Gollies Galore by Jill Byron Ollies Have Lived with Teddy Bears Since the Early Gpart of Last Century

golly.qxp 26/01/2015 07:56 Page 97 Gollies Gollies Galore by Jill Byron ollies have lived with teddy bears since the early Gpart of last century. They add a lovely splash of colour to any hug and are a poignant reminder of a time when the world used common sense instead of political correctness when judging our toys. As a child in the 1940s Britannica golly. £45. forties and fifties, I can remember seeing gollies in a wonderful toyshop in my home town of West Wickham 1907 golly in profile, Collection of about twenty in Kent. They sat alongside teddy bears, dolls, showing pronounced nose. gollies. £20. Brightwells, farmyards, lead horses, Meccano and a hundred and Teddy Bear Chest. £400. Leominster. Mar 2009. one other toys, at which I would gaze wistfully through their window. Florence Upton first created the golliwogg, (it was spelt with two gs in those days,) in 1895 in ‘The Adventures of two Dutch Dolls’, after illustrating a book by Ernst Beckman entitled ‘Pax and Carlino’, which featured a negro in its story. He fired her imagination and she then started to illustrate her own book, using dolls which she owned. She had a number of jointed wooden dolls and a rag minstrel with a shock of black hair made from real fur, which had a leather face, white shell button eyes and a black muslin body stuffed with cotton and this little character became the first 1950s-60s handsome home- made golly. Daniel Agnew. £20. golliwogg. Florence illustrated a series of thirteen books featuring this now well- loved character, whilst her mother wrote the verses. The book was published by Longman Green & Co. of London, after Mr. Allen, who worked for the publishers, saw his children enjoying her drawings. The original first editions of this book can 1910 golly, 8in. Bourton cost well over £400 but modern paperbacks may be obtained for under £10. At first, Bears. £150. parents were afraid that their children would be frightened by the golliwogg but eventually he became the most popular of all the characters and remained so. He was considered to be the ‘Prince of Golliwoggs’ who was brave, lovable, intelligent and mischievous. He led the Dutch Dolls into many adventures, overcoming all obstacles and always protecting them through dangerous situations. The original minstrel doll on which Florence based her stories is in the Museum of Childhood, at Bethnal Green in London. If you do decide to collect them, gollies joining your hug will usually be fairly 1950s-60s Wendy Boston inexpensive in comparison to the price you may have to pay for an old bear. There golly and golly boy. Old are exceptions of course, such as the very rare early Steiff gollies, which have been Bears 4 U. £45 for the pair. sold between £4,000 and £6,000 but a nice old golly may be bought for less than £40. You can sometimes buy old gollies at auction and Special Auction Services sold a pair of Wendy Boston gollies last year for £72. I have bought several in this way and 1920s rare 6in golly golly pan have paid from between £20 and £75 for them. I have a Chiltern golly and an old holder. Bourton Bears. £125. Chad Valley, which I bought in a lot with many old Chad Valley bears and animals for just £36, which was a very good buy! An even better purchase would have been Lot 67 at Brightwells Auctions, in March 2009, which sold in their toy and doll auction for just £20. As there were twenty gollies in the lot, it worked out at just £1 a golly! Unfortunately, I was unable to get to the auction and so missed a real bargain. A visit to their website is well worthwhile if you collect old toys. At one of their 2008 auctions, a Hong Kong golly, together with some bears, sold for £45 and 1960s Robertson’s promo- a miniature felt golly made £85. A group of eight 1950s-60s gollies were unsold at tional golly. Mr Punch’s Old Toys. £29. £40, which was surprising when you think that that was only £5 per golly, although even these were not as cheap as ‘Lot 67’ in March. Brightwells also had a rare 1930s Chad Valley velvet golly with a Wendy Boston rabbit, which sold for £80 and there were others for sale in this auction. Wendy Boston produced some really lovely examples of this popular toy. Toys of 1930s-40s dancing golly, made Youth had one of her gollies who played a banjo, which was unusual, because it is of card. £29. Bourton Bears. very rare to find the original banjo with it. He was in beautiful condition and at £85, was a good buy for anyone wanting a good golly to add to their collection. I succumbed to his charms eventually and bought him myself. Old Bears 4 U had a Wendy Boston ‘Golly Girl’, who wears a striped skirt and ‘Golly Boy’, who has matching striped trousers. Their price started at well over £100 but dropped to £45 for the pair last year. At that price, I had to buy them. Other manufacturers of golliwogs include the English company Atlas, Allwyn, Chad Valley, Deans, JK Farnell, Omega, Chiltern, Britannia Toy Company, Givjoy, trademark of AJ Halliday and Co. and Pedigree, who, like Merrythought, also made a tingaling. Pedigree also made a talking golly, whose mechanism is operated by a 1930s rare Merrythought 1960s large size Merry- ring pull. German companies Steiff and Hermann Spielwaren were among the golly. £175. thought golly. £90. foreign golly makers. Many other soft toy makers made them and Pelham Puppets ANTIQUES INFO - July/August 09 golly.qxp 26/01/2015 07:56 Page 98 Gollies produced some great characters designed mainly for use by children. They made one large golly in top hat and tails which has an opening mouth, also operated by the strings, which is very rare. He is a superb character and even if you find one with the top hat missing, he is still a very desirable toy. Early in the last century, the well-known French firm Deans and Chiltern gollies ‘Vigny,’ made perfume bottles with a golly head as a with old bears. stopper. They are enchanting and extremely rare and if you see one of these, snap it up. They can vary in price from £178-£318 at the time of writing and although the ones I Small, very old and rare saw on the Internet all seemed to be in the USA, I have Vigny golly perfume bottle. seen them in this country. Old Brown long legged golly Up to £300. Robertson’s Jam Company is possibly one of the best and friends. £30. known of all golly manufacturers. They made plush promotional toys, metal and enamel badges, brooches, chairs, mugs and innumerable other golly products. It is believed that one of James Robertson’s sons saw a child playing with a golliwogg doll when on a visit to America. Apparently he acquired the doll and brought it home to Wendy Boston golly with England, where his family fell in love with it and decided guitar. Toys of Youth. £85. to use it as a trademark for Robertson’s products. The golly first appeared in their brochures in 1910 and his popularity was so great that the first tin brooch was brought out in the 1920s. Old Chiltern golly with The rest, as they say, is history and until the powers that be label. £30. Large old clown golly. £45. decided that it was ‘offensive’ to some members of the British public to have them as a trademark, Robertson’s much-loved golly was always on their labels and lids. What a tragedy that we allow ourselves to be pressured like this and lose one of our favourite toys. Golliwogs are becoming very collectable and are getting more and more popular. Even shops that don’t usually sell toys have them and last year, an article appeared in the Shropshire Star saying that an ironmonger in Bromyard 1970s golly. Mr. Punch’s Old had been reported for having gollies in his window! The Toys. £45. authorities were going to confiscate them but there was Two 1960s Merrythought such an outcry about it that they allowed him to keep them, Tingaling gollies. £90 and as long as he did not display them in the window. The Old golly. £35 from an £60 respectively. antique shop. story hit the headlines and made people even more aware of the dangers of so-called ‘political correctness.’ I believe the ironmonger sold all of them due to the publicity! The best and most informative book I have ever read about these popular toys is ‘Buy Golly’ by Clinton Derricks. It really is a mine of information, superbly illustrated and is well worth buying if you collect golly items. It may be bought from Amazon, where there are quite a number for sale at the time of writing. I bought my own copy from ‘Bears on the Square’ at Ironbridge but I don’t know if Very rare 19in Chad Valley they have any at the moment. jointed golly. Teddy Bear Chest. £135. Two vintage plush gollies. The golly is now almost as well loved as the teddy bear Old Deans golly. £30. Bought from a car boot fair. and makes a hug complete, so for all of you who don’t £20 and £30 respectively. have any in your collection, do go out and buy one or two.

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