Proudly displaying her third place white ribbon An antique china doll is a treasure in whatever way she makes her appearance. Yet, dressing for success is always the best way to get noticed in a positive light. This unmarked 19 inch Kestner lady, circa 1850s, is an extraordinary example of a rare early china doll. This elegant lady has a fancy braided bun hairstyle with molded brush marks in her hair and side waves. She has beautifully detailed hands with molded fingernails, inner knuckle lines, and palm creases. Her flat-soled boots have painted red laces. The doll as she was dressed upon arr ..read more

Hello all! Just a reminder that my presentation, “A Fresh Regard for Old China Dolls,” is tonight at 7 p.m Central Time, or 5 p.m Pacific Time. Please join me! If you can’t make this live Zoom event, you can still see my presentation on You Tube, UFDC channel, Adventures in Dolls. I hope my presentation will be fun and informative for you. See you soon! Karen Allen is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: A Fresh Regard for Old China Dolls presented by Jennifer Stewart Time: Dec 19, 2023 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82573230240?pw ..read more

A little Kloster Veilsdorf Doll in a New “Antique” Dress Can sewing be an art form? As with a painter’s brush poised above a blank canvas, a sculptor’s chisel above the marble, or a songwriter’s ear to guitar strings and words, a tailor or seamstress’ shears hover at the edge of the fabric, the threaded needle ready to take flight. WIll what is created be beautiful or ugly? Whether painter, sculptor, musician, or textile artist, at least a part of that determination is a reverence for the materials. This quilt block remnant displays a variety of 19th century calico prints, arranged for an appe ..read more

What collector of antique dolls could resist a fine parian lady, though in desperate need of restoration, when offered on the spur of the moment? Needless to say, I didn’t resist! Porcelain dolls in the form of glazed china made their debut in the 1840’s and were manufatured primarily in Germany. They experienced innovations and alterations through the decades of their manufacture. By the 1870’s, there was growing dissatisfaction with the unlife-like look of glazed porcelain for doll shoulder-heads. Beginning in the 1870’s and through the 1880’s, fine lady dolls, and sometimes children, made ..read more

Stella Julianna was thrilled with her new feed sack border print dress, and with her car trip in July over the Coastal Range mountains in Oregon, where she enjoyed wild daisies, foxgloves, and plenty of sunshine. Summer had been a fun time for Stella Julianna. Even though she didn’t get to fly on a plane like Miss Ruby did a few years ago, she did get to go on some car trips with Mamma Jennie. When they arrived at Oceanside Beach, she played in the sand and let the waves wash over her feet all the day . . . . . . until the salty sea breeze and the shushing sound of the waves on the sand made ..read more

Bathing Beauties: Four Baderkinder or Frozen Charlottes/Charlies enjoy their bubbles. The tallest doll in the tub is 6 inches. A most endearing type of antique china doll are those known as Frozen Charlottes or Frozen Charlies. These dolls, which are all stationary or “frozen,” range in size from less than an inch to 16 inches or more. Some dealers will list a doll with moveable arms, usually wired, as a frozen; however, this type is not truly a frozen doll, but an all-bisque (as they tend to be bisque, and not china) if they have moveable wired-on arms. Another variable is the country of orig ..read more

Two reproduction Lydia china dolls, and one antique, from the author’s collection. Recently on this blog, I explored the realm of Covered Wagon china dolls and their similar predecessors. Lydia, one of the very earliest china doll hairstyles, predates the Covered Wagon style by five to ten years. First, it is important to realize that the German factories that originally made the glazed porcelain, or “china” dolls that we so admire as antiques now, did not name the dolls that they made. It was the early collectors of these dolls, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who gave names to the ..read more