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Handpainted coin made by Diana Bates

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CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Type
Coins, Homemade toys
Date
1935 - 1945
Place
Yarra Glen, Victoria, Australia
Materials
Metal - non specific, Paint - non specific
Collection
Diana Mary Bates collection
Accession number
2020.0006.0020

Description

A circular, handpainted metal coin. The coin is a silver coloured Sixpence dated 1911. One face is overpainted with a man wearing white pants, a blue and black top, and a black cape. He has blonde hair, and both his legs are bent at the knee. There is a black mask covering his eyes.

This character is named 'Duke of D'Anjou'.

About the collection

This collection comprises three commercially-manufactured dolls and handmade toys belonging to Diana Mary Bates (1930-2019) during her 1930s and 1940s childhood spent in Christmas Hills, Victoria. The dolls were given to Diana after her family home was destroyed in the Black Friday bushfire of 13 January 1939. The toys handmade by Diana include paper dolls, painted coins, keepsake boxes and doilies used to support a range of imaginative games. The collection is supported by photographs and archival material relating to the Bates family. The collection is largely in fair to good condition. This collection offers insight into a child's introspective play and the characteristics of 'make-do' enterprise using found or available materials. Play is integral to the ways that children in all times and cultures have explored and understood their environment. This is a rare example of a series of objects assembled by a child for her own entertainment, comfort and education within the social deprivations of the Great Depression and the Second World War. It also demonstrates how Diana's childhood interests and artistic talent foreshadowed her lifelong interest in storytelling and the creative arts. Donated by Andrea Beaumont

Read live from the Museum's Collection API (12/11/2026, 6:20:33 am). Record last updated by the Museum 2025-06-30. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.