First Doll Show of the Year!

   Recently I went to my first doll show of the year. I tried to be good. I don't need more dolls right now, and we have loads of things that require money to be done. But Ken gave me some money to be used at the show for birthday presents if I wanted, because my birthday is fast approaching. I was comparitively really good. I spent almost the whole show having spent only $11. Then it turned to $13 when I bought a $2 doll just to steal the clothes for Tammy World. (Hey, she has to get something, right? At least she thinks she does.) The show was almost over, and I decided to go back and buy one $10 item that I knew I'd regret not getting. But then I bought another $10 thing. At least everything I had bought was small and fit in my little canvas bag with the blog logo and Tammy World's picture on it. Plus I thought I could sell that last $10 item to help recoup the money I had spent.  And then, once the floodgates were broken, the rest of my money flowed out, and on a big thing. I tell myself that it was a super good price, and since it's never removed from box I can always sell it. I'm thinking about it. I would love to keep it, but money and space are telling me otherwise.

  I'll show you what I bought in upcoming posts. This post is just show pictures. And there aren't nearly as many as usual. After that person yelled at me in the comments here on the blog, for taking pictures of her dolls, I felt weird about even asking if I could take pictures. I get my feelings hurt very easily, and being upset over something actually makes me physically sick. No kidding. It always has. I wasn't sure I was going to make it in the period right after the fire. I felt awful all the time, my chest hurt and I felt nauseous constantly.) So I took as few pictures as I could, asked every time, except for the lady with the museum quality dolls. She always lets me take pictures, and she was busy with a customer. I did buy something from her this time too. It was the first thing I bought that day. She had a helper this time, so that's who took my money and bagged up my purchase. But no fear. I went to an antique mall the other day, and got more doll pictures than I got at the show! 

 I think I figured out who complained. She was the only person at the show that day who wouldn't let me take pictures. We had a long talk, about taking pictures, about having red hair, (She said the same thing I always say, that red hair is such a huge part of your identity that when it isn't red any more it feels strange. She chooses to dye hers though. And she thought I was a blonde! What?!), and various things. I still don't understand what the big deal is about 'her' dolls being seen online. Why does that matter? It's not like she sells one of a kind dolls. Lots of people have the same dolls. She doesn't own the copyright on the designs or anything. Although, she did make a point about some people stealing the pictures and trying to sell dolls they don't really have. Of course, that doesn't hurt her. But anyway, we're friendly now. Maybe eventually I can get her to understand why it could actually be to her benefit to have her dolls shown on the blog. More likely I will just not ask her any more and just move on. She had the unique Hansel and Gretel dolls I talked about in this post:

 https://planetofthedolls.blogspot.com/2023/08/doll-day-2023-234-hansel-and-gretel.html

  Below you'll see pictures from the stall of a lady who does own the copyright on the designs of her dolls, because she designs and makes them herself. She is always perfectly happy to have her dolls photographed. She has something exciting coming up in her stuff too, but we'll get to that. 

  And now, on to the show.

  One of the first things I spotted was this doll and her baby. She was laying in a box because she hadn't even been put out yet., for lack of room. I absolutely loved her, but she was out of my price range.

 

She even has her own little chair to sit on.

   She bears a lot of similarities to this doll I own: 

https://planetofthedolls.blogspot.com/2014/01/doll-day-17-embroidered-cloth-doll.html

Look at the baby!

She has some stains on her legs. I think she was priced way too high, because of that, and especially since the dealer didn't know anything about her. But if he sells her for that, more power to him I guess.

  This wooden Boneka boy was nice. He could definitely hang out with Hitty and her friends. And by the way, my Hitty book, (Reviewed here: https://planetofthedolls.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-doll-book-of-month-club-hitty-her.html),  survived the fire.

This is a nice group of older ladies.

I'm not sure this poodle isn't real hair. Ug!

 

This little guy was cute, but expensive. I believe he's a Kish doll, but I don't know his name.

This little dollhouse scale diorama of Tom Sawyer, Becky Thatcher and Huckleberry Finn was made by an artist in the 1950's.

  I wish I could tell you more about the antique dolls, but that's not where my knowledge lies.

 

  I do know this one. This is an Effanbee Bubbles doll. 

  Here are some cute kids.

  

  A bunch of great dolls here. I think the two top, right are Steiff. My favourites are in the middle row.

  Some more really interesting ones. Look at those faces.

  Love the cloth faced dolls. Look at the lady with the baby.

  The velvet Nora Wellings doll, (Top row, third from left.), reminds me how much I regret not buying that one at this same show back in 2020.

 

  Dollhouse dolls.

  I like the girl in pink and blue, the lady in blue with the bonnet, the ethnic doll next to her, and the Eloise on the far right.

  There was a dealer with two tables, who had the most Tammy and family dolls I've ever seen together in one place. They were a bit high priced, and I suspect the guy selling them didn't know anything about them really. Maybe he was selling a collection he got by default, like a death in the family or something, and he pieced things together. There were Pos'n Tammy dolls, wearing regular Tammy clothes, and regular Tammy, squeezed into Pos'n Tammy's stretch jumpsuit. That was kind of painful to see, because I knew the suit was going to be stretched out of shape and size by the time it ever got off that doll. Do you ever see stuff like that and just want to tell the dealer, "Change that doll's clothes! For the love of Mike!"?

Bottom row Tammy is wearing Disney Aladdin's pants.

   This girl had some very penetrating eyes.

  Ladies with tiny heads.

But I liked the kid in the middle.

  I thought I'd be able to read the sign with the maker's name on it in my picture, but sorry! I can't make it out!

  Pretty girl in blue. She's a Madame Alexander "McGuffey Ana" doll. "McGuffey" referred to the McGuffey Readers", reading books used in schools in the late 1800's and early 1900's. The dolls were made for quite a few years, and came in a lot of different outfits, but I think they were originally based on Illustrations in the McGuffey Readers.

  This amazing Baby Snooks, or Fanny Brice doll was in such great condition, that initially I thought she was a reproduction. She was original though, even her tag.

  A gaggle of Blythes. I love the boy, and the girl with teeth!

  This Alice doll tempted me, but I held firm!

  Then there was this Alice. She's  Good Kruger doll. I still held firm. It was a bit easier with her, because she was $50.

  There was a dealer there who I have seen before at shows. In fact, I featured her dolls once before in a doll show post. Her business is called Mysfit Dolls. The founder, Myah, designs and 3D prints her own fully jointed resin dolls. They come in various sizes, but you know I love the tinys! Look at this little guy.

 

  

   The dolls aren't printed in a regular 3D printer the way I imagined it. They are built up somehow of liquid resin as I understand, and are so smoothly made they need no sanding.

 The dolls can be bought clothed and painted, or completely naked and unpainted, so you can customize them yourself. There are also wig caps with attached wigs for sale, so you don't have to fuss with getting the wig to stay on the head. You can just pop the whole head cap off and switch hair!

This girl is so small, but able to sit in her curled up position.

Their faces are hand painted.

  Her little legs are curled up beneath her.

  But Myah is testing out some new, extremely tiny jointed dolls! They are an inch and a half tall!

 

 And still fully posable!

They have inset eyes too! That tiny, with inset eyes! I want!

They were so small my camera was having trouble focusing on them. 

The one on the left doesn't have eyes in, but the one on the right has inset eyes.

  Here's Myah's business card. You can also check out her website by clicking on the link above.

  Myah is very proud of her dolls. She's trying new stuff out all the time. The inch and half dolls are still in the testing stage. She's looking for just the right stringing material that will make them posable, without being too loose, and that will last over time. 

  That's all. I told you I didn't take many pictures. Soon I'll show you what I bought.

Doll-A-Day 2023 # 279: Antique 'Special' German Doll Adolf Wislizenus??

   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. Thanks to a reader's comment, I now think she is probably an Adolf Wislizenus doll. 

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.