Flea Market Girl: She Might Be Nanette, But You Can Call Her Kathy

   Well, it's been more than a couple of days, but I am finally getting up that post on my other doll from the last time my sister and I went to the flea market. 

She's unmarked, but I think I have a pretty good idea of what doll she might be. But we know who she was.

 I bought her from her original owner. The lady was 82, and she said she got the doll when she was about 10 years old. So, 1950.

  As we were leaving the lady's booth, my sister wondered what the doll's name was. She asked, and the lady said she had never given her a name. Her husband chuckled to himself and mumbled that that was the silliest thing he'd ever heard. "...all that time..."

My sister decided we should name the doll after the lady, so we asked her name. She was Kathy, so the doll became Kathy. After 72 years, she finally has a name.

Kathy, (The doll. Not the lady.), is about 14 inches tall, and is jointed at the neck, shoulders, and hips.

  She hasn't had any clean up done yet, so her face is a bit dirty. So is her dress, but I doubt it's original. It doesn't fit her very well.

She has bluey green sleep eyes with 'real' lashes.

   

Her mouth is painted a bit unevenly, which I think is a clue to what doll she is.

  Her hair is a wig, not rooted.

Some of the stitching shows. She definitely needs her hair reset.

  She's all hard plastic, and luckily doesn't smell. It's hard to tell from this photo, but her knees are very slightly blushed.

  Her poor little hands need a cleaning too. It appears she has been playing in the dirt.

  Her dress may not be original, but her undies probably are.

The hem in that dress makes me think it's homemade.

  But check out these shoes. They could use a cleaning too, but they're cute. And I think they're original.

 

  They sort of look hand painted, but I still think they came this way. I'll tell you why in a minute.

As I said, she's unmarked. There are some clues to who she might be though. She greatly resembles Sweet Sue, by American Character. You can see my two Sweet Sues, (Well, one positive Sweet Sue and one possible Sweet Sue.), by clicking on these links. But she also looks a lot like Nancy Lee or Nanette, both by Arranbee, (also known as R & B.) In fact, I found this doll, which is a slightly larger size, but has both the unevenly painted mouth and the same hand painted looking saddle shoes:

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/arranbee-nanette-19-doll-1952-1056-c-2914fc09b0

  So it's highly probable that she's an Arranbee Nanette or Nancy Lee doll. I would love someone to take Kathy who can revive her to her full glory. I paid $10 for her, (After the lady said she'd take $8 instead of the $10 she was originally asking, she took my $10 and said, "Yeah, ten." and didn't give me any change. She was 82. I didn't bother to correct her.), and I would take $10 plus the cost of shipping her to you. I just felt I should rescue Kathy and let the lady know she would get a good home. I'm sure any of you willing to take Kathy on will take good care of her. I don't have the ability to do hair, and that's the main thing she needs done. A nice new (or old) dress and a clean up would help too. **Oh! I forgot to see if she's a walker! I know Nanette is a walker, but I'm not sure this girl is. I know her stringing seemed a little loose, so maybe she's not a walker. I'd check, but my leg is killing me after going to the rail road museum with Ken yesterday, and I'm not doing stairs today so I'll be good for tomorrow. Kathy is on the other floor of the house. I can check if anybody is interested in giving Kathy a home though.)**

Doll-A-Day 2019 #144: Compo Baby

  Today's doll is this baby. I know nothing about her and she ahs no markings. If anybody recognizes her.please let me know.

I got her at a flea market. You may have seen that post. It's HERE.

She's a cute little girl,but she has seen better days.

She has a sweet,sort of sad face.

She's a composition dolls,and her surface is cracked and flaking.

She has molded detail in her hair,which is painted black.

She has strange little ears.

She measures about 17 inches tall.

She has brown sleep eyes with real lashes.

Her lips are painted a bright red and her cheeks are blushy.

She has stumpy little arms and legs.

Her knees are blushy.

She has a cloth body.
 

There's a crier box in her back.
 

mmmmmmmmmmm

Doll-A-Day 262: Skookum Doll

  Yesterday I showed you what I got at the Flea Market on Saturday. One of the items I showed you is the doll for today. It's this Skookum doll.

 Skookum dolls were first made by Mary McAboy in 1913. The dolls were so popular that in 1920 Mary went into partnership with H.H. Tammen Co., where she was head of the Skookum assembly division.She stayed with the company until she retired in 1952.

The dolls were produced in factories from 1920 through the 1960s, and were usually sold as travel souveniers.

Skookum dolls were made to resemble Native American men, women, and children,and were made in various sizes and styles reflecting different tribes and styles of dress, (albeit stylized versions.).

This particular Skookum is made to resemble a seated lady in a skirt. She actually has no legs, and was made with a flat bottom so she would sit. Other Skookums have legs.

Most Skookums look to the right. Those that look to the left are rare. Of course, my lady looks to the right!

Skookum dolls don't have arms, rather they are made to look like they have folded arms under a blanket.The wonderful miniature Native American blankets are the best part of Skookum dolls to me!

The first Skookum dolls actually had dried apple heads! (My Grama made some awesome looking dried apple people, which I coveted like crazy!) The dolls were so popular that within a year of her first Skookum doll Mary couldn't keep up with the demands using apple head dolls! Because of this, in 1914 most of the dolls began to be made of composition,a material made of sawdust, glue, and sometimes corn starch, resin, or wood flour.This Skookum lady has a composition head, which has some damage to it. Later Skookums were made of plastic. 

As you can see from this picture, compared to the one below, she looks a bit better since I pulled the top of her head back into place. The earliest Skookums had human hair, but later that changed to Mohair. I think this lady has Mohair hair.

See what I mean about her head? From this picture you can see that she is stuffed with straw or excelsior.

According to Skookum.com the word 'Skookum' "originated from the Chinook or Siwash traders of the American Northwest and has a few meanings.  The main one attributed to the Skookum doll is Bully Good! which means very good, excellent or large.  Some other meanings of Skookum are strong, good, brave, tough, best, powerful, ultimate, first rate, cool etc."

See you tomorrow for another doll.