Some American Doll Makers

Manufacturer Location Dates of Operation A & H Doll Manufacturing Company Long Island City, New York 1947–1969 Alexander Doll Company New York, New York 1923–present Louis Amberg & Son New York, New York 1878–1930 American Character Doll Company New York, New York 1919–1968 American Doll & Toy Manufacturing Company Brooklyn, New York 1892–1909 American Girl […]

Doll Makers

Doll Maker Country Dates of Operation Amberg, Louis, & Son U.S.A. 1878-1930 Bärh & Pröschild Germany 1871-1919 (Purchased by Bruno Schmidt and operated until 1930s) Bru Jne. & Cie. France 1866-1899 Greiner, Ludwig U.S.A. 1840-1883 (Operated as Ludwig Sons, 1874-1883) Handwerck, Heinrich Germany 1876-1932 Heubach, Gebrüder (Bros.) Germany 1843-1938 Jumeau France 1842-1899 Kämmer & Reinhardt […]

Doll Types and Manufacture Dates

Doll Type First Date of Manufacture Baby dolls c. 1850. Before this time, all dolls were adults. Brownie 1883 China head (European): curls on neck of head 1840 China head (European): short curls 1850 China head (European): chignon or waterfall hair style 1860 Cloth dolls 1880s Composition head 1800-1850 Closing eyes in head 1800 Glass […]

Is My Doll A Collectible?

A collectible doll is quite often the same as one collector played with as a child. Shirley Temple, the Dionne Quintuplets, Chatty Cathy, and Barbie are all collectors’ dolls made since 1930. The Brownies, Campbell Kids, Kewpie dolls, Raggedy Ann, Buster Brown, and other comic figures were dolls made years earlier. They have all become […]

Wax Dolls

Wax dolls were made in Germany during the seventeenth century. By the eighteenth century, English and French doll makers were producing wax dolls, but chances are you will never find such an early one. Most of the wax dolls that are now in homes were made during the nineteenth century. Dolls with wax heads and […]

Vogue Doll Company and Ginny

Jennie Graves founded The Vogue Doll Shoppe in the early 1920s as a cottage industry employing women to sew doll clothes in her home in Somerville, Massachusetts. She designed the clothes, then dressed and sold dolls made by other companies. The business prospered, and in 1945 the company was incorporated as Vogue Dolls, Inc. In […]

Strawberry Shortcake

Introduced in the early 1980s, Strawberry Shortcake, Apple Dumplin’, Orange Blossom, and the six other original dolls in this line were 5 inches tall, had jointed arms and legs, and smelled like the fruit flavors they were named for. Later dolls had pets and came in a variety of sizes. Strawberry Shortcake and her cat […]

Storybook Dolls

In San Francisco in 1936, doll maker Nancy Ann Abbott started a business that became the Nancy Ann Storybook Doll Company in 1945. Nancy Ann Storybook dolls were made of painted bisque until the mid-1940s, when hard plastic dolls were introduced. The dolls were often issued in series—Little Sister, Mother Goose Rhymes, Around the World, […]

Ravca

Bernard Ravca (1904–1998) made dolls in Paris from 1924 until 1939. His early dolls were made using French bread that was molded and later treated. Each of his dolls had a unique personality. The dolls usually depicted old French peasants. Some of his early dolls were large figures of young people. Among the many dolls […]

Raggedy Ann

To amuse his sick daughter Marcella, illustrator and cartoonist Johnny Gruelle made up stories about her favorite rag doll. In 1915 Gruelle patented his design for a rag doll he named Raggedy Ann. She had a simple dress, large apron, scalloped pantaloons, and striped leggings. After Marcella’s death in 1916, Gruelle wrote down the stories […]