History of Porcelain Dolls

For those who are or are thinking of becoming a porcelain doll collector here is some interesting facts of where and when the dolls first came from. In 1770 was when the first dolls were made but they were only the heads and they were made in Cornwall, England. The doll makers of England created these porcelain doll heads to have molded hair as well as the eyes, teeth and ears and even a tongue. The teeth of the dolls head were glued into the mouth.

The first shoulder head dolls were made in Germany. And they made the porcelain glossy so to make the dolls image look real. So England started the trend that went through out the world and every country put their own touch on them until they have become what they are today.

Today we beautiful dolls of fashion and tiny babies that look so real.You do not see dolls that look creepy or scary.

So if you had your choice would you want a doll that would scare you every time you looked at it or a pretty doll that could be displayed in the family room for every one to see?
Well me I would not want a one of those that would scare me and my children but then again they would be worth a lot a money!!!!

Do you or maybe some one you know have a porcelain doll collection and you are not sure if they are worth any money or not then here is a few tips for you to help out. For a porcelain doll to be consider as a true collectible then it needs to be about 25 to 75 years old.

From the history of dolls they were around in the Victorian era.
All porcelain dolls are qualified to be termed as collectible. Porcelain dolls are truly beautiful and are still the most common collected dolls. If you are planing on buy a porcelain doll as a gift or if you want to start collecting them then here are tips to look for so that your gift will last for many years to come.

Face decoration important to determine price

Consider quality of doll

Look for smooth skin and the lifelike coloring

Impeccable eye finish

If open-mouthed doll, teeth must be very much in place

The face and the fingers must be exquisitely shaped. Porcelain dolls with open hands and fingers separated need finer craftsmanship.

Manufacturers are always on the look out for a new dolls to make to keep the young and the young at heart interested by looking for new popular characters to make dolls look like them. They are always looking for ways to make their dolls more attractive and they are always trying to better the craftsmanship.

Bisque dolls are the worlds famous dolls for their realistic looks because they are unglazed porcelain.These dolls can be traced back to the late 1860's. The Antique bisque dolls had either leather or cloth bodies. It has only been in the 1980's that these Antique bisque dolls have gain the popularity as collector dolls.

The sizes of these doll can vary from 1/2 inch to five feet. The head is the only part that is made of bisque. The bodies are made up of cloth or composition. Here are some tips to see and evaluate if it is authentic.

No black flecks, pimples or pin-holes

Check if slightly translucent

Ensure not too heavy

Between open and close-mouth bisque head dolls, the later is valuable

Eyelashes, eyebrows are truly artistic

I hope that this has help you in what to look for in a doll if you would like to get for yourself or some one else.

My grandmother has a lot of porcelain dolls, so when I was about 7 or 8 years old, I would hang out with my older sister's Rhonda and Stephanie in my grandmothers' basement. So one night me and my sister Rhonda were sitting down in the basement and me and her got into a fight for some odd reason. Well after the fight started she went up stairs and left me in the basement all alone, so I was very scared. I have always been scared of my grandmothers basement because of so many reasons like how cold it is, how dark it is, how quiet it is, but most of all.... THE PORCELAIN DOLLS! I have always hated those but she has had them since I was born and I couldn't do anything about it.

I was left all alone in the dark, cold, quite, and scary basement. I started to feel like someone was watching me, but I just thought maybe it was Rhonda so I tried calling her name but I never got an answer. But all the sudden I got this feeling that I could not move or something bad would happen to me, so in that case I just sat still. Then something caught my eye on a night stand that was down there, I looked over to the night stand and what I saw still scares me today. What I saw was a doll my grandmother has had for a very long time, it was a doll that was laying down on a pillow. It seemed like it was staring at me but I tried not to get all scared but remember I was only 7 or 8 so trying not to be scared can only go so far. As I kept looking at it it started winking at me so I looked away but all of the other dolls started to stare at me too. So then I started screaming at the top of my lung's, it really seemed like no one could hear me thought. So I kept screaming and then I threw a brush at it and all the sudden I felt I could get up, so I did.

I ran up stair's as fast as I could and told them but no one believed me and they said they never even heard me screaming. So later on that night I found out I had broken the doll. The next day me and my sister went down stairs to see the damage I had did, but the craziest thing happened when we went down there, the doll was fixed! So to this day I still get so so scared when I walk down the stairs to get to that very scary basement of my grandmothers'.

I will never know how it happened completely, but I do know the memory of that night will never fade away!

Sent in by Sabrina Delonge, Copyright 2010

Porcelain is a ceramic. It is a mixture of clay, powders,earthen elements and water. Ater you have shaped the mixture to the disiered shape then it is to be fired at a very high temperature. The fire is what gives this mixture its hardness.
Depending on what you are making the item is rigded and then glazed or unglazed.

Earthenware,stoneware and porcelain are all in the ceramic family. Earthenware and stoneware are made of single natural clay. When the clay is placed in fire at a low temp is the result in earthenware and if it is in high temp fire then it turns into stoneware. Although porcelain is placed in the ceramic types will vary in the terms of the ingredients that are used.

One of the main components of porcelain is a pure white clay called Kaolin, also another ingredient that goes into the making of porcelain is what is known as petuntse which is a type of feldspar. Clay can be combined with many different types of clay depending on type of porcelain that you are wanting to make. It can be combined with ball-clay, glass, bone ash, steatite, quartz and alabaster.

Porcelain was recognize in China during the Tang dynasty which was in the years 618-907. For a thousand years or so the making or porcelain was kept a secret in China and they held a global monopoly. Finally two Germans got the the formula after years of research and it became a large scale production in 1710.

The word china is considered synonymous with the most sought after porcelain. Porcelain is often called china or chinaware for the reason that petuntse which is a type of feldspar can only be found in China.Maybe this tells us the reason for substitution of names. But, in reality porcelain and chinaware aren't the same and differ a lot.