Antique DOLL Collector April 2010 Vol. 13, No. 3
April 2010 Vol. 13, No. 3 $595 / $695 Canada www.antiquedollcollector.com
Blackberry Studio Margaret Gray Kincaid Tel. 410.323.0373 Cell: 646-709-4340 Email: Margaret.kincaid@gmail.com
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Rare Stefania Lazarska AAP boudoir doll. Composition shoulder head on an articulated stuff cloth body. Arms and legs are attached to the body with the usual “French Army” button found on most of the AAP creations. Her painted features show a kind of naïve look, with large blue-green eyes and “sexy” red lips. Hair is made of yellow silk. 50 cm. Circa 1916.
Portrait of a rare and beautiful all cloth Rosalinde doll. Each Rosalinde doll has her own personality and style of dressing. Note the breast detail and long eyelashes. Those very special dolls were produced in Paris during the early 20’s for only few years. Courtesy Frau Wulf.
Buttons marked “Equipement Militaire”, from soldier uniform, often used on AAP dolls on arms and legs.
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By Dominique Pennegues
This special doll has an unusual composition shoulder hen Stefania Lazarska started to create her head with hand painted features, on a classical AAP new dolls with unusual long arms and articulated body. The composition bust is one of a young legs, she did not know that her colorful creations adult, which confirms our impression of a “lady doll.” were to give birth to one of the most phenomenal When WWI ended, this style of luxury dolls had renewals of French dolls of all time. became fashionable, conceived to be used as dolls for Among the special dolls that emerged adults, to decorate ladies boudoirs, even to accompany during the war years, there is one doll made their owners to fashionable events, sometimes both by Stefania Lazarska ‘s art studio AAP (Atelier being even dressed the same way! Artistique Polonais), which may be considered In fact, at the very beginning of the twenties, the real “ancestor” of French Boudoir Dolls. we find production of two main types of As this rare doll came to us nearly French boudoir dolls: rich, elegant onenude, only wearing her original hat and of-a-kind boudoir dolls made by artists, underclothing, we have to question beautifully dressed such as the famous about who she was originally meant Rosalinde dolls for which a specific to be. When examining her fancy article will be dedicated, and the hat, it seems likely that she was more typical boudoir dolls often probably made to represent a referred to as “flapper dolls”. grown up young lady, a rather When asking a generous eccentric one, who was not American boudoir doll collector frightened to show herself, to help us to understand where right in the middle of war time, this special term “flapper” wearing hot pink feathers on her comes from, she told us of a 1920 large fancy hat. This hat itself is silent comedy film starring Olive made of beautiful white silk and Thomas. Apparently this was the first one may surmise that the dress was movie in the United States to portrait made with the same material. Rosalinde doll. The feet are very slim, marked Rosalinde on the sole of the shoes.
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by Jacqueline Wilson
These two little girls couldn’t be any cuter. The wigged Frozen Charlotte even has luster boots, 4-3/4 inches tall.
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ith our changing economy it is refreshing to know that there are still many types of vintage dolls that can be easily found for reasonable prices. One category of antique dolls that offers the collector an opportunity to put together a large and varied collection at affordable prices is the so-called “Frozen Charlotte”. Frozen Charlotte dolls are known by various other names, including “bath dolls”, “pudding dolls”, “penny dolls”, “solid dolls” and “badekinder”, but most collectors simply know them as “Frozen Charlottes”. The dolls got their unusual name from the title character in a 19th century folk ballad by William Lorenzo Carter about a young girl by the name of Charlotte. It is a frigid night when Charlotte and her lover, Charles, set out in a sleigh to attend a ball several miles away. Her mother warns her to wrap herself up in a blanket but Charlotte refuses, not wanting to cover her pretty gown. After a few miles of blistering cold, her lover finds Charlotte frozen to death. Frozen Charlotte dolls are glazed china dolls or unglazed bisque dolls that are moulded into one piece with no moving parts. Sometimes the dolls are glazed only on the front with the backs left unfinished so the toys could float when placed in water. Many of the dolls bear no manufacturer’s mark, while others can be found with various numbers moulded into the backs of the dolls. These markings are thought to be
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This extremely rare squeak has all the attributes of a Frozen Charlie/Charlotte with the addition of jointed arms, 3-1/2 inches tall. The Charlotte with well defined pudgy rolls of fat is 6 inches tall.
Molded hats and clothes distinguish these 2-inch Frozen Charlies.
size or mould numbers, and may appear as a single number such as an “O”, or a series of numbers impressed into the porcelain. Conta and Boehme was a major producer of the Victorian small porcelain figures known as fairings and Frozen Charlottes, and their pieces are marked with the company’s shield trademark. Later dolls may be marked with the country of origin, such as Germany or Japan. The vast majority of the dolls were made by German manufacturers, but there are some later Frozen Charlottes that were produced in Japan from both bisque and china materials. True Frozen Charlottes were usually made and sold without clothing, and they were often marketed as dolls that could be played with in the bath. They ranged in size from approximately 1/2 inches tall to well over 19 inches, and the quality of the dolls varied greatly. Many of the smallest Charlottes were quite coarse, with crudely painted features and rough texture. Black speckles, known as “kiln dirt” is often Toilet training is a timeless subject. These are beautifully painted, note the example with the rare molded cap. The tallest figure is present on Frozen Charlotte dolls. It must be remembered that 4-1/2 inches. the dolls were offered as inexpensive playthings and were not meant to last, so manufacturers were not terribly concerned about standards of quality. A wholesale toy catalogue from 1894 offered a variety of Frozen Charlotte dolls of various sizes at prices ranging from 75 cents for half a gross ( 72 small dolls) to 78 cents a dozen for larger dolls with attached Tam O’Shanter hats and fancy bonnets. Dolls with sewn on costumes and black Frozen Charlottes were also offered for sale. Some Frozen Charlottes could be purchased inside tiny toy bathtubs, while others were offered as figurines permanently attached inside the china tubs. All but the largest versions were offered as inexpensive playthings when originally produced, and even children from poor families often had Bath time! The tallest example is only two inches tall. a tiny Frozen Charlotte doll. Frozen Charlotte dolls were made with both black and blonde painted hair colors – any other shade would be a rare example. Black is by far the most common color. It is interesting to note that the dolls can be dated somewhat accurately by the hairstyles, with earlier examples having the so-called “flat-top” hairstyle and later dolls showing the “low brow” style with hair painted low on the forehead. Fancier moulded hairstyles can sometimes be found, but these dolls are rare and valuable in good condition. Dolls can date as early as the 1850’s and these older examples tend to be of slightly better quality than later dolls. Some Frozen Charlottes in both bisque and china have glued-on mohair or human hair wigs, and these dolls are more desirable than the ordinary dolls with painted-on hair. Other unusual qualities that add to the value of a Frozen Charlotte are features such as moulded-on hats and bonnets, original factory costumes, visible brush marks around the hairline, moulded clothing, an exceptionally large size, black versions of the dolls, or dolls that are anatomically correct. Dolls that More toilet training. Rare seated figures with molded hats; the exhibit exceptional moulding, such as realistic rolls of baby fat tallest measures 3-1/2 inches. 29
TheJapanese
Friendship Dolls of 1927: Art as Ambassador by Alan Scott Pate
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n a Saturday in late November 1927, the children of San Francisco were treated to a doll spectacular unlike any other. Fifty-eight immaculate and exquisitely rendered ichimatsu-ningyô created by the finest craftsmen in Japan were on display at the Kinmon Gakuen Japanese cultural center on Bush Street. The dolls, each standing nearly 33 inches in height, were attired in classic Japanese fashion with long sleeved silk kimono executed in a myriad of hues with painted designs featuring, among others, bursting chrysanthemums, flowing streams strewn with maple leaves, thatched pavilions nestled amongst blossoming trees, flying birds with fanned tails, and pine trees capped in snow. Their waists were cinched tight with broad silk brocade obi tie belts of equally brilliantly colored silk. Their faces, framed with shocks of jet-black hair in a bang cut, were of a lightly pigmented gofun (shell white) with inset glass eyes all set in an open and innocent expression, gazing out, expectantly, on the assembled audience. Arrayed on the stage in tiered rows, flanked by the flags of Japan and the United States and banners bearing the Japanese imperial crest, these dolls created an unforgettable display of pageantry and beauty. These were the now-famous Japanese Friendship Dolls, diplomatic ambassadors of goodwill in doll form, sent as expressions of hope for friendship and goodwill between the children of Japan and the United States. They arrived on the Japanese steamship the Tenyo Maru with first class tickets and passports indicating their individual names corresponding to their region Left hand page: “Miss Fukushima,” Artist: Koryûsai. Toy & Miniature Museum of Kansas City. Above: Details of kimono and obi. Right: “Miss Okayama,” Artist: Koryûsai, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND Photo Dan Koeck.
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r e V
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G u t & m r a e che i d the
M an’s A. r o o P by Jennifer Craft-Hurst
fear that I have an ailment that many doll collectors have. My love of antique French dolls unfortunately goes deeper than my pocketbook will allow. The few that I have acquired joined my family when I was single and working in television advertising. I am now married with a beautiful little girl. This, of course, has put the brakes on my French doll collecting. Imagine my surprise, then, when a beautiful face appeared to me on Ebay, and my husband did not “pooh pooh” my desires. While dreaming, I was scrolling through the bevy of beauties online, when a breathtaking face stopped my search. She had the face of an Andre Thuillier bebe, with that haunting look that captures collectors’ hearts everywhere. When I read the description, I was intrigued. This was not an A.T., but a company that was unknown to me – Verdier & Gutmacher. I searched my Blue Books to no avail. Nor was there any mention of it in any of my Mildred Seeley or Stuart Holbrook books. Then, after opening Theimer’s Encyclopedia of French Dolls, I found a short article that explained why this doll reminded me so much of the beloved and breathtaking Andre Thuillier doll. According to Theimer, in 1898, Thuillier stopped producing dolls. In the same year, Etienne Rodolphe Verdier and Sylvain Gutmacher established Verdier & Gutmacher & Cie. There is evidence that Verdier & Gutmacher purchased and/or took over the existing Thuillier Company. V.G. founded their company with the intention of creating and selling a new unbreakable
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doll head formed from layers of cloth absorbed with cornstarch, heated, and molded. They did file for a patent (#269 564) on August 12, 1897. They also filed for a U.S. patent on this same type of unbreakable linen based doll head. Very little information about this company is known except that they did own the trademarks to the following dolls: Bebe Excelsior V.G., Bebe Le Select V.G., Bebe Metropole V.G., and Bebe Monopole V.G. In 1899, an additional patent was filed for another complex procedure for the production of paper based and heated dolls. The question remains as to why these dolls bear such an uncanny resemblance to the Thuillier dolls. As Theimer points out, the bodies of V.G. dolls are identical to the bodies of A.T. dolls. It is possible that, when Verdier & Gutmacher bought the existing Thuillier company, they bought existing stock. It is believed that perhaps later Thuillier heads were made by Gaultier and thus, V.G. took advantage of those same molds, using them to make their heads. Whether Verdier & Gutmacher were ever successful in their production of their new “bebe incassable” made from heated fabric and paper is unknown. Presumably they were not, as Verdier & Gutmacher was dissolved in February of 1900, followed by Etienne Verdier filing for bankruptcy a year later. With the company truly only being in existence for two years, the presence of these dolls proves to be rather rare. After writing to the Musee de la Poupee about this elusive doll, owner Samy Odin wrote to me saying that he believed that the purchase of the A.T. mold was perhaps Verdier &
Gutmacher’s “swan song.” Perhaps in waiting for their new patented doll to be created, they bankrupted themselves with the purchase of the Thuillier company. As the Ebay auction carried on, I became more and more drawn to this doll. My husband watched as I scoured the Internet for any information I could find on this lovely girl. He could tell that I was not going to simply forget about this doll, and he agreed to discuss a limit if I were to bid on her. Being a stay-at-home mom in a single income family, my limit was not very high. Still, as the auction drew to a close, I waited with high hopes. As the final seconds approached, I entered my maximum bid and was stunned when the happy green message from Ebay appeared, declaring me the Winning Bidder in the final few seconds. I leapt about the kitchen as my two year old happily clapped for me (though she claps for anything exciting). My husband sat staring at the computer, stunned that I had actually won her. His reaction was not exactly what I had hoped, but he soon recovered from his thrifty slump. When she arrived in the mail, she was even more beautiful than her online photos. Her dreamy paperweight eyes are intoxicating, and her beautiful hand-tied French extended mohair wig accentuates her creamy bisque face like a picture frame. I changed the dress she arrived in with one I had in storage. My next quest will for an appropriate antique dress for her and appropriate shoes. Who knows, maybe someday I will find marked V.G. shoes. Unless winning the lottery is in my future, I know that I will never own an A.T. For now, I don’t need to. Every morning, my beautiful poorman’s A.T. greets me with her smiling face, thanking me for saving her from obscurity and appreciating the beauty and rarity that she possesses. 45
Marion Maus Specializing in Dolls and Miniatures Ellicott City, Maryland Email mmausantiques@gmail.com Phone 443-838-8565 Member NADDA, UFDC Photos taken at the March Gaithersburg Show
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by Dee Urquhart-Ross
tend to separate and flake. The underlying ome dolls just seem to have that color layer now exposed beautifully matches certain something, a hint of mystery the top surface. Her very expressive hands that gives them “heart” for want of a and legs have some typical scuffing to the better word. What is the extra special surfaces. Apart from these normal witnesses lure of these few antique dolls? They speak to age and time, she is in excellent condition. softly but wordlessly of their past. They She has some unusual features, foremost whisper silently in our ears of the many her enameled eyes (typically glass) which things they have seen and the places are very rare. I have seen one other they been in the many long years since doll with enameled eyes, illustrated their creation. All of this mystery and in Rosalie Whyel’s The Heart of the history is captured in their gaze and Tree, on page 94/95. The enameling reaches straight into the heart of explains the slightly faded look to the the observer who is captivated and irises. She has a one piece head, neck forever in thrall of these mute little and body all carved very delicately messengers of times past. out of one block of wood. The arms I would like to share one of these and legs are fully jointed with joints special dolls, a wooden from the late at the shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips 18th century. Depicting a tall stately and knees. She has very shapely lady with a lovely fully jointed limbs and expressive hands with wooden body, she has a grave but carefully delineated fingers and nails serene demeanor. which because of the joints at elbows and She came to me from an elderly shoulders, can be posed in any number of woman who had been badly affected positions. by the recent recession and to augment The feet have two thin, short, wooden her losses, she had decided with some dowels protruding from their soles so regret to sell various items which that she can be fitted into her case with had previously been promised to a the dowels inserted into two appropriately museum of childhood. So this lovely positioned holes in the base. wooden came into my care through a The solid bald head top is unpainted. recommendation by the kindly museum Her linen wig cap is made of fine fair flax curator. The museum’s sad loss was of course which loops into curls. The wig, so well my happy gain! constructed both inside and out, is an The dolls stands about 18 inches tall Annie stands proudly showing off her interesting artifact in its own right! and is protected from the elements by a elegant outfit and classical proportions. I could not remove the costume as it dark wooden case with a glazed hinged was sewn onto the doll, but it is quite easy to examine the door to the front. various layers. Underneath the skirt is a linen petticoat. What luck! This protective case and the fact that her Her lower body is wrapped tightly with hemp strands to previous owner on inheriting the doll from her mother, pad it to shape with a broad hip area testifying to her 18th and having no real personal interest in the doll, had stored century origins. There are of course no drawers as they her away over many years, her case wrapped in a piece of had yet to be invented! Windy weather must have been a old linen. Her wonderful costume had thus survived the terrifying prospect! ravages of time in superb and highly colorful condition. She has a superb linen blouse with profuse gatherings She has a gessoed head that has suffered some peeling to the sleeves with rows of tiny stitches ending in laced of the top layers, as is often the case with early wooden edged cuffs. Her amazing heavy silk dress has threedolls. The layers of gesso are quite thick and with the dimensional embroidery on the fabric of the bodice many variables of temperature encountered over the years
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