One of my first clients had a wonderful Victorian home. She was cleaning out her belongings and asked me if I would be interested in them. I came across her collection of tiny dolls known a “Frozen Charlottes” and some small lockets.
She had a love of dolls, many from her mother’s collection. She educated me about her Frozen Charlottes, first made around 1850, they were sometimes baked into birthday cakes to be found by guests as party favors. The dolls got their name from a real New York girl, Charlotte, who went riding with her beau, Charlie, to a winter ball in 1840. She left without her wrap against her mother’s wishes and, by the time she arrived, she had frozen to death.
The story says that Charlie soon died from a broken heart and that they were buried together in a tomb.
