Doll-A-Day 2023 # 279: Antique 'Special' German doll

   I've had this doll for probably two or three months now. I wanted to wait to show her to you until I had more information about her. So I took her to the second doll show of that weekend a while back, and got someone to tell me what they thought they knew about her. I also had her restrung. So now I want to introduce her to you. She's a beautiful girl.

She was wearing a fancy dress of entirely the wrong era when I got her. I tried to find something more her era at the show, but all I could find was this It does not do her justice. I'll keep looking.

She's only marked '62 Special Made in Germany' on the back of her neck. Dealer Lady said she was probably made by Armand Marseille. Apparently a lot of antique German dolls are marked 'special', and made by different makers. I don't know why she figured this girl was made by Armand Marseille. Maybe because that's the most common maker of German dolls from that time. Or maybe she looks like a doll she is familiar with. I have no idea. She was busy and in a hurry, so I got no more details. Looking up '62 Special Made in Germany' doll, I found a doll by Kley and Hahn, German dollmakers, that looks very much like her, and even has the same body. I can't find one this big though.

She has a bisque head, and a jointed wooden body.

She's quite big. I'm guessing her at around 30 inches tall.

Notice the blushing on the tops of her hands, and the fingernails and separation painted between her fingers.

  So I did put some money into restringing her, but I thought it was worth it to do so. The dealer said she was worth around $120, but I got her in a thrift/antique store run by elderly ladies, and she was only $38! I didn't get her at first. Ken and I were out looking for dishes for the wedding. Emma wanted mixed vintage floral dishes. We also needed black raspberries for the cake for the bridal shower. I had an order in at a place, for frozen black raspberries, but there was no guarantee  we'd get any. As we went past a store that sells handmade pies and cheese from local farms, etc. I said, "Hey, I wonder if they'd have black raspberries." So we stopped to check. They did! That was a relief. I didn't have to make a black raspberry cake, but Emma loves black raspberries. She has ever since she was tiny, and we lived in an apartment with a black raspberry bush in our back yard. (Once she fell in love with those my dad used to go pick black raspberries for her behind the local K-Mart. His hands were scratched to bits from picking berries for Emma.) The store that had the doll is connected to the other one. In fact, there's an open doorway between them. So I checked the non food store out for vintage dishes. That's when I found this doll. I thought she was awfully cheap for what she was. But I was being good and didn't get her. We came all the way back with the frozen raspberries and put them in Emma's freezer. But I kept thinking, "I'm never going to afford something like that if I don't get that one." I finally told Ken, "I'm going back for her." And I did. She cost the same as the raspberries!

  She was a bit floppy though, so I thought I'd have her restrung if it could be done cheaply enough. I paid $25, so she's still cheaper than a doll like her would normally be. But her stringing is now so tight she can't really be posed. She can turn her hands at the wrists. 

And she can stick her arms out. In general, her arms have more posability than her legs.

Her legs seem to be uneven, so she can't stand up on her own well at all.

 But she can't really sit down! Her legs are so tight that she can't bend her knees, and she can't bend enough to sit down properly, or stay in a sitting position unless she has something to lean against.

And even that doesn't work very well.

  Her head can tilt in it's socket though.

And the best part is her lovely face.

The dealer said she has her original paint job. 

She has big blue glass eyes and real hair lashes. I'm not sure what kind of hair it is, but it's obvious that it's real hair.

She also has a mouth full of teeth!

Dealer Lady also said this is her original wig.

It's in really nice shape.

It has been glued to the sides of her head, and has come loose on one side.

But considering that the dealer I asked said she's probably from about 1910, she looks great for her age. This little girl is over 100 years old!

She was wearing these shoes when I got her, and I think this is an auction number on her foot. She was with a few other really old dolls when I bought her. I wonder if someone got her at an auction, and they died and their things were donated to the store where I got her. 

 

  As I said, I had her restrung at the show. She was floppy, and with her wonderful articulation, that seemed a shame. Her original stringing, at least when I got her, was this stuff. 

  That's obviously not her original stringing, so she had been restrung at some point already.  

  That's today's doll. Tomorrow we'll have a look at another one.