A World of Doll Collecting by Jack Tempest
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A harpsichord-playing automaton doll in the Estrid Faurholt was another well-known Arts et Metiers Museum in Paris. Such figures Danish doll collector. Her vast collection was are rare and expensive! bought by Lego and now can be seen in the A bisque-headed German Schoneau & museum at Legoland, Jutland. This English Hoffmeister clockwork walking doll, showing Queen Anne period jointed wooden doll dates the clockwork mechanism. from 1690 and is worth a small fortune! A world of doll collecting by Jack Tempest Collecting dolls became a leading interest Towards the end of the nineteenth century Germany manufactured cheap wax dolls in the years following the end of the Second German imports of all kinds to the UK, not just and flooded the market with them. Wax dolls World War. It was a hobby that took hold in dolls and toys, were seriously threatening our may be made from moulded wax, or wax over America and then, as a result of numerous economy. An attempt to create a British doll papier-mâché heads, with straw-filled bodies. transatlantic visitors searching for examples in industry when imports from Germany ended Possibly they would have wax or composition Europe, spread to Britain. Collecting fever with the onset of the 1914-18 World War, hands and feet. The run-of -the- mill wax dolls was, by the 1970-80s at its highest. The value proved a failure. The dolls’ heads produced in tend to be less popular with collectors than are of old dolls escalated to heights that even set the Staffordshire Potteries unfortunately never china dolls. China dolls are made from clay the London auction houses taking part in the attained comparable quality with the which, after moulding, is subsequently glazed action by arranging specialist doll sales. The Continental products. Goss, the company and fired. Unglazed china produces the bisque prices of rare, early examples, in excellent noted for introducing quality commemorative heads and ‘stone-bisque’ is a coarser variation. states of preservation, are now in the china ornaments, was responsible for the best Parian pottery is a marble-like unglazed china thousands of pounds range. There are even of these porcelain dolls from the Potteries. To and some of the best dolls in this material high values, in the hundreds of pounds, most collectors, the Goss products are the best originated from the famous Dresden factories attached to many of the early, but relatively of the British products. The best of all British noted for their high quality ornaments. modern, but scarce ‘Barbie’ dolls! dolls, however, were the wax figures made by Dolls have been produced from a variety The most sought after doll examples are Italian families living in London in the of materials besides ceramics, ranging from the ones that combine age and beauty, top nineteenth century. These products were papier-mâché to rubber. Rag-dolls were quality figures that have survived the years in appreciated worldwide, the finest of the range inexpensive and, in many cases quite tip-top condition. Some of the finest well- being the work of the Montenari family. Mme appealing items. Often they were home made! dressed bisque examples came from France. Augusta Montenari exhibited examples at the Other soft popular dolls included the The ‘Parisians’, quality dolls used to model Great Exhibition of 1851, held in London’s extremely popular teddy bear, considered to be the latest Paris fashions, are especially sought Crystal Palace. These dolls are considered by the first cuddly doll to be accepted by boys! after. Germany was also responsible for many many to be the first character dolls ever Today there are plastic ‘GI Joes’ and ‘Action fine dolls and became skilled in the production produced and were very well received. Man’ that are often described as ‘dolls for of quality bisque and porcelain dolls. Montenari dolls were also exhibited in Paris in boys’. They are far from cuddly and perhaps Examples dressed in original clothing have 1855. They influenced Continental doll best described as large toy soldiers, which they extra appeal. makers to produce wax dolls in competition. mainly were! ANTIQUES INFO - Jan/Feb 2001 Wooden dolls have been with us for years. For many years the flammable material produced in doll form. Mechanical dolls that The first prehistoric dolls were wooden or known as celluloid was used to manufacture can walk, and phonograph dolls that can talk, baked from clay. In Germany dolls were made dolls, often the whole body would be moulded are especially collectable, taking the collector by peasant labour in wooded areas such as the from this fiery material. Celluloid was banned into the realms of expensive automata! Erzgebirge, Oberammergau, and Sonneberg. for manufacturing use after the Second World Today, antique dolls in first-class Many were simple products; others beautifully War and replaced by the modern vinyl plastic. condition are not too easy to find but time carved examples that appeared in the late The more modern figures, such as the famous marches on and later examples, such as the eighteenth century. Britain was responsible for Barbie and Sindy dolls, are moulded from composition dolls made up to the 1950s now some accurately detailed painted wooden dolls non-flammable vinyl. Celluloid was used attract attention. Doll fairs nowadays display at this time. Simple cheap Dutch Dolls were widely in the 1920-30s. Doll and toy makers excellent modern products by doll artists. They made in the Thuringian district of Germany. around the world used celluloid and the may be excellent reproductions of the earlier They entered the UK from Holland and may Rheinische Gummi und Celluloid Fabrik French and German products, or even original have received the ‘Dutch’ appellation for that company of Germany was one of the most ‘artist dolls’. They attract a good following, reason. Or maybe ‘Dutch’ was an Anglicised prolific producers. Their speciality had been in sell well, and have saved the doll fairs from version of ‘Deutsch’? They were also known rubber products (‘Gummi’ is the German for disappearance! as ‘peg dolls’. One Continental family, named rubber) and their dolls are invariably marked Doll collecting is an internationally Schoenhut, settled in the USA and started up a with a turtle trademark. Quite collectable, too! popular hobby and doll figures, ranging from successful wooden doll business there which Portrait dolls had their ceramic heads common holiday souvenirs representing existed from 1911 to 1924. Schoenhut’s moulded in the likeness of popular personal- figures in national dress, to antique example, business became famous not only for their ities of the time, such as Queen Victoria, and even modern ‘artist dolls’ are all popular dolls, but for Humpty Dumpty Circus figures Adelina Patti, and Jenny Lind. Later, in the collectables. they introduced. The firm also issued a patent 1930s Shirley Temple and other famous indoor golf game with wooden competitors. Hollywood film stars were eventually Some of the ceramic dolls in the Siesby These Swiss articulated metal dolls have lost Museum Copenhagen collection now their felt clothing. Their composition heads dispersed since the death of Fro Siesby, the were available as representations of cartoon Danish owner. characters and prominent personages. The firm of Bucherer made them in the 1920s. A selection of ‘Dutch’ wooden dolls displayed Their joints are of the ball-and-socket type, in Thirlstane Castle, Lauder, Scotland. easily detachable. Doll making skills were adapted, and taught, by enthusiasts as antique dolls became harder This 1920s wooden doll, seen in the Museum A 19th century wax doll on display in Glamis to come across! This student is working on of Childhood on the Isle of Skye, is an Castle, Scotland. painting a bisque head she has made. American-made wooden Schoenhut product. ANTIQUES INFO - Jan/Feb 2001 .