Catalog: Dolls (266)

This early pencil face doll is what I call plain and simple. It is the type or doll I would see for sale in the 1970-80's. Somehow the fancier antique cloth dolls didn't appear until the 1990's and later. She has a simple drawn pencil face, no hair, a mitten hand with just the thumb separate and the little turned up foot. She sits easily and fits in with anything on a shelf or with a collection...

This all handsewn little linen doll has the most unusual and expressive embroidered face. A rectangle shaped mouth, fine little stitches for eyes and pupils, curvy stitches for ears and dash lines for hair, all in red floss thread. Jointed arms at shoulders and elbows, and same for the legs, at knees and hips all stuffed fairly firmly with cotton. Not original but nice, she is wearing a calico pink and red skirt, over a pair of pantaloons, with a red blouse on her top...

Here is a very nice all original wooden doll that is 15" tall. She has a great painted face, jointed arms and legs, original clothes I think but at least they were made for her and they are early. Under her dress she has a wool petticoat and the a cotton one and then another cotton one and the pantaloons. She is wearing a matching bonnet. Condition is great...

A very folky early rag doll with pencil face and a touch of blue in her eyes. Every thing is sewn on her and I do believe it has been that way a long time if not original. She has a little square head and no neck and straight across shoulders and short little arms, just the cutest! She has wide hips and hinged arms and legs. Her head is a little floppy front to back but a ribbon tied around her neck I think would remedy that. She is stuffed with cotton and rags and is quite heavy...

This is another example of a make-do doll. She has a very early body that probably had a china or papier mache head. It was sure easier to just make a cloth head and put it on a doll body that had a broken head than to make the whole doll. She is 24" tall and is firmly stuffed with cotton. The body is 1860 and the head is 1890, pretty cool. She is wearing a early soft red dress and a full slip and a flannel blue and white striped petticoat. She is a real character and her name is Lizzy.

Not all dolls that are 17" tall look 17" tall and this in one of those dolls. Her stockinette body, while it is curvy is not big, it is softly stuffed and small around. My index finger and thumb go around her waist and touch. Her face kind of looks embroidered in pictures but it is a really nicely painted. It is not fragile even though the paint has body to it, maybe it is an oil paint. Under her painted mouth she has a two stitch mend. Her hair is made with, astrakhan, a lambs wool trim...

It is always fun to find something I haven't seen before, this is a black man oilcloth doll. Oilcloth was a heavy duty cotton or linen cloth that was in the old days soaked in linseed oil until it became saturated. The cloth was then hung to dry to produce an almost waterproof fabric. It often was used to cover kitchen tables, line shelves AND was used to make children's soft toys that were durable and waterproof. This toy soldier dates to the late 1800's early 1900's...

Very unusual painted face character doll with the best laughing eyes. So many dolls are either very pretty or have a very neutral face with a straight line for a mouth, this doll leaves nothing to the imagination, she is down right giddy. How cool is that! She is painted with oil paint on fabric with most of the fabric showing through, not from wear but the way she was painted. She had great painted copper colored hair that is painted in swirls. She has a chunky firmly stuffed with cotton body...

This is a great 23" black doll door stop with embroidered face,braided trim hair and nice calico clothes with a paisley shawl kerchief sround her shoulders. She is in very nice condition with just a little fading to her clothes Circa 1920

And yet I don't think she has a clue. She is just quiet and takes it all in. We all could use a friend like that. She has an embroidered face that is nothing short of great. She has hair that looks really real and yet I don't know what it is, maybe mohair? She has on an undershirt, and white dress with a blue calico skirt. She is firmly stuffed with cotton and is jointed at the shoulders and hips...

This is a very interesting doll. Her body and head are one piece of solid wood, with a hole straight through the shoulder from side to side with arms pushed in an anchored on either side. The legs, I am not sure how they are attached and the pants over her legs are sewn on and have been for a long time, see stains from the wood on the white tightly woven pants, they feel very secure. She has on a period dress that I think I put on her a long time ago with the apron over it. Her painted face is ...

Not all dolls have a time line built into them but this one says to me, she is 6 or 7 years old and is dressed for the first day of school. She has on a great dress that fits her perfectly. Under her dress is a one piece coverall,(I think they are called onesies) that has to have been made for her. She has a great embroidered face with big eyes, a pinched nose and little round O mouth and all of this is framed with a full head of yarn hair. Her body is long and thin, legs and arms are jointed, t...

This doll looks like one a Grammy made. She has a straight none committing mouth, a V shaped nose and blue outlined eyes with black eyebrows. She had some reddish brown hair but all that is left is a thin line around her head on the seam. She has firm but not too firm cotton stuffed body that has a broad chest, and indented waist with just a bit of a flare to her hips. Jointed arms and legs but strangely doesn't have hands at the end of her arms but she has great feet, take a look. The brown ...

At least that is what I would think at first look. But, this doll is so cute from the back I felt like it should be shown as important. The front of her is adorable and funny. The face is very unique and done by someone that clearly didn't want to embroider fancy features. She used celluloid rings for hanging curtains to outline the eyes and the black centers are shoe buttons. They sort of float in position so sometimes her eyes are looking in two different directions. Her nose is a gem and has ...

This is a really nice straight forward hand sewn flannel doll, with a very nice embroidered face. Her body is stuffed and I mean stuffed with rags and she is really solid. She bends at her ankles and that is it. I tend to think that she is from Pennsylvania because of the type of flannel she is made with. It makes me think of the Amish flannel toy dogs. She is all original, the dress if it is not original once it got put in it stayed on. It fits her like a glove and I would hate to try to get it...

This is a sweet faced little cloth doll with a pinched raised nose, button eyes, feather stitched eyebrows and pink floss mouth. I think she was a white doll first and covered about 1910 with black sateen, see picture of her legs. She has a sturdy body, simple arms and legs that do bend for sitting. She has on a blue calico dress, a red white and blue patriotic skirt over it and sewn on red felt boots that are quite remarkable. She is 16" tall and is circa 1890. She has a classic little round fa...

This little girl, 15", is all hand sewn, with a chunky cotton stuffed body, jointed arms and legs, embroidered face and button eyes, set a bit askew. She is wearing a little later homemade red and black polka dot dress. There is no evidence that she ever had hair. She has mitten shaped hands with nice thumbs. Over her dress she has a a white hand knit sweater. She has a few holes here and there but nothing that is causing a problem. There is one on her neck, a couple on her hands, upper arms an...

All hand sewn from the nicest of material, this topsy turvy has style and detail sewing. Both faces are painted, the black face is on egg wash cotton and the white side is on fine linen. She doesn't show signs that she was played with much if at all. Their hands are mitten shape and out of the same material as their faces. There is a little water staining at the bottom of the blue polka dot skirt and her net bonnet is shredding at the top. At her waist there is a cotton label sewn on with the nu...