with can have the
sweetest collections.
Meryl Gordon wrote the book, "The Phantom of Fifth
Avenue: The Mysterious Life and Scandalous Death of
Heiress Huguette Clark," but little did she know that there
would be a connection with Stuart. Huguette Clark was the
daughter of copper magnate William Andrews Clark. She
lived the life of the rich and even tried the life of socialite.
Later in life she became a recluse, taking her father's
advice to trust no one and was not seen outside after
1968. The problem was that her doll collecting years was
accomplished through her lawyer who would not disclose
her name and would buy whatever she wanted. She
would look for a particular doll and when asked about a
maximum bid, it was "buy," whatever the cost, she wanted
it! In 1991 she was brought to Doctor's Hospital for a brief
problem and felt so secure there that after her treatment,
she decided to stay, showering the hospital with gifts of
money to secure her continued lodging.
After her death in 2011, at the age of 104, Stuart got a
call from an NBC reporter asking about the doll purchases
by Huguette, of which Stuart knew nothing. The reporter
said he knew everything and shared the information and
that is when Theriaults found the connection. Later the IRS

contacted Stuart to appraise the dolls which were willed to
the foundation and are still packed away in New York, and
the fight over Huguette's fortune ensued.
Other characters that Stuart has worked with have
shown him how much fun it is to deal with doll collectors.
His love of people shines throughout his life. Another
character spent large amounts to quickly build a collection,
then one day said, "she was done." She had all the dolls
she ever wanted and requested that he auction them off.
Shortly after, she was ready to jump into the 'ring' again.
She opened a doll shop and when Stuart visited, he found
at times that prices on her dolls to be pennies on the dollar
she paid. When Stuart pointed out one doll, she admitted
that she had just paid $15,000 for the doll and she was
selling it for $7,500 just because "it was fun."
Quirky? Yes! "We all are," says Stuart. "You define your
collection more than your collection defines you."
When auctioning Mildred Seeley's collection he found
people willing to pay a bit more just to have one of her
dolls in their collection because they loved Mildred and
wanted a piece of that love in their home. "Share with
people and teach them," says Stuart. "You will build your
collection in other's eyes."
Perhaps his greatest joy was when he was asked about
auctioning off Shirley Temple's dolls. There were other
auction houses coming in to bid on auctioning off the
other items. With the memorabilia that accompanied the
dolls, Stuart claimed that the entire collection needed
to go together, and he would not take the dolls without
the rest of it. He further proposed that they tour the
collection across the U.S. so that fans could say one last
DOLL NEWS * UFDC.ORG

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Doll News Winter 2019
