Anyone who shops in vintage and antique stores knows the feeling: you spot something really super only to see those dreaded letters, NFS. You think why is this person taunting me with this fantastic, perfect thing? Then you go into negotiation mode, knowing full well this person is not going to sell such a treasure to you.
This was the feeling years ago when I first stepped into Magnolia Beauregard’s in downtown Asheville. The shop has been open for years, and is like a treasure trove of vintage and antique goodies. Of all the wonderful things within, however, the most wonderful are the collection of not-for-sale mannequins and manniquin heads.
The three above are made from wax.
There is a large display case (the photo shows less than half of it!) filled with perfect condition heads from the 1920s and 30s. The owner told me he found these years ago in the basement of a house that had belonged to a man who owned a clothing store. The heads were still in the boxes in which they had shipped from the maker, still surrounded by packing straw. It’s worth a trip to the store just to see these heads.
My favorite has to be the wide-eyed O-mouthed girl on the right. There are actually two of these cute flapper heads; one is a redhead and the other a blond.
The Vintage Traveler 
Oh I love it! Fancy finding all those beautiful heads still wrapped up in packing straw? Wow! 🙂
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Fantastic!
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WOW!!! I love the heads. I saw an amazing deco head when i was is my first year of university (it had the real look of those strange figures they had at the Exposition Universelle in 1925) it was only £30 but at the time I had no money at all! It’s one of my biggest vintage regrets i have to say.
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Fabulous! Thank you for sharing Lizzie!
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OH…MY…my face looks like the wide-eyed head with the “0” mouth. Mannequin envy is right…so, just let us know when he goes out of business and sells his stock!
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I would do terrible, terrible things to get my hands on some of those hats!
Harriett x
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Wow! Love the wax ones and agree with you – my fave is the open mouthed gal! What a lovely collection of vintage mannequins!
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I so much love hats belonging to the 20s! I remember once I entered an antique shop and was mesmerized by an old hat from the 20s. There were many but that one took my heart. Although at that time I was not too much into the style, I think it was then that I so much started loving the 20s. Yesterday I watched Sin Takes a Holiday (1930) with Constance Bennett wearing such a charming hat that I fell instantly in love with it and would like to find one very similar, it wears two different wings each on both sides, and it is so elegant and chic at the same time. Beautiful post.
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What a collection, my adrenalin would definitely be rushing if I walked into this shop!
Thank you so much for sharing with us!
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Fabulous! I would just about sell my soul for one!
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Just a minute, gotta scrape my jaw up off the floor!
Just amazing… Thanks so much for sharing these beauties, Lizzie!
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I am so glad these are appreciated. Thanks so much for all the comments.
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When I saw the title of your post in my inbox, I was like, “I hate seeing NFS when I find a cool mannequin head.” And this is what it is about! The wax ones are incredible – and to find them in some man’s basement? Tears of joy from me for sure!
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I know that NFS sad feeling all too well. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve fallen for a beautiful dress form only to see those three letter!
I love that wide-eyed O-mouthed girl! Such a beauty!
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Often when you run into these NFS items in stores, years later you see the items again in someone else’s collection (usually your worst enemy!), or you hear about how they were sold for a fraction of what you would have paid for them! Worst of all, is seeing them gradually fade or in some way get destroyed over the years, or hear about how the original owner died and the family threw them out!
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What a remarkable collection of mannequins! Thank you for sharing Lizzie.
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When I see NFS it always irks me & I have to ask the question “Is this a shop or a museum?” I vowed not to be like that when I had my own shop someday. I’m proud to say that everything is for sale at our store because we don’t show up every morning for public exhibitions. We’re a place of business.
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Have you seen Marge Crunkleton’s hand-painted mannequin heads? My own “cracked Jane” is a Marge original. They’re really beautiful, and conveniently, they’re for sale! Don’t know if posting a link is proper ‘netiquette, so to see them, Google her name and it’s easy enough to find. She has a stand-alone site and also sells on eBay. Oh, and she’s in her 80s and quite a hoot!
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Being a transplanted Wisconsin-er….could /would someone please clarify what exactly “being a hoot” is. ??? I know it’s a southern term. I just wanted to make sure it was something good (after all it IS a 4 letter word). smile….just kidding.
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It IS a 4 letter word, but it means “very funny.”
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I collect countertop mannequins and have 14 of them. In the 1970’s a local clothing store was going out of business and was selling wax mannequins for $40.00 each and I scoffed at the price, now they can cost thousands of dollars.
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Am going to Ashevelle one day soon…and I will be sure to stop in at Beauregards Antique shop….curious to see if any of them are in MY collection of reproductions. SO many mannequin heads are very similar to one another. Thanks again. Liz.
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