WTB / Buying Vintage and Antique dolls - Clean out your attics!

[MiRaja]

I finally got a little cash flow going on getting my dolly business going again, but I am fast running out of stock.

I am looking to buy antique and vintage dolls, pre-1960.  I realize it's a bit hard to tell, so whatever you got, if you THINK it's in the age grouping, feel free to PM me a photo or even just post photos here, and I'll be happy to help. 

I am looking for composition dolls, made of wood pulp, covered in plaster, and painted beautifully.  These dolls commonly show 'crazing' or 'cracking' on their surface.  They can have painted eyes, or open and close eyes. 

I am looking for early hard plastic dolls, like Sweet Sue, Nancy Anne, Cissy, etc, etc.  These dolls are made of a very hard plastic, generally had open and closed eyes.  I am also looking for 8 inch dolls made of hard plastic like Ginny and Muffy.  Ginny will be marked Vogue, and Muffy as Nancy Anne.  Sometimes Muffy is unmarked. 

I am also interested in SOME baby dolls pre-1960.  Dolls marked American Character or some variation of that, or dolls marked Dydee or Effanbee.  I am looking for parts for these dolls, so if you find a head and a shriveled body, I'll happily take that little mess off your hands and get her a new body! 

I am also looking for bisque head German and French dolls of really any condition.  I'll take bodies with busted heads, and the busted heads even if they're mostly complete.  ( They're not worth much, but I know people who can put them back together and make them look like new. ) 

I am not interested in newer porcelain dolls at all.  If they look new, they generally are new. 


Some markings to look out for: Effanbee, Anne Shirley, American Character ( Amer Char, PETITE, AC ), IDEAL, Horsman, R&B, Arranbee, PATSY ( or variations of Patsy - Pasty Ruth, Patsy Anne, Patsy Lou, Patsyette, etc, etc. ), Shirley Temple, etc, etc. 

As I said, if you've got it and you think it's vintage/antique, and you'd like to sell, just post me a picture, and I'll be all too happy to help. 

[kCherry]

Glad to hear you are getting back into the dolly business!!

  Would you be at all interested in 1967 Kamar Big Eyes Angel doll? I am currently restoring one for a friend who I am sure would be interested in skipping the eBay fees.

  I don't think I have anything else like what you are after atm but I'll keep an eye out for ya!!

[MiRaja]

That's a bit too new for what I do.  About the only knowledge I have in that department is about the last non-Barbie fashion dolls and I also know how to spot a real 72 Blythe.  Hahaha!  But keep your eyes open for me!

[BabiChuld]

Not for sale, but I wonder if maybe you might be able to help me ID this dolly, a childhood doll. I've since cleaned her up and given her new clothes but can't seem to find a pic. She has no markings at all, a hard plastic body and rubbery limps and head. Thanks for looking ^_^ 

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[MiRaja]

She looks maybe Italian?  They made a lot of vinyl dolls, I know, but I'm not at all fluent with European toys after the 1930's.  I'm beyond competent with bisque German and French girls, but I mostly just know what I work on, and since those are what I work on the most besides other American Composition and hard plastic dolls, and Japanese composition dolls, that's really the extent of my knowledge, and anything after 1970?  Nope, notta.  As I said, the biggest nugget of knowledge I have is of those 1972 Blythe dolls, and that's because I've seen what they go for! 

After the 1960's, and 1970's, there was a massive explosion of vinyl and plastic toys, especially with the advent of injection mold processing, which we all should be familiar with, what with my little pony, My Little Pony is made off of injection molds.  Previous to this, doll manufacturing was far more like it is to make Ball joint dolls.  They're made on traditional mold systems that requires seams and what not, and then that to be sanded down, this method is FAR more expensive and time intensive, especially when they used it to make composition dolls here in the US in the 20's-1940's, because each half of the body had to be assembled, glued, and left to dry.  Composition went out of vogue during a really wet summer, think it was 1944 or so, and Madame Alexander lost ALL of their composition dolls that year to mold because the composition saw dust and glue mixture would not dry.  They were forced to scramble together a process to make plastic dolls that first year in time for Christmas, and thus the age of plastic toys really kicked off, but the first generation systems were still more like composition systems, basically time intensive.  When injection molds were invented, it leveled the playing field, and many, many, many more start up toy companies popped up and could compete and produce toys and get into this big toy market, that at least, here in the states, was pretty well gate-kept by the big companies that had been kicking around since, oh, the 1890's.  So, you may never really find out who she was made by, there's still a lot of toys from this era in the US that can't be identified because they have no makers mark. 

[BabiChuld]

Wow, thanks for that info! Composition dolls seem so fragile, do they damage easily? I don't mind not IDing her, it would be nice to know but I love her anyways- I really need to find the pics of her fixed up

[MiRaja]

Wow, thanks for that info! Composition dolls seem so fragile, do they damage easily? I don't mind not IDing her, it would be nice to know but I love her anyways- I really need to find the pics of her fixed up

It depends on composition!  It's very picky about temperature fluctuations and can craze and crack when exposed to high heat or extreme cold.  It is far more resilient than porcelains though, and much cheaper to make.  It's made out of saw dust, at least American composition dolls, which meant it was cheaper to produce and we didn't exactly have too many places in the States that produced the correct type of clay that would make for excellent bisque heads, like Europe and Japan had.  Cared for, they hold up better than plastic, however, and composition can always be repaired.  Plastic, if something breaks or tears on it, you're kind of out of luck, but composition dolls on the other hand. . .  You can sand all the bad paint off, and repaint, or you can fill a bad crack, you can even make a new finger for a doll with a busted finger. . .  So, there's pluses to every material and also flaws, but I like composition best, I like the feel of it, and the beauty of it is just wonderful.  I just got in a new doll today, she is from the 1930's, and she is near perfect except she needs to see a hair dresser to tame her hair!  Almost 100 years old, and so perfect!