MAGPIE'S MUMBLINGS

A blog about my interests, which include fabric landscapes and various and assorted other artsy pursuits and sometimes known to contain mumblings of a random nature.

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Dolls - of the antique sort

Here are my three antique dolls. Unfortunately I don't know very much about any of them. The above fellow is, I think, made of composition and was given to me by one of my elderly customers from when I was selling Avon a number of years ago. She is in her mid-eighties and said she had this doll when she was a little girl. I didn't want her to give it to me and felt it should be kept in her family. She said her daughters and grandaughters had absolutely no interest in dolls and would just throw him out. I was horrified and promised to give him a good home. I must get busy and make him some clothes!!
The doll on the left is one that I kept admiring in our local second hand/antique store. I looked at her every time I went in and finally decided that I had to fork over the money so she would have a home. Her head looks to be porcelain and her body seems to be paper wrapped around wire. Her legs are paper too, but the insides feel to maybe be pieces of straw or very thin wood. Her clothes are very crudely made from a material that might be felt. The beaded 'flowers' are a puzzle because I'm not sure if they are original to the doll or something that was added much later. They seem to be wired directly to her hand, so I assume they might be original.

I can't remember where I got the other wee doll. She isn't porcelain, and reminds me of some sort of really solid chalk. Her legs have fallen off (but I do have them). I think her little outfit must be original (including a tiny little pair of panties). Really wish I could find out more about all three of these dolls!

3 comments:

  1. I'm finding your doll saga really interesting. The "one on the left" has a wistful pull. I hope someone can give you more info. Intriguing!

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  2. MaryAnne, Have you googled vintage dolls yet? I've been doing a bit of "research" online after seeing these, a cold day here and felt like sitting down for a while, LOL.
    The tall wire and fabric doll might be a vintage souvenir doll from Europe, not sure about the beads but the materials are common to that kind of doll apparently. The little one is most likely a dolls house dolly, again possibly vintage. Your baby doll is a bit more of a mystery, are there no markings or numbers at all on his back or neck? And are his joints moveable? That would help a bit more. He looks German or French to me, but I'm no expert, just an amateur sleuth, VBG.
    Hooroo,
    Christine
    PS the word verif code is imolated!!
    What the !!

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  3. What a very nice collection you have and you have taken good care of them.

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