What Every Doll Collection Needs

Happy St. Patrick's Day, and thank you for my first comment and for the good wishes!  It is foggy here, but we have the promise of sun.  The Ancient Celts left us stone deities and tiny figures cast in iron and other metals that represent their gods and goddesses.  One of the most famous of these represents Epona, the horse goddess.  Ancient figures and doll were primarily religious figures or symbolic works of art.  Certainly the earliest representation of the human figure, the Austiran Venus of Willendorf figures first unearthed in 1908, were sacred objects representing The Goddess.  Yet, children eventually got their hands on discarded or broken images, and the first play dolls emerged.  Many of these existed in Egypt, where a 2000+ year old rag doll was discovered in a child's tomb.  Toys and games were often found buried with children in Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, and such things survived even from Asia, Africa, and later, the Americas.  But, I digress.  my topic today was to recommend to new and advanced collectors the dolls I think everyone should have.  I base my opinion on the works of early doll scholars, including Helen Young, Janet Pagter Johl, and Mary Hillier, who beleived variety made a good collection.  Perhaps I followed to closely in their foot steps, but here goes:

Everyone should have in his/her doll collection:

1. One porcelain doll, new or antique.  Porcelain dolls represent a revolution in the doll making industry.  Porcelain could be used to create realistic or fanciful creations, and the results were often breathtaking.  There are also links between famous and very old china companies and dolls that they created.

2.  At least one set of paper dolls.  Paper dolls as objects of amusement have existed since about the 18th century when early Pantins which were jointed and based often on Polichinelle [Punch} and Columbine first made an appearance in France.  Many homemade examples have found their way down to us, and chromolithography made it possible for all children to have inexpensive sets.  Ritual paper dolls existed long before then in ancient Japan, and in two-dimensional shadow puppets from near and far east.

3,  Some kind of mechanical doll, even a holiday-battery operated figure.

4.  A wax doll or doll with wax parts.  These are easy to make with candle molds, if a little messy.  Holiday figural candles will serve if one can't find a Pierroti, Charles Marsh, or Montari.

5. A China head or doll made of glazed porcelain.

6.  A German Doll.

7. A French doll.  ## 6 and 7 do not have to be bisque; both countries led the toy industry for many years and used many types of media.

8.  A papier mache doll or doll head.

9.  A composition doll or doll head.  ## 8 and 9 may be old or new.

10.  A Frozen Charlotte or penny doll. Try to get a copy of the ballad by Lorenzo Carter. It is all over The Net.

11.  A celebrity doll, your choice.

12.  A Shirley Temple doll or set of paper dolls, old or new.

13.  One Madame Alexander; Walmart and Toys R Us carry them now.

14.  One McDonald's Happy Meal Toy.

15.  One doll representing each of the seven continents.  A stuffed penguin represents Anarctica quite nicely.

16.  One Barbie doll and one Barbie spinoff.

17.  One Teddy Bear.

18.  One other stuffed animal; a Beanie will work.

19.  A wooden doll.

20.  A Creche doll or nativity figure.  You can knock yourself out at Christmas, or buy a Santo, look for a Santon, you name it.

22.  A Japanese Doll.

23.  A Russian nesting doll.

24.  A hand puppet or finger puppet.

25.  A marionette.

26.  A Cloth doll.

27.  Raggedy Ann and Andy

28.  One Cabbage Patch doll.

29. One sock monkey.

30.  A Cornhusk doll.

31.  Another folk doll, perhaps an apple head, baby bottle nipple doll, a Mrs. Butterworth bottle doll, a nut head.

32. A "parian" or unglazed bisque head.

33.  A Toy soldier, old or new.

34.  A metal head, or all metal doll; Minerva and Juno are still plentiful.

35.  A Rubber doll, any condition.

26.  A Betsey Wetsy

27. A "Mamma Doll" and a Metronome in honor of Maezel who invented both.

27.  An advertising doll like Mr. Peanut, or Little Debbie.

28.  A Hard Plastic doll.

29.  A 7" "dress me" doll

30.  A kewpie doll

31. A boy doll

32. A set of doll house dolls, any type or material.  Clothes pins make very good ones.

33.  An American Girl

34.  A Chatty Cathy

34.  A hand-held walking doll

35.  A Patti Play Pal companion doll or something similar

36.  A Celluloid doll

27.  A gingerbread man, shellacked

29.  One doll or ornament representing major holiday figures, e.g., Christmas, Halloween, Easter, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, St. Patrick's Day

30.  One antique doll, any type, size, or material, at least seventy five years old

31. A live-sized mannikin, if you have room.  If you don't, look for a 1940s Peggy McCall, Marx Campus Cuties, a child or baby mannikin, or a wooden artists lay figure, about 11 1/2 inches.  Dress forms in miniature are also very popular and will serve the purpose.

32.  Two or three story book dolls, Nancy Ann, Hollywood, Molleye, Dress-Me, Mattell, Effanbee, Horsman; it doesn't matter.

33.  G.I. Joe

34.  A robot or transformer

35.  A space man or Star Wars, Alien, McFarlane, Close encounter action figure.

36.  A native American doll

37.  A Black Doll

38.  An African doll or mask

39.  A Hispanic doll

40.  Ginny, any type or era

41.  An ancient doll; replica Ushabti abound, as do images of the Goddess or Venus figures, replicas in marble of ancient Greek statues or dolls, Egyptian figure replicas from Design Toscano, etc.

42.  Some type of representation of the 18th Century; if you can' have a real Queen Anne doll, there are replicas, especially in Colonial Williamsburg.

43.  A Webkins or Tomogatchi.

44.  A Manga figure.

45.  Doll dishes.

46.  A very samll doll house or shadow box.

46.  Doll clothes and a trunk to go with them.  Barbie cases and clothes work well.

47.  One vinyl doll from the fifties, sixties, seventies, and eighties.

Now you have between 44 and 60 dolls, depending on how many variations you want to include.  Many can be paper or very tiny representations.  In my opinion, this grouping represents a varied, and well-rounded collection which will provice enjoyment and will chronicle the history of dolls.