Miss Charlotte Bronte meets Miss Barbara Pym: Frances Glessner Lee; A Pioneer in a Male Dominate...

Miss Charlotte Bronte meets Miss Barbara Pym: Frances Glessner Lee; A Pioneer in a Male Dominate...:  I shared a blog post called Our Wildest Dreams about Ms. Lee, who created the Forensic Pathology Department at Harvard.  During the forties...

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.

Happy 4th of July! from American Doll and Toy Museum and we are nearly 300,000 strong!

 

Happy 4^th of July!

Scroll down to read the blog post, but there are lots of photos to enjoy as well!

 

 

 Once again, just like that, the 4^th of July is here!  We had wonderful memories from our 4^th as children.  In San Jose, the whole neighborhood had a block party, and we all had fire works, not just sparklers!  You could by them along the road side, in little stands.  I still have the cut outs of Smokin Sam, and boxes from caps and snakes.  My uncle George took me to buy an assortment for the 4^th of July 1972.  We had a great time picking them out, and later, us kids had home made ice cream, made by my friend’s parents across the street.  Shelley Hobson was my best California friend, and I miss her and her sisters very much.  Little did we know that George would die June 1973 in a car accident.

 

Earlier years, we ran around our Rock Island neighborhood, lighting sparklers and playing games long after dusk.  We could see fireworks from our yards, or we could go to the local high school and sit on the lawn.  On trip out west, we spent the 4^th at Disneyland, watching the electric light parade, and staying to watch Tinkerbell fly across the park at midnight amid even more fireworks.  The first Tinkerbell I remember was 72 and still flying! 

 

Bicentennial Betsy and 

Spirit of 76 Soldier from Carlson Dolls, thanks Jan F.  I new someone

named Betsy Ross Brewer, a direct descendant of the original Betsy Ross.

Thomas Jefferson and Friends from our Presidential Doll case. American Doll

and toy Museum.

Uncle Sam and Friends

Left, Carlson Dolls Betsy Ross with a gift from our friend Cate C. to her right

Carlson Dolls British soldier, thanks Jan F.

George Washington and Francis Scott Key

More Presidential dolls, including our Georgian Wooden Doll, center, Reign of

George III, and Lincoln and Trump  Dolls.  Note LBJ in his ten gallon hat in front, and the Garfield

Pez.

Lincoln's Son, Robert

President Obama by Hallmark

Left,

Lucy Webb Hayes, with dolls representing

Presidents Trump, Lincoln, and Clinton

Fanny Betsy,a Bru Brevete that belonged to

Fanny Hayes, daughter of President Rutherford B. Hayes.

Not so long ago, my parents and I went to Galena, IL for the parade, a good old fashioned 4^th that was!

 

Now our holidays are quiet.  I’ll take flowers to our family graves tomorrow for my Uncle Tom, whose birthday was July 5^th.  I’ve had a few fireworks; one year, my friend and I went to the courthouse grounds to watch our local Red, White and Boom!  

 

Some of us are off to the Barbie convention, but we stay here.  We had a great day at American Doll and Toy Museum, as we did last weekend.  I’m so grateful people are finding us!  We hope to do some videos to share with everyone, but for now, I share some patriotic doll photos.  We have lots of items like this; many from our Bicentennial, which is not to be forgotten!  Others came from the 1986 festival to celebrate the renovation of The Statue of Liberty.

 

We aren’t perfect, but we are the land of the free, and the home of the brave.  Long may freedom reign, and may it root itself and blossom in countries where there has been none.

 

Enjoy the photos, and a safe, Happy 4^th from American Doll and Toy Museum!

Jack the Doll, American Doll and Toy Museum