Doll-A-Day 2023 #174: Ivy Cottage Mystery Doll

   A couple of posts ago we looked at the small Violet Pickles figure from Ivy Cottage, the series of books and dolls by E.J. Taylor. I mentioned that my post on the Ruby and Violet soft dolls from the series is one of my all time most viewed posts, and that people often message me, wanting to know if I have any spare Ruby and Violet dolls to sell. The books seem to have captivated a lot of people, who remember them fondly from their childhoods, or from reading them to their children. Those people now want the dolls and books for their children or grandchildren.

  Well, a while back a lady messaged me on the blog's Facebook page about an unusual doll she had recently bought online. The doll was obviously an Ivy Cottage doll, but neither of us had ever seen her before. The lady asked me if I knew, or could find out, anything about her doll. I was intrigued, and said I'd try. 

  I intended to write to the author of the books and creator of the dolls, E.J. Taylor. I even found an address that I thought might work. But, I procrastinated, and things arose that made me forget. I remembered every now and then, but I really wanted to be able to print my letter, because my handwriting is atrocious. Some of you who have received things from me, addressed in my psychotic scrawl, can testify to this. (I had a teacher once who told me that I 'write like a boy', whatever that means.) But our printer was constantly not working. While working on that recent post, I found that E.J. Taylor passed away last December.

  So now I have only the internet to rely on to solve this mystery. So, my fellow detectives, here are the facts, accompanied by pictures kindly provided by the doll's owner:

  The doll in question is 12 inches tall. 

She looks like the Horsman Rag Bag Annie doll I posted HERE. However, that doll was only 6 inches tall. That cuts out the idea that this doll may have been someone's one of a kind based on the book, using the other Rag Bag Annie doll. Also, her owner says her outfit and box seem factory made.

She's wearing a hairnet, which makes me think of more high end dolls than the other Ivy Cottage dolls.

She was packaged attached to a box with no writing, and had a faked up miniature copy of "Christmas at Ivy Cottage" as her accessory.

The book is just a paper picture glued to cardboard.

 Since she is wearing an angel costume and comes with a fake copy of "Christmas at Ivy Cottage",  I am assuming she is Rag Bag Annie, who, if I recall correctly, was cast, over rich girl Cecily Thistle, as the angel in the school play, in that book.  

She has a vinyl head, arms, and legs, described by her owner as 'almost squishy', and a soft, stuffed body.

  She is attached to her insert with twist ties. 

Here's the back of her pretend book.

  Okay. The question is, was this doll ever released, or is this a prototype? Where did it come from? If you have any information about this doll, please let me know.

  See you tomorrow for another doll.doll-