Heirloom Dolls

It's true, I'm addicted to vintage. Everywhere we look someone is trying to sell us new, and bigger, and better things. We have dolls now that walk, talk, and do everything else a real baby does.

They don't have a history though, and it is the history that fascinates me. I love vintage clothes, depression glass, old rusted tools, antique bottles, and of course old-fashioned toys.

There is something about holding an item in my hands that has survived the destructive forces of time. Wondering how many people held it before it passed into my hands. Every item has a story, a sort of spirit left within, a secret that we must guess.

The stove above belonged to my great-grandmother, Grandma Van. Nearly everything in her home was vintage, and it was very hard for a toddler not to touch all of the amazing figurines.

This stove was always sitting on a shelf surrounded by little elves, one day she walked in and there I was standing with my hands behind my back. I was rocking back and forth and saying "No, no, no..."

Temptation is great when you are a toddler.

The stove was the only thing on the shelves I was allowed to play with, and it quickly became MY stove. Every time we came to visit her, I ran to the stove.

I played with it for hours, cooking pretend meals, shoveling invisible ashes, stoking imaginary fires. When she passed away in the early 80's it was decided that the stove should go to me.

It became my first vintage toy, but not my last!

My most prized possessions are those items with stories, a history that I can relate, a connection I can make.

These are a few of my favorite toys!

This little doll was given to my mother as a Valentine's Day gift (1956?), it was her very first doll. When I imagine my mother as a child, I always picture this doll in her chubby little hands.

A well loved doll is a treasure, and she has certainly been well loved in her 53 years on this planet. She's a little worse for wear, her hair is coming loose, her dress it tattered and frayed, and she has more than a few stains on her.

I wouldn't have her any other way. This little baby actually predated Barbie!

The first Barbie was released in 1959, and the world of dolls hasn't been the same since. My mother was so fascinated with the new dolls on the block that she insisted on naming her younger sister Barbie.

This doll is special for another reason. I found her at the bottom of a trunk when I was very small. I took her to my grandmother and asked her why the doll was in storage.

In 1955 my grandmother lost her sister in a car accident, along with her sisters husband and one of their two children. The loss was very difficult for my grandmother as they were very close.

Though she had kept the doll, she had tucked her away along with memories of her lost loved ones. She still talks about her sister like they just spoke yesterday, and all these years later, I don't think she has stopped missing her sister even a little.

This doll belonged to my grandmothers niece, Kenna Rae, a sweet little girl who died before she even reached school age.

My grandmother passed this doll down to me a few years ago, and she is one of my most prized possessions. The dress is not original, but the doll itself is well over 50 years old.

This baby belonged to my grandmother Sugar, I found her tucked away in the same trunk I found Kenna Rae's doll. Considering my grandmother is about to celebrate her 80th birthday that means this doll most likely dates back to the 1930's - 1940's.

She's looking pretty good for being around 75 years old, all things considered!

Her fingers and toes are long gone, but the rest of her is in decent shape. As far as I know the dress is original, this is the way I found her.