Rooted Hair Troll

Most 1960s trolls had their hair affixed with glue: it was quick, which meant it was cheap to do. Time-consuming and thus more costly was the rarely seen alternative method of individually rooting each hair (just like a doll's hair). Trolls with rooted hair are hard to come by. I have only one, this 3 inch girl below with long salt & pepper locks. If you look closely, you'll see a little ridge above her brows, where the hairs have been individually rooted.

 She's special, and she knows it!

Unique Hair Troll

Scandia House made some of the most beautiful trolls of the 1960s. They're notable for their luxurious 'dos: big, BIG poufs of gorgeous mohair. I read somewhere that at the height of the 1960s troll craze, an entire year's production of Icelandic mohair was purchased by troll manufacturers. That's a heck of a lot of troll hair! Anyway, this girl has some of the most unique mohair I've ever seen on a troll: it actually has a frizzly wave to it, and, being undyed, it reveals its natural tint, varying from gray to ivory. She wears a vintage troll dress in a fashionable '60s print.

Stylin'!

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: