Sunday, November 8, 2009

1920s Miniature Googly Tea Set

Here's one of my favorite children's tea sets: a Googly character set from the early 1920s.
Googly eyes were a popular motif on toys at that time, appearing on dolls, in illustrations, and on this little tea set, which was made in Japan. The teapot is about 2 1/4 inches tall with the lid, and is marked Nippon on the bottom, while the cups are each 3/4 of an inch tall.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Antique China Head Doll


This German-made china head doll, circa the 1870s, is the largest in my collection, measuring in at 22 inches. She has a beautiful, rosy-cheeked shoulder-plate head in minty condition, along with her china arms and legs. Her dress is a recreation, but suits her beautifully. Here she is having a cuppa with her feet up after a long day...

Armand Marseille Floradora Doll

This was my first antique doll: a 13 inch Floradora by Armand Marseille, made in Germany in the late 1800s or very early 1900s. She's a special one because she's unplayed with, and still wears her factory-original undergarments, shift, socks, and felt booties. She would have been sold this way, and her first little owner would have made her dresses, probably with help from mom and grandma. This Flora has a beautifully done bisque shoulder-plate head with stationary, painted blue glass eyes and her original human hair wig, on a cloth, rag-doll style body.

Antique German Doll


This large, 19 inch German doll is one of my very favorites. Her bisque socket head has a great chubby face, with a roll of baby fat that makes her adorable. She wears a lovely old doll dress, and has an antique human hair wig that suits her beautifully.

Frozen Charlottes

These small immobile dolls are called Frozen Charlottes, and they date from the late 1800s - early 1920s. Sometimes called bathing dolls, they were usually crudely made of china.
The tiniest in my collection measures just 1 inch tall, while the largest is 3 1/2. The first doll is atypically made of clay, while the third doll is also unusual, as it appears to be a boy, and has a small thatch of hair and gold painted boots.
Frozen Charlottes look great in groups or clustered in arrangements, and also make good dollies for larger dolls to hold.