Trish Inch lives with husband Randall in a double story home in Browns Bay, Auckland, with north east views of Hauraki Gulf.
Once all three children left their family home, more room was given to the Sherwood Primary teacher’s unusual collections. Trish has collected cups and saucers for the past decade but three years ago she adopted a more eccentric fetish – golliwogs.
Transforming the old bedroom into a sunroom several years ago, she says the room with a view was the perfect location for her new golly collection. What began as gifts from family, friends and students rapidly grew into a collector’s dream and now more than 150 black dolls fill the room.
A shelving unit was purchased especially for the toys, with three-quarters of the collection tucked into their little pigeonhole homes, some sit with pride of place in their own little sun bed, leaving just enough room for the cat.
Woven baskets, boxes and a chair keep the rest in place, a lucky few even having a special spot on the window ledge gazing out to the ocean.
Many of them have been found hiding in Auckland’s op-shops, some have come from as far as France or the UK as presents, and a few have been purchased new from specialist makers.
The golly collector says her little family continues to grow, with new ones arriving in time for each birthday or Christmas. On occasions she will sit and admire her collection, each toy has a special name, symbolic to the place it was discovered.
“Their names are usually related to where they come from,” says Trish. “Penny Rose came from Penrose, Auckland.”
