Antique DOLL Collector October 2013 Vol. 16, No. 9
October 2013 Vol. 16, No. 9 $5 95 / $6 95 Canada www.antiquedollcollector.com
Poupées de Mode By Samy Odin
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Pauline, an early French papier mache, possesses a hand sewn wardrobe fashioned by talented domestic seamstresses around 1850-1855.
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ANTIQUE DOLL COLLECTOR
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oll collecting is so much more than gathering objects for aesthetic satisfaction. This hobby is based on our fascination with human culture, past and present. In today’s world, where fashion is an economic driving force, it is interesting to ponder the major role it played in our ancestors’ society. During the French Second Empire (1852-1870) fashion carried even more weight than it does today. Dress codes at the time were very strict; they were followed by high society as well as by the bourgeoisie and popular classes. Under Napoleon III, the concept of Haute Couture emerged. During this period, a myriad of clothiers prospered; new fashion magazines appeared to satisfy the growing “style” demands of all classes. It is not surprising that, during those two decades, the doll market developed exponentially and children’s magazines, focusing essentially on doll fashions, came into existence. In preparing the special exhibit “Poupées de Mode du Second Empire (1852-1870),” I focused my attention on crafting techniques apparent when examining doll clothing created during the Napoleon III era. It is an eye opener to realize that, in certain cases, homemade garments can be extremely refined and sometimes even more elaborate than factorymade garments. So-called “factory original” clothes are those which most often deviate from proper sewing procedures. Even though the final result can be spectacular, crafting quality on a Steiner made garment, for example, is inevitably inferior to a Worth-made dress or to a homemade (or rather convent-made) piece of underwear, where the details are so exquisite they tell us their creation required countless hours of expert hand-work. Collecting fashion dolls of the Second Empire often leads to studying the history of clothing and textiles. The most interesting aspects of garments
under Napoleon III
created for these dolls are techniques used to make them and the quality of fabrics from which they are made. Terminology used at that time to describe textiles, colors and shapes is very inspirational; it helps to explain why these outfits are still so desirable today. When reading the captions of fashion plates published in French children’s magazines devoted to doll attire, one can find, for example, a deeply somber gray described as “couleur araignée méditant un meutre” (“color -- spider planning a murder”). Other terms, such as “Doupion,” “Guingan,” “Jaconas,” “Poult,” “Shantung,” etc., might not mean much to us today. However, they were common 150 years ago, used and understood by the majority and reflecting a common knowledge that can be preserved, today, through the study and preservation of dolls. One of the oldest dolls selected for this exhibition dates from the early years of the Second Empire. It has a provenance that makes this plaything quite special. The doll belonged to a French family who owned a plantation in Cuba and was played with in a tropical climate, which several pieces of its clothing suggest. After Cuba, it was brought by the Coustol Genty family to Algeria, kept packed for a few years and then sent to Oléron Island on the French Atlantic coast, where the family moved when the Algerian war broke out. The type of wardrobe
Violette, an unmarked poupeé, has an extensive wardrobe of 20 costumes, some of which were cut from printed fabric sheets distributed by La Poupée Modèle and others home made using paper patterns available through the same magazine. ANTIQUE DOLL COLLECTOR
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The Building of a Doll Museum and the Stories it Can Tell By Lois Cohorst
Left: The author’s friend Truman Dailey from the Missouria tribe left Lois this 1830’s deerskin dress belonging to his grandmother. The child is playing with Plains Indians dolls. Backgrounds painted by the author. Above: Late 1700’s English woodens
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A rare wooden doll with original wardrobe and provenance, i.e., a letter written in Finnish by the first owner in 1824. 28
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have been in love with dolls for years, but it was after I grew up that I began to enjoy the art of the dolls. It was the stories, the provenance and the mysteries that go with them, like “Who had this doll and where has it been?” I began to collect. As doll lovers know, doll collecting is either a recessive gene or a contagious disease, neither of which can normally be cured, so my collection grew. In 1996, I decided to put my dolls in a vacant Ben Franklin dime store in the town of Marysville, Kansas and make it into a museum. I began to realize that I was basically only equipped with a collection that was not particularly of high dollar value, because I did not have high dollars. I also had little experience and only a limited amount of doll knowledge; not a good resume. But I was determined. I propped myself up by remembering that I had taken exhibit classes at the Kansas State Historical Museum, and as president of our local historical society, I had organized our local 1891 courthouse into a museum, and when it comes to a lack of knowledge, I am a fast learner. I thought, “I can do this!” With pure grit I entered the vacated dime store that I had chosen for my dolls, and with great effort tried to imagine it as a museum. After assessing the situation, my next dismal question was, “Whatever was I thinking?” About that time my friend Ed appeared. He knew what I had planned, and he looked at the empty building and asked, “Are you going to need some help with this project?” I thought, “Boy am I!” Ed and I began the daunting task of cleaning and planning. He started the carpenter work and tried to follow my haphazard museum plan of stacking two dioramas under the fourteen foot tall ceilings. Two dioramas stacked nicely leaving about two feet of closed door storage at the bottom for boxes, and about four feet
Rare papier mache kitchen doll, c. 1870.
A group of German chinas enjoy a get together.
Rare papier mache couple in ethnic costume.
Sitting on top of a display is this lovely papier mache with alligator trunk and wardrobe.
on top for standing items. The top was a perfect place to set rocking horses, baby buggies, peddle cars, doll houses, and trunks. The west wall had housed booths during a few previous cafÊ years and the booths provided ready-made spaces for our displays. Ed worked on the carpentry, I planned the exhibits, and it was fun. We ended up with 100 eight foot tall dioramas, mostly divided into two stacked displays, each four feet high and four feet wide. These displays were for dolls in various situations, all with storytelling themes. We arranged the museum chronologically beginning with the early 1700s and leading to the later artists’ dolls. Since the dolls were mostly not of high value, we made full use of the storytelling by arranging dioramas into history. I researched each doll,
Cloth dolls by Izannah Walker.
prepared backgrounds to match the themes, and stocked the dolls with accessories. Later, the dolls grew to include rare and valuable items. The museum began with Native Americans, the OtoeMissouria, who lived in our area of Kansas from 1855 to 1882. These dioramas were single displays, about ten feet tall and separate from the rest of the museum. And then came the history. Stories of the tribe, how, where, and when they lived were documented by Truman Dailey, a dear 100 year old friend from the Missouria Tribe. Yet, I had very few artifacts. While we were putting the museum together Truman passed away leaving me regalia, tools, and clothing. Naturally, these items were incorporated into the museum and arranged in the Otoe dioramas. Manikins dressed in ANTIQUE DOLL COLLECTOR
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Beautiful 4-1/2” all bisque doll $1800.
18th century French chest from Burgandy ca 1895.... 8” tall, 11-1/4” wide, 6” deep $1895. On top - sweet brass candlesticks $45 and old tintype in frame $35.
Antique French Lotterie “A Tout Coup on Gagne” 16” long, 13” tall $1695.
Old lecturn with chained bible 5-1/2” tall... London $195.
Early King’s Rose child’s tea set - teapot 3-1/2” tall, open sugar and 3 handless cups and saucers - $250. 2 old Steiff kitties 4” tall jointed necks - no buttons $35 each.
2 German Christmas Trees - 10” and 8-1/2” $195 and $295.
Painted table and pair chairs - table 5-1/4” tall x 6-1/4” long $195.
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Learning About American Made Dolls
New Discoveries By Ursula R. Mertz photos Christopher Partridge
Louis Amberg & Son of New York City In 1915, a young American doll industry was trying to meet the German competition. Imported dolls with bisque heads had dominated the market. Their heads were breakable. American companies were offering dolls with composition heads, claiming it was a nearly unbreakable material. Around 1910, some of the larger German manufacturers had introduced so called character dolls, which were also imported to the United States. When the proprietors of the Amberg firm of New York City looked around for inspiration for their own lines, they decided to copy some of the German bisque character heads. The company was not alone in this endeavor and they were certainly not the first. Collectors are familiar with the German firm, Kammer & Reinhardt’s baby No. 100 and Heubach’s Coquette. Several American companies copied these two examples. One of my early finds had been a 12” little doll that bore the Amberg mark and 1915. She was not in perfect condition, but she looked like a real little girl. As many of these character dolls have very distinctively modeled hair, it is fairly easy to trace them back to their German origin. My research revealed that my little girl’s head had been copied from an infrequently seem example produced by the Heubach firm (see “Heubach Dolls,” by Lydia Richter (c) 1989, page 83). Just recently, this same girl but in a 17” size joined my collection. On this larger size one can better appreciate the excellent, deep modeling of hair and features. Finding her certainly wets one’s appetite to go and discover additional examples of these early character dolls.
Two Amberg dolls copied from a German (Heubach) bisque character. Left: 17” marked: 387. Right: 12” marked: L. A. & S. © 1915 – Both have composition flange heads and short arms, cloth bodies and limbs, jointed at shoulders and hips with inside disks. Here one can more closely examine the well modeled features and hair. The eyes have concave pupils, which gives them a more realistic look. The smaller doll’s features are not as clearly defined.
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