Doll-A-Day 2019 #207: British Guard

    I've been working on a couple of posts that have taken me some time. So,today we're going to take a quick look at this little guy.

He's another travel doll,but nothing like any of the ones we've seen so far. He's one of the few male travel dolls I have.

He measures about 6 inches tall.

He's a Scots guard I suppose,since he's wearing a kilt. He also has a matching sash.

The animal print fabric is supposed to be a sporran,a purse type item that holds all the things a guy would normally carry in his pockets. In fact, the word 'sporran' is Scots Gaelic for 'purse'.

The plaid ribbon is supposed to be the top of the knee socks that show above the white 'gaiters',which are sort of super tall spats,worn over the black boots.
The tall furry helmet worn by the British guards is called a busby. The black ones are traditionally made of bear skin. I'm not sure what a white one would be made of. Polar bear?

He has a staff or baton.

He's made of thin, hard plastic. He sort of resembles a Dress Me doll,and like them he has sleep eyes.

  That's the doll for today. See you tomorrow for another doll. Hopefully one of the posts I have had in the works will finally be finished!

Doll-A-Day 2019 #197: Roddy Scottish Girl

  Today's doll is this girl.

She is obviously supposed to be Scottish.

She's was made by Roddy, an English doll company.
 

She is probably from the 1950's.

She has some bagpipes.

Unlike most people,I love bagpipes. These are missing a valve,or whatever it is.

Apparently Roddy made a lot of Scottish dolls in the 50's,as is evidenced by THIS PHOTO from Flickr. A doll like mine is top,middle.
My doll is 13 inches tall.

She's made of hard plastic.

The hair is probably mohair.

Her hair is in two little bunches at the sides of her neck.

Her mouth has little teeth!

Her eyes are sleep eyes with 'real' lashes.
 

She's a 'walker'. When one leg is moved forward,the other leg moves back.

As the legs move the head turns side to side too.

 Her jacket is velvet.

Her shirt is only a shirt front. The lace cravat is very detailed and might be hand made.

The socks are just pieces of ribbon wrapped around her ankles,and the shoes are painted on.
 

She also has a velvet Tam O'Shanter,with a pom pom.

The trim on the hat matches her skirt, (and her bagpipes).

And the ribbon on the bagpipes matches the socks.

   The Roddy dolls were actually made by D.G. Todd and Co.. They began to make unmarked composition dolls in 1934. The dolls were called 'Roddy' dolls, after the owner of the company. During WWII the production of dolls stopped, but was taken up again in 1945. The hard plastic dolls began to be produced in 1948,and continued through the 1950's, when my doll was made. The first vinyl doll they produced was in the late 50's. The company was sold in the 1960's,and the dolls became 'Bluebell' doll. They were made from the same molds though, so were often still marked 'Roddy'.  The company was sold once again in 1974 to Denys Fisher Toys,which in turn was sold in the 1980's to Hasbro.

  That's today's doll. See you again tomorrow for another one.