Antique German Dolls – A Little Bit of History
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Melissa & Doug Brianna - 12" Doll Sale Price: $13.00  |
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This sweet smelling, soft-bodied baby doll is just waiting for a little mommy to love her! With her open and close eyes, and shiny brunette hair, Brianna comes in a removable two-piece outfit with a charming embroidered heart and flower... |
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Manhattan Toy Stella Doll Sale Price: $21.00 |
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Melissa & Doug Jenna - 12" Doll Sale Price: $10.17 |
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This huggable, soft-bodied baby can sit up and suck her thumb or the included pacifier. |
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Melissa & Doug Wooden Family Doll Set Sale Price: $12.49 |
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Multi-generational, colorfully dressed figures are wire-framed, so they can pose in many ways, and make a great addition to any dollhouse. Inspire young imaginations for hours of pretend play! |
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Little Mommy Play All Day Baby Sale Price: $17.77 |
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Fisher Price's Little Mommy Play All Day Baby brings imagination to life. This lively doll reacts to a variety of fun, playful positions and movements such as bouncing, flipping, dancing, and flying, with adorable sounds and phrases... |
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Toysmith Doll Care Set Sale Price: $13.40 |
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3 years & up. Everything your little one needs to care for her baby doll. This 29 piece set comes in a reusable zippered case with handle that measures 8" x 6" x 6". Set includes baby necessities such as bottles, diapers, baby wipes, dispenser, bottle warmer, and training potty. |
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Madame Alexander Baby Cuddles - 14 Inch Sale Price: $24.22 |
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Pretend play utilizes fantasy and imagination to help children learn about the world. As beautiful as they are, Play Alexander dolls are designed for a lifetime of play. This charming collection features dolls with cuddly fabric bodies with vinyl faces, hands and feet... |
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Little Mommy Real Loving Baby Walk & Giggle Doll Sale Price: $34.99 |
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Get ready for interactive playtime with the Fisher Price Little Mommy Real Loving Baby Walk & Giggle Doll. Designed for children age three and older who enjoy playing "mommy," this life-like doll features a repertoire of more than 60 phrases, songs, and sounds... |
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Corolle Les Cheries Doll Camille Ballerina - 13" Doll Sale Price: $30.31 |
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Arabesque, anyone? Les Chiries' Camille Ballerina is recital-ready in a leotard, tutu, tights and pink slippers with ribbon laces. She has an all-vinyl body, moving eyes and long rooted hair that can be worn down or styled up - it can even be shampooed! Blue eyes... |
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Little Mommy Scrub-A-Dub-Dub Doll Sale Price: $15.78 |
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LITTLE MOMMY BABY BATH Doll Splish splash - girls can give their adorable baby doll a bath with her completely submersible body and play accessories. This sweet baby doll comes with a cozy terry hoodie towel and slippers, play bubble bath and bath toy... |
From the 1840's through until the early 1920's, some of the most beautiful dolls ever created, were produced in Germany.
The earliest dolls, often referred to as Parian (meaning untinted bisque) were created in famous pottery factories in Copenhagen and in Dresden. These dolls had beautifully delicate molded features, including not only their faces, but their hair as well, often with molded ribbons, bows, snood, flowers and sometimes a collar. Delicate exacting colorations made every one of these dolls a work of art. These dolls are rare and valuable.
Their popularity peaked around the end of the 1870â??s and can be dated by their hairstyles. Parian Bisque led to the more common China Head Dolls. These dolls were mass produced, and have a shiny glaze finish over the plain untinted bisque. These dolls ranged in size from tiny 1â? tall frozen charlotte type dolls to large as 24â?. These dolls were most popular between 1860 and 1900, as a cheaper alternative to the latest doll craze, that of tinted unglazed bisque that was becoming more and more popular and available. In the early 1890â??s the German doll manufacturers began mass producing many lovely quality dolls that began to rival the quality of the French dolls.
Dolls began to be modelled after real children. Emotions and expressions became visible. The famous period of the â??dolly typeâ? face was born.
These beautiful dolly face dolls traditionally had â??sleep eyesâ? made to open and close, set into the head carefully with plaster. The eyes were hand blown glass. They also have open mouths, usually showing 4 upper teeth. Fine mohair wigs, or human hair wigs were also used on these dolls. The heads were attached to sophisticated ball joint bodies.
Many of these dolly face dolls were produced in small cottage industry circumstances, and the maker of many remains unknown. The more famous German doll manufacturers such as Heinrich Handwerck, Heuback-Kopplesdorf, Kammer and Reinhard, J.D.Kestner, Armand Marseille and Simon and Halbig, clearly placed their hallmark, and doll mold numbers onto the back of the dollâ??s neck, making it possible to date, value and appraise many of their dolls.
One of the most famous dolls of all to come out of this period was the â??Bye-Loâ? baby doll. It is documented that the artist, Grace Storey Putnam searched hospital nurseries in the early 1920â??s looking for just the right tiny model for this doll. The Bye-Lo baby was followed by â??My Dream Babyâ?.
The value placed on Antique German Dolls, is based on their rarity, on the quality in craftsmanship of a particular doll, the condition of the doll, and by how much of the doll remains in original condition. This will include such factors as repairs to the head or body, replaced eyes or wig, and many other factors.
Antique German dolls continue to appreciate in value. The quality and talent put into every doll made is appreciated more and more by collectors of antique dolls as the years go by.
For more information on doll collecting, and antique dolls, visit http://www.eloradollhouse.com Jayne Cremasco has been a doll retailer and appraiser for over 25 years.
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