The Bloo Family

One of the highlights of toy collecting is finding a group of toys that have remained together since they were packed up by their original child owner. It's interesting to see what children liked to keep together, and how they played with and stored their toys. Some of my oldest such finds date back to the 1890s (a doll trunk full of bisque dolls, their furniture, accessories, and tea sets).

One of the quirkiest is much more recent: a group of 1960s trolls, found inside a vinyl troll house, where they had been carefully stored by their original owner. Said child was clearly a very tidy and color-coordinated kid: her trolls were selected for the way their hair and clothes complemented each other. I call them "The Bloo Family". They're in minty shape too: this child was clearly a neat freak.

Mrs. Bloo is a 3 1/2 inch troll by an unknown maker. She has white mohair and wears a vintage felt troll dress and hair bow. Mr. Bloo, besides being a nudist, is a '64 Dam with a fantastic shock of blue mohair, and their daughter is a tiny 2 inch Scandia House pencil topper.

This guy, also blue of course, was in the case with the family of trolls above. I call him "The Bloo Family's Crazy Uncle, Who Lives in the Attic".

Mint in Bag 1960s Dam Troll

Toy trolls were usually sold loose during their original 1960s craze, but a few were packaged in clear acrylic cylindrical containers or, more rarely, plastic bags. This example, a seldom seen 5 1/2 inch Dam, is in beautiful, minty condition, with her red felt jumper and bright blue mohair in perfect shape. The bag labels her a "Danish Good Luck Mascot," an appellation sometimes given to early Dam trolls, particularly those sold in Europe, as this one was. She is my Absolutely Most Favorite Troll. I think she's beautiful, in her own homely way...

Troll Shanty Shack House

Here's another of the troll houses that were made for the little characters back in the 1960s. This one is the Wishnik Troll Shanty Shack, made by Ideal for Uneeda's Wishnik trolls. This was the house of choice for rural and mountain dwelling trolls who enjoyed banjo strumming.

Here's the inside, which features a cozy fire, bunk beds, and twin shotguns hanging on the wall, useful for chasing off the feuding  hillbilly neighbor trolls:

 Although I'm not really partial to hillbilly decor, the Shanty Shack does have some nice touches, like this ancestral painting on the bedroom wall:

Gumball Machine Trolls

I love vintage gumball machine prizes as much as I love trolls, so these next few items, tiny trolls sold in 1960s gumball machines, are some of my favorites.

First up are these 2 inch tall pencil toppers with yarn hair and rather frightening expressions. I keep one on my favorite pen at work, and everyone leaves it alone.

Next are my tiniest trolls: just 1 inch tall. They're cuties.

Here are a couple of interesting gumball machine troll rings, the perfect fashion accessory for the troll-inclined:

And here's my greatest gumball troll find ever: a hard-to-find-style with its original vending machine display card:

Cheerleader Trolls

Trolls dressed as cheerleaders comprised a hugely popular subset of the 1960s troll output. Some wore customized outfits for particular colleges and universities, while others sported generic "State U" costumes like these. Made by Uneeda, these Wishniks are ready to rah-rah. The larger, 8 inch version is a hard to find size.