Porcelain Antique Reproductions and Artist Dolls

 

Porcelain Antique Reproduction and Artist Dolls

 

This weekend I couldn’t take the heart and boredom any more.  I visited an estate sale in my neighborhood, after promising to swear them off for a while.  Then again, why punish myself?  The sale advertised dolls, and in this case, they were hand made dolls, artist versions and antique reproductions.  There were SFBJ repros, cabbage patch inspired porcelain dolls, bye-lo babies, and Lee Middleton babies.  Some 8 inch dolls had Bleuette bodies.  I ended up buying them, all I think.

 

My strategy is to go to a sale the first day and buy what I really want while taking a survey of what’s there.  If I want to go back, the second day is usually 20% off, with the third day 50% off.

 

I got really good prices, most dolls were under 20.00, the two Bleuette types were 2.50 each on the first day, sans clothes. 

 

Why did I buy them when many collectors and dealers won’t?  For one thing, I appreciate the artistry and effort involved.  At least one doll had molded hair and inset glass eyes, very hard to do.  I’ve done ceramics since I was 8, often taking classes, even in hand built pottery.  These dolls often cost over 100.00 to make.  A few still are expensive, though they have fallen out of favor.

 

They represent moment’s industry and ingenuity, and are made in the spirit of the great women doll makers and doll company owners including Huret, Rohmer, Emma Clear, Rose O’Neill, Madame Tussaud, Kathe Kruse, Madame Montanari, Grace Storey Putnam,  Izannah Walker, Martha Chase, Ruth Handler, Madame Alexander and others. Many of those who owned ceramic studios, designed the doll molds, dolls, and clothes.  They were pioneers in business and art, designing and selling their own products.

 

The porcelain dolls created at least since the 1940s when Emma Clear began to make them showcase women’s artistic expression and skills.  Karen Schoenthaler, one artist I met, was inspired to create her beautiful dolls because as a child of the Depression, she had no dolls.  For that matter, my grandmother and her sister, both seamstresses who made dolls and clothes for me, didn’t have any either.  Later in life, they made and collected a few dolls to compensate for what they loved but never had.  Both were tiny girls when their father died, and they wore morning at ages 4 and 6 till they were married.

 

These dolls should be preserved as examples of women’s entrepreneurship.  They are an important chapter of doll history, and they helped many women supplement their income.  That’s why I include them in my museum.  They are beautiful and play a part in doll history.