Collecting Antique Dolls

Antique dolls can be extremely costly.. but there are many that can be found at very reasonable prices, especially at doll auctions. If you are collecting antique dolls ... set a budget then search for those dolls that lie solely within that budget.

The French dolls of Jumeau and Bru are the costliest and can sell for as much as thousands if in good origianal condition.

Other antique dolls such as those made by Armand Marseille or J.D. Kestner can be found in the low hundreds on up.

If you are working with an auction site or at an auction, you need to make sure you know the condition of the doll before committing yourself to a bid. If you cannot see the doll for yourself.. question the owner extensively and get a moneyback promise if the doll is not all you are made to believe it is. Most auction sellers are very trustwrothy and honest. This will be verified to you through your interactions with more and more sellers as your interest in collecting antique dolls builds.

Whatever you pay for your doll, it cannot do anything but appreciate when you consider the fact it is most likely close to or more than 100 years old at the time of purchase.

If you are looking for antique dolls for the first time, there are some things you need to watch for when looking at them.

The most important thing to watch for is reproductions. There are many many reproductions out there. In almost every case, the seller notes this. It is up to you to notice that it is noted. A reproduction is a new manufacture of an old doll. It is not an original.

Watch for broken limbs and missing digits, missing eyes, or plastic eyes that have replaced original glass eyes. Watch for cracks, not just the big instantly noticeable cracks but hairline cracks as well.

Crazing is a pattern of lines all over the surface of composition dolls that is different from cracking. It is a wearing from time of the finish of the material the doll is composed of. This is common in dolls over a hundred years old.

If the porcelain is repainted, it detracts from the original condition of course. A dirty original finish porcelain is much better than a repainted face.

The original hair is always a big plus but replacement wigs are very common and do not detract from the doll as much as missing limbs or repainting does. Of course, original hair always is a plus just as original clothing would be.

Watch for shoes and socks. Truly antique shoes or boots are a huge advantage, as are underclothes and socks.

The body can be either cloth or leather, composition or wood. The cloth is most common. Leather bodies are becoming harder to find in the general public arena... so if you do find one.. hang onto it. Wooden dolls are even tougher to find than the leather ones, as are straw filled dolls.

Sometimes the original body is replaced by a newer body, not an antique. That would be a good buy only if the price is set accordingly.. which means discounted.

With the truly antique pre-1930 dolls becoming harder and harder to find, even ones with small cracks are worth buying if the price is right. You need to use your judgement here as far as price goes. You can compare the price of the doll with a slight crack to one that has no cracks, then deal accordingly for the cracked one. This is where collecting antique dolls can become a fun challenge.

All of these dolls will appreciate in price over time simply because of their increasing rarity.

Character dolls were made between 1909 and 1914. Sculptered by well known artists who used real children .. sometimes their own.. as models, the dollmakers went from making dolls that looked like women of the time to dolls that looked like children caught in a moment of activity of the time... looking at something with awe, a winsome look as a child sat picking flowers, a sly grin as a boy pulled a pigtail on the girl in front of him.

These dolls brought on quite a controversy in the dollmaking world and the community in general, when they began to wonder if it was such a great idea to give children these dolls to play with. Wouldn't it be better to give them "non expression" dolls so they could then use their imaginations to play with them?

Suddenly the character doll era ended... as fast as it began.

The dolls from this era are priceless. Should you ever be fortunate enough to find one .. you will witout a doubt have a true masterpiece in your hands.

All of the dollmakers of the time made the character dolls.. so if you hunt for them.. do not limit yourself to one name.