I'm always amazed when I find a fragile paper toy that has survived through long years of play, and this just may be the most amazing such toy I have. Made from the late 1800s through the early 1900s as an advertising premium by the J P Coats Company (now the Coats & Clark Company), this 6 inch paper doll is really 12 toys in one.There's a different doll printed on each side of the figure, with 3 different heads for each doll concealed on a rotating wheel within its body. Beautifully lithographed, it's a charming toy as well as a very clever one.
Here is the first doll with her three different heads:
The picture below shows the changeable head mechanism.
Here is the doll on the flip side:
What a great piece of ephemera!
ReplyDeleteNow THAT is an amazingly ingenious toy and done so elegantly that you feel impressed rather than repulsed as I do whenever modern toys try to add a gimmick.I guess it's not what you do but how you do it.
ReplyDeleteTodo tu blog es MARAVILLOSO
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