Antique DOLL Collector July 2018 Vol. 21, No. 6
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Our Best Dressed Friends T
By Linda Holderbaum
he excitement of a new doll always brings with it, at least for me, an admiration of the doll, and the artist who made it, it’s purpose, questions about where it had been and as always, your wish that they could talk and give you the answer to all these questions. My focus on Eastern European dolls related to the doll I just acquired. I have a great many European dolls of various materials and costumes. But the outfit on my new arrival is what led me to her purchase in the first place. To be the creator of this doll and to put so much work, time and obvious pride into the costuming I find truly worthy showcasing. So I began to look through my other dolls that date from the 1930s to the 1950s that have equally as lavish and detailed costuming. Of course, all the dolls have wonderful outfits and I marvel at the workmanship the artists use. But I was looking for the more unusual outfits. In picking out just a few you will notice these are the larger dolls, not the smaller more “souvenir” types that could be
This 18-inch doll from Czechoslovakia is the doll that started this article. Her outfit is spectacular in workmanship and different from the typical Czech dolls that are often found. She has a blouse with embroidered sleeves and neck, a black pleated skirt with embroidered band and apron, black vest decorated with sewn tubing and thread and a cloth printed scarf. She also has knee high black leather boots glued to the legs of her cloth body. The body has disk joints at the shoulders and hips. 24
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She has a papier mache shoulder head with painted features and brown mohair glued on for hair. She has a sweet and solemn face. Here you can see a closer look of her decorated black vest.
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This is one side of her elaborate apron--notice the embroidered stylized birds facing each other in the rectangular pattern. This same design is duplicated in each side of her skirt and on her sleeves.
easily tucked into luggage or shipped back home as a present. Smaller size could allow for less detail and simplified costumes made it quicker to produce in order to “put food on the table.” Were these ladies and gentlemen adorned for a church or community raffle or fund raiser? Many of these events were held over the years to benefit various causes. Were they made for a child or grandchild to teach them the intricate outfits of their ancestors? Or were they just larger, more expensive souvenirs of their culture? We don’t have an answer but do know that great care was used for each of these masterpieces. Folk dress is attributed to specific cultural groups and does not know the boundaries of countries and municipalities. It is often difficult to determine what time period or region a doll represents, particularly the earlier dolls. National clothing in these areas is a mix of different eras and styles. Shawls and kerchiefs on the head came from the Gothic period. Pleats and lace collars are reminiscent of the Renaissance era. Bellshaped skirts and large puff sleeves came from the Baroque era. And embroidery is typical of all the Slavic countries but is tailored to each specific region. The Functions of Folk Costume in Moravian Slovakia was published in 1971 by Petr Bogatyrev. His observations about the role of folk dress appear to be accurate. He stated that folk dress indicates the occupation of the wearer and distinguishes wealth and social status. Folk dress can signify a special day, holiday or ceremonial day. Folk dress may indicate regional, national and sometimes even religious affiliation. Age and marital status is communicated by folk dress as well. These same observations can be applied to any culture and is and is part of the reason I find ethnic dolls so interesting. What a better way to learn about our neighbors and celebrate our similarities and differences.
Looking at the back of her outfit you can see the black finely pleaded skirt. This style of skirt is traditional with Czech outfits. She has a flower embroidered ribbon around her waist—which may not be original. ANTIQUE DOLL COLLECTOR
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The Father of Image of Ryan on his estate.
by Bradley Justice
The doll that launched a million collectors. The iconic #1 Barbie doll is highly sought after by collectors, and was considered on of the best investments of the 20th century. Her original retail $3.00, if in pristine untouched condition, she can command a price over $6,000 Tiny holes in the feet are lined with metal tubing for support and fit over two prongs on the original posing stand.
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R
uth Handler, one of the founders of Mattel Toys will forever be known as the mother of the Barbie doll. When that story is told we always hear the origin of Handler’s idea, watching her daughter Barbara playing with paper dolls by the hour, and thinking that if she could three dimensionalize it into a doll that it would be a wonderful product. Ruth would get to be “Barbie’s” mom, but what about “Barbie’s Dad”? There are many names that don’t get mentioned in the telling of this history, one of them is Jack Ryan. Born in 1926, John W. Ryan was a Yale-educated electrical engineer with a brilliant mind for invention and creation. In the 1950’s he was hired by the Raytheon Corporation, a major US Defense contractor in the Boston area, to work with the creation of the Sparrow and Hawk Missiles for the US government. These were short range, low altitude missiles that are still in use today. Though he worked for Raytheon, he continued to develop and explore ideas for himself, always looking to improve the day to day life with an invention. He was shopping an idea around Toy Fair in NY in the 1950’s, when he happened to meet Ruth and Elliott Handler at the Mattel showroom. Though they were not interested in his invention, they were impressed with him in general. The Handlers knew talent when they saw it. Months later, Ryan had to go on a trip to Edwards Air Force base in California for testing of the missiles and made a life changing discovery. This discovery was that California agreed with him. The Sun, the weather, the convertibles, and mindset
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1959-60 era #3 Barbie doll wearing “Barbie-Q”, this classic fashion designed by Charlotte Johnson possessed tiny cooking utensils including rolling pin and spatula.
Ruth and Elliott Handler breaks ground on the new Hawthorne Factory. Ryan is on front row, kneeling 2nd from the left.
Brunette #1 Barbie doll in “Roman Holiday” a fashion produced for 1959 only. Accessories included a red straw hat and sunglasses. It is one of the hardest to find Barbie outfits from that first year. Antique DOLL Collector
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In Quest of Originality By Samy Odin
L
ately, I have been thinking about what makes me fall for a doll, the reasons how and why I choose a doll to add to my personal collection or to those of my clients. I have to admit this process has evolved considerably through the years. At first, I tended to look for what made each and every doll special. That was an excellent perspective on which to build a collection, starting from scratch. Through this lens, almost every doll had its chance to enter the collection: One bébé because it had an appealing face, another lady because her garment was delightful, a third character because it had a chunky toddler body, or that paper doll because it was nicely drawn… Little by little, my taste grew more refined, my specific knowledge deeper and my collection plan more precise according to my personal taste. I would choose dolls to
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complete my “ideal puzzle.” For example, when I built the SFBJ collection, I “needed” to find every possible face mold, every possible size made, every variation that would fit into the project of writing a book about this topic, while setting up a special exhibition that could fulfill my encyclopedic aspirations. Then an awareness of the rarity factor seriously hit my collecting behavior. No matter if I aesthetically liked or didn’t like a doll, when I perceived it as “rare” I would buy it since I knew that a rare doll is always a better choice, for both the collector and the dealer I had turned into. What is interesting in this complex process is that each step brings the collector to the next without wiping off the results of what was achieved in previous phases. Progressively, things seemed to make more sense, each object echoed into others while the collecting technique was maturing. To function long term, a collector really
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needs to set up rules. Thankfully, each of us thinks and acts differently but through connections with other like-minded individuals we can better enjoy our collecting experience. Now, when it comes to patrimonial implications, the condition and the originality of a doll become essential features. Through the experience of running a museum for a quarter of a century, I have come to cherish the pieces that could combine all of the preceding points as well as being in excellent condition and fully original. Condition has always been a plus on the doll scene. No matter how old or how rare a doll is, when it has been kept in mint condition it is worth more, historically as well as financially. Today, the criterion that is most important to me is “full originality.” It is around this subject, around this collecting strategy, that my current teaching activities in the doll world are focused. What does “Full Originality” mean? How does a collector measure the degree of originality of a doll? What to look for when trying to determine if a doll is fully original? How to determine the degrees of originality, from “MIB” to “fully factory original”, to “good original condition”, to “as close as the original as possible”, to “faked-up to look original”, or “not original at all”? I share here examples of the Parisiennes with authentic wardrobes that we discussed during an event recently held in Paris at my friends Marie-Claude and Douglas’s elegant Art Nouveau apartment. Attendees had a ball since they had a rare opportunity to handle and study original dolls and their clothing and accessories from the French Second
Empire. Six lady dolls from the late 1840s to the early 1870s were shown as if they just had been brought down from the attic. Each is contained in either a trunk or a box, together with its wardrobe. This is how they usually were found in households, after decades spent in the dark and quiet of an armoire. Once these playthings ended up put away for good, often one or two generations after they had hit the market brand new, they were carefully stored in their trunk, with their garments and accessories piled up so not to take up too much space. Exactly like a little girl would pack her doll before departing for a vacation. It is this sensation, the excitement of the discovery that we wanted to share with our attendees. Those of us who experienced that moment in the past know what I mean. Unveiling a treasure that has for so long been forgotten, or simply carefully put away, is a highlight for a collector. How many dolls do we actually find on the market surrounded by their true original wardrobe? And their rarity, combined with their condition, can explain why their value has increased exponentially in the last two decades. The oldest doll shared here is a Pauline, from the late 1840s. Like many leather-bodied poupées with a papiermâché head of that generation, her wardrobe is composed of a few pieces of underwear, four printed cotton dresses, probably one for each season, a fancy blue silk belt with matching fringed bonnet, a straw hat tied with a very sober black velvet ribbon that matches the decoration on the winter dress and one pair of black leather shoes. Antique DOLL Collector
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