Antique DOLL Collector August 2015 Vol. 18, No. 7
The Complete Guide to Antique, Vintage and Collectible Dolls
August 2015 Volume 18, Number 7
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BOY CRAZY
by Robyn Katz A collection within a collection reveals a surprising number of male dolls.
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THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE VOGUE GINNY DOLLS by Peggy Millhouse
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THE “MARGOT” MYSTERY by Elizabeth Ann Coleman, Nancy Lazenby and Samy Odin Exploring the connection between Lenci and Mario Franco’s Margot.
About The Cover It all begin when Ann Coleman purchased a
catalogue featuring felt dolls from an unfamiliar company located in Turin, Italy. They looked remarkably similar to Lencis. Soon Lenci expert Nancy Lazenby and Samy Odin became involved and examples of these “Margot” dolls began to be acquired. They share their new discoveries with our readers. Photo courtesy Samy Odin, Musée de la Poupée-Paris.
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A VISIT TO AN IZANNAH HOME
by Joy Harrington A large cupboard becomes home for a collection of dolls by Izannah Walker. 6
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14 Book Review 49 Emporium 58 Auction Gallery
TOLEDO DOLL AND BEAR SHOW
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60 Calendar 61 News 63 Classified
GAITHERSBURG DOLL SHOW JUNE 6 AND 7
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(212) 787-7279 P.O. Box 1410 NY, NY 10023
Quality Antique Dolls by Mail Return Privilege • Layaways Member UFDC & NADDA
matrixbymail@gmail.com
1) 17” Early Wax ‘Motschmann Baby’ - unusually clear and less than typically aged. This Rare 1850’s Taufling, with jointed hands/feet and floating joints, is still in layers of her fine Original Gowns! $750 2) 21” English Poured Wax - with a flawless head! Perfectly rooted hair! Original body w/ poured wax limbs and lovely original under layers too...plus a UFDC Blue! $895 3) 27” 1830’s English ‘Slit Head’ - round face in V.G.C.!, smile and original body (shoulder jt. frail) and multi layers of historic original clothes, as found, a haunting beauty easy to love. $675
7) 8” Unusual Large All Bisque Toddlers - mint and all original in their crocheted Black Forest Costumes w/ factory wigs & caps, her’s in long braids, both w/ glass eyes, and delicate quality in a striking 8” tall. Just $950 for both!
5) 14” Scarce Small Alabama Baby- a pint sized toddler w/ original facial paint and signed body well preserved in the original classic romper w/ matching brick colored boots - so quaint! $1200
8) 20” Important Kinderkopf Pink Tint Male ca 1850 - what quality! Brown eyes and brush marks, smile, original body incl. mint porc. pink tint arms and his historic classic original plaid ensemble, w/ signed factory leather shoes! Museum Class $2500
9) Lilly and Harry ‘No.1’ - What colors in these early & rare McLaughlin paper dolls, embossed, dressed and contained in the 6” mint original Box w/ its lid. A treasure! $495
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6) “Granley House” ca 1890 England - Imagine the possibilities for you and your dolls with this 35”x22”x12” magnificent Silber and Fleming Doll House. So unusual with its 6 spacious rooms each one w/ original fireplaces, glass windows and high ceilings suited to a variety of doll types & sizes. Historic Granley House, with original facade papers and chimneys, delivered to your door! No dust included! just $2500 12) 20” Important American Leather Face Lady - with the early, blue glass eyes, applied nose, ‘quizzical expression’; one original earring & clothes. The original white leather shoulderhead and matching white arms with great hands w/jewelry is mounted on the original fabric body. What style she has! $3250
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4) 17” All Original Rag - oil painted starry eyed child with fresh original color and brilliant foxy period clothes! No touch ups or repairs! $895 7
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10) 6” Pink Tint Wood Body China - ca:1840, and a lovely one too! mint glazed limbs flat soled slippers , fluid joints allow her to also sit - a gem! $3250 11) Granley House Interior - clean & sound, comes with a furnished kitchen. (see #6)
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13) 21” A Rare Empress Eugenie China - a serene womanly portrait, exquisitely pressed and richly painted, mounted on her original slender cloth cody w/ leather arms. Majestically dressed in the royal purple she deserves! $2500
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BoY CRaZY by Robyn Katz Photography by Stanley Kiyonaga
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hen I was a teenager, my friends deservingly called me “boy crazy.” Little did I know at the time that the epithet would come to characterize my doll collecting interests 40 years later. I’m sure I’m not the only collector who, many years into pursuing my hobby, notices an unseen pattern at work. For me, it was a program on male dolls at a meeting of my local doll club that finally brought to my attention my unexpectedly large “collection within a collection” of men and boys. I wasn’t exactly surprised by my attraction to these dolls (“boy crazy,” remember). But, since we all know that male dolls are generally scarcer than female dolls, I was struck by the number and variety of male dolls that I had managed to acquire. As I looked more closely at the entire group, I began to observe certain similarities among the dolls that lead me to speculate about the circumstances under which male dolls were more likely to be created.
FAMILY GUY(S)
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The first thing I noticed was how many of the men in my collection were dollhouse-sized, ranging in height from 3 to 8 inches. It made sense to me that small male dolls would be produced in relatively large numbers to inhabit dollhouses and possibly other types of dioramas. Dolls 1-3 have papier mache heads with molded hats. They are rare “alien head” dolls with pegjointed wooden bodies and were probably made by the Kestner firm, c. 1840. Doll 1 is 5” tall and Dolls 2 and 3 are 7” tall. Don’t you think these “guys” would make very handsome husbands and fathers of tiny doll families? Doll 4 is 7 ½” tall. He has a china head on a cloth body with china limbs. Although his face is painted with child-like features, he is clearly dressed to represent a grown man in his original wool and silk formal suit. He was posed as the groom in a multi-figure wedding party diorama, from which all of the dolls were auctioned separately. I managed to acquire one of the parian bridesmaids, but unfortunately the groom was “divorced” from his parian bride. He now resides in my mid 19th century English dollhouse, with wife #2 (a rare wigged alien head doll) and their two daughters (a wood-bodied china and an early unjointed bisque doll).
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I LOVE A MAN IN UNIFORM
Several of my male dolls are dressed in military uniforms of various nations and eras. Again, this is not surprising. I would imagine that many different types of soldiers were produced as playthings for boys, including dolls. The two smaller dolls in this group (Dolls 5 and 6) could also have been used in a dollhouse or room box scene. Doll 5 is a 4” all-bisque soldier with a painted mustache and molded hat. I have seen a number of similar dolls dressed in both military and occupational uniforms, but I have never seen another with this particular molded hat. Doll 6 is a tiny 3” tall. He has a papier mache head on a jointed wooden body, but is of later vintage than the previous alien heads (Dolls 1-3), probably c. 1890-1920, when handlebar mustaches like his were popular. The khaki coloring of his original clothes and molded helmet clearly indicate a uniform, which could be military or occupational. Doll 7 is 13” tall, with a molded papier mache head and limbs on a muslin body. He was produced in Germany c. 1870-80 and is costumed as a Hussar. Hussars were originally members of the light cavalry of a 15th century Hungarian king, but the term has come to be used for similarly outfitted light cavalry units throughout the world, some active even to the present day. I think this cavalryman, with his fierce mustache, long curls and ermine-lined cloak, is especially dashing! Doll 8 came with his hide-covered horse. The doll’s head is of papier mache, and his body is molded to sit on horseback. The horse has a real leather saddle
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