February 9, 2025, Meeting

The theme for this meeting was Valentine's Day, and members were invited to bring dolls dressed in pink or red, or that otherwise invoked the holiday.

Guest David Craig brought three examples of resin ball-jointed dolls by JAMIEshow USA, first introduced in 2009. He told the club that he admires the fashions from the 1940s through the 1960s. This doll's wig is attached by magnets, so that her hairstyle can be easily changed.

David calls this doll Violet, his Southern belle.

Most JAMIEshow dolls are 16 inches tall, but this is a 12-inch model was made for one year.

Member Sylvia McDonald brought this Black baby doll designed by artist Pauline Bjonness-Jacobsen. She told the club that she bought this doll to replace her childhood Amosandra, a Black baby doll created by the Sun Rubber Company in 1949 as a tie-in to the popular radio program "Amos ’n’ Andy.” Unfortunately, these dolls' soft rubber skin hardened and deteriorated over time. 

Sylvia also shared this doll by Madame Alexander called "Sweet Kisses for Grandmother."

This Madame Alexander doll, "My Heart Belongs to You," issued in 2001, belongs to member Myrna

 Loesch.

Member Pam Hardy displayed this Madame Alexander doll called "Sunday Best." She said that the doll reminded her of her childhood when her grandmother would get her all dressed up for church. 

Member Sharon Weintraub shared a quartet of comic couples. This pair has a timely Valentine's Day message, as the lady warns her beau, "Be good and if you can't good, be careful." Sharon explained that this was a fairing. Fairings were small inexpensive bisque or china pieces, often given as prizes or sold as souvenirs at fairs, made in Germany from the mid-1800s through the early 1900s.  

The other pieces were bisque novelties by the German firm of Schafer and Vater. 

Member Bette Birdsong brought this early example of a Ginny doll, appropriately clad in a red dress with a lace heart.

She also shared this vintage Valentine's candy box bedecked with a doll. Bette told the club that this box was a gift from a friend.

Member Jan Irsfeld displayed this Dollikin wearing a ravishing red gown designed by Jan.

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Member Elaine Jackson shared these two little hand-carved wooden dolls. One wears a blue dress adorned with little lovebirds; she was made by Ukrainian artist Marina Savchuk. The doll pretty in pink was created by Bruce and Fung Hicks.

Member Nancy Countryman brought a trio of dolls dressed in red. There was this Barbie in a bead-encrusted gown, 

this Madame Alexander doll called "My Heart Belongs to You," and

this cute cloth doll from Budapest.

Member Jenell Howell shared this all-original composition Patsykins, part of the Patsy series by the American doll company, Effanbee.

She also brought this Mary Hoyer doll with tagged clothing. Mary Hoyer began business in 1925 with a yarn and craft shop in Reading, Pennsylvania where she designed knitted clothing for infants and children. She later started selling a slender composition doll with patterns so that customers could sew or knit a wardrobe for the doll. At first the dolls were purchased from the Ideal Novelty and Toy company, but in 1937, she started using dolls designed for her. The composition, and later, hard plastic dolls, usually, but not always, are marked with Hoyer's name. Jenell said that although Hoyer sold doll pattern books in her shop, she also sold some ready-made doll clothing, like this tagged outfit. 

June 9, 2024, Meeting

Member Sharon Weintraub did a program on Hertwig and Company half-bisque and all-bisque doll families. She said that Hertwig was founded in 1864 in the city of Katzhutte, Germany, producing porcelain and earthenware items, including dolls. By the 1880s, it was the main employer in Katzhutte. Hertwig was generous to its employees, providing them health insurance, banking services, and even a swimming pool. 

Sharon told the members that in 1910, Hertwig received a patent for a dollhouse doll with a bisque torso and head. Slots in the shoulders allowed the insertion of fabric arms ending in bisque hands and the dolls had cloth legs with bisque feet. In 1914, these half-bisque dolls were featured in the company's anniversary catalog. She displayed one set that represented a peasant family, including the grandfather and grandmother, the mother and father, a young son and daughter, and a maidservant. The adults were only available in sets, but the children could be purchased separately and came in a variety of sizes. For this reason, the adults dolls are much harder to find. Hertwig was very clever when it came to cutting costs, so the dolls' cloth arms doubled as their sleeves and the fabric lower bodies as the men's pants (the girls and women came in simple cloth skirts and aprons). Sharon noted that collectors have often updated the dolls' outfits by adding sleeves and fancier outer garments, as with the little girl doll in this set.

She also displayed a pair of half-bisque dolls known to collectors as the “city children” because they have fancier molded clothing. There were no adults in this set. Like the country children, these dolls came in a variety of sizes and even as shoulder head dolls. 

Sharon displayed a doll with a city girl shoulder head that had belonged to friend. The friend's mother had found the doll in a trash bin in the 1930s and later gave it to her when she was a little girl. 

The doll is on the typical Hertwig cloth body with bisque lower arms and china lower legs. Both French and German makers sometimes placed heads on elongated bodies so that they could advertise the doll as a larger size and give buyers the impression that they were getting more doll for their money.

Sharon shared other family sets of dolls created by Hertwig. One consisted of eight tiny all-bisque dollhouse dolls in their original box, ranging from the grandparents to two children. An old note in the box dated the dolls to “circa 1926-1927.” She explained that these dolls were made of precolored bisque. Originally the slip used for bisque has white and the complexion coat had to be padded on and refired; around WWI, German companies began experimenting with a precolored bisque that already had a pink tint, saving the step of complexion coating. Hertwig extensively used precolored bisque for its all-bisque dolls and novelties, often going a penny-pinching step farther and cold painting the features, rather than firing them in, so that they may wear or wash off over time. 

She also displayed this all-bisque dollhouse family of a father, mother, and son in their original clothing and still attached to their display card; she noted that the set should have also included a little girl, but the card was torn and that doll was missing. 

Sharon said that Hertwig was very skilled at creating cute outfits from inexpensive materials to make its dolls more appealing to consumers. She passed around a pair of boy and girl all-bisque dolls dressed in their original matching outfits of felt and rayon ribbon as examples. 

Sharon told the club that Hertwig often created dolls in boy and girl pairs. She displayed a matching all-bisque boy and girl, jointed at the shoulders, in molded outfits from the 1910s. As is often typical of Hertwig pairs, their side glancing eyes are painted so that they are looking at each out. Sharon also shared two all-bisque girls, one in a molded cowboy costume and the other dressed in a Native American outfit; she told the club that there were matching boy dolls, but she had not yet been able to add examples to her collection.

This little precolored all-bisque boy and girl are dressed in their original net bathing suits. 

Also in their all-original outfits is this pair of tiny Black all-bisque dolls. 

Member Jan Irsfeld bought this Dollikin by Uneeda Doll Company. She told the club that when she was a child she wanted a Cissy fashion doll by Madame Alexander, but her parents bought her a less expensive Dollikin instead. Jan bought this doll to replace her childhood doll and restored and redressed it. 

Member Elaine Jackson shared her newest acquisition, a Sunny Sue Bendy doll designed by Joseph Kallus. She has the matching boy, Sunny Sam, already in her collection.

Member Kenneth Reeves shared this beautiful composition by Madame Alexander of the child movie star Margaret O'Brien. The doll is all original. 

Member Sylvia McDonald brought this boy and girl pair,  two ceramic choir singer figurines.

Member Kathy Tovo displayed these two charming primitive dolls. The larger one is wood and cloth and the smaller doll has a composition head. 

October 9, 2022, Meeting

Member Jenell Howell did a program on Arranbee dolls, which she referred to as a mystery company. She explained that very few collectors are familiar with the company and that many of its dolls were not marked and can be difficult to identify. When the dolls are marked, she said that they may be branded "Arranbee,” “R&B,” or with the doll’s name. 

Jenell stated that the company was founded in 1919 by Bill Rothstein and Berman, hence the name Arranbee. By the 1930s, Rothstein was the sole owner. The company’s motto was “The dolls that sell on sight.”  The company started by importing dolls from Germany. Its most popular import was “Dream Baby’ by Armand Marseille, such as this tiny example, as well as Simon and Halbig dolls. Jenell said that sometimes the Arranbee name appears on these dolls. Arranbee also sold doll hospital supplies and doll parts. 

Around 1925 the company began manufacturing composition dolls, both under its own name and for other companies. It sold a “mama doll” named Nannette. Jenell noted that Arranbee often reused names like “Dream Baby” and “Nannette” for other dolls in its line. The company was known for quality dolls at reasonable prices. Ruby Hopf, the sister of George Averill, designed clothing for the the company’s doll line. In 1927, Arranbee formed a partnership with Vogue. This little doll in blue is an example of this partnership. 

This cute 9-inch tall cowgirl belongs to member Elaine Jackson and is an example of the company’s storybook series. 

Jenell told the club that Arranbee created the Nancy doll to compete with the ever-popular Patsy doll. The doll was made in a wide variety of sizes with painted eyes, sleep eyes, molded hair, or wigged. This example belongs to member Elaine McNally and is marked “Nancy. 

Another example of Nancy with molded hair, belonging to member Nancy Countryman. The doll is marked “Arranbee. 

Debuteen was another popular doll offered by Arranbee. This example belongs to member Myrna Loesch. Jenell stated that the doll may have been made by Vogue for Arranbee. 

Jenell shared several variations of hard plastic Nancy Lee or Nannette. She said that these dolls have pointed chins and lips painted with the right side very slightly higher than the left. Several of the dolls have floss wigs.

The ice skater has a walker mechanism. Her striped dress is

not original.

This adorable redhead is Littlest Angel, which Jenell noted is similar to “Wee Imp” by Vogue. She said that Arranbee introduced the small bent-knee toddler doll. 

Jenell stated that Rothstein died in 1957 and the following year the company was bought out by Vogue. Vogue kept Arranbee as a separate company for three years, then merged the two companies. Jenell noted that Arranbee clothing uses lots of bias tape and square snaps, and that a fichu is often part of the outfit. 

Member Sylvia McDonald brought one of her childhood dolls, this charming child in her original outfit. The doll has been purchased for her in 1946 or 1947 from White’s Auto Store and put away for her as a Christmas present. However, Sylvia came across the doll before the holiday and that is how she learned that Santa was in fact her father! 

New member Pam Hardy shared this beautiful Toni doll in its original box. She said that it was given to her by a neighbor who learned that she collected dolls. The doll belonged to the neighbor’s daughter, who had never played with it. 

Jan Irsfeld displayed this Dollikin, which she said replaced one she had in childhood. Jan also created her striking outfit.