My Vintage International Doll Collection

This doll was purchased in the early 1950's in Paris.

Her left foot is fixed to a pedestal and her right foot and arms swing freely. Of course as a child, I would kick up her leg and make her do the can-can. I am surprised she is in as good condition as she appears.

Her dress is made of pink satin ribbons separated by black lace. She has black lace stockings.

It's a souvenir doll from Sorrento.

What amazed me about this doll is that a lot of her accessories, including her earring are stuck on with straight (common) pins. Probably, not the safest toy for a child. I wonder if today, this is still done with souvenir dolls.

I read an article that indicated these dolls were produced during the 1940's for soldiers to bring back to America as souvenirs.

She is made of a composite material. She has a straw hat with red pompoms.

These were purchased by my parents on their honeymoon in 1942 in upstate New York.

Skookum dolls were dressed in Native American type dress, however, they were not made by Native Americans

Earlier Skookum dolls have dried apple faces, these have composition or plastic faces.

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This is probably the doll that I have the longest; early 1950's. One of my aunts brought it back from her travels and it was in my mother's china cabinet when I was a toddler. From time to time, my mother would let me hold her.

She is made of banana leaves and has a nut for a head. She used to have a purse.

These are from the Lancaster/Pennsylvania Dutch area of Pennsylvania.

My family took a trip there when I was a child and we picked these up. This was in the late 1950's.

We were told that the woman makes the dolls and and their costumes and her husband makes the rocking chairs. Originally, she made them with dried apple faces, however, so many people complained that they did not last, that she changed her method. Instead, she made a mold of the dried apple faces and cast these faces.

Their arms are pipe cleaners and their hair is cotton balls.

My Mom took me to the American Museum of Natural History in New York, during the 1950's. The girl doll was purchased in their gift shop.

A few years later, my school class took a trip to the Museum of Natural History and I was lucky enough to find the little boy dolls.

I love their costumes and the colors and when you press their chest, they squeak. Their heads are bisque and their bodies are plastic or composite.

This is a newer doll from China. This was a gift from friends of mine who visited Epcot Center in Florida. There was a display there from China. She is from the 1990's.

I bought this on a trip to Mexico in the 1980's. She is made of heavy paper and the flowers are a light weight paper, maybe tissue paper.

I love her bright colors.