Catalog (358)

This really pretty painted face doll has a unique palate off white, gray and black with big brown eyes. She has painted black hair. She has the center seam face that I like so much and ears. I love dolls with ears I think it gives them so much character. She has a nicely shaped body, she is firmly cotton stuffed. Her arms have lost the hands but she is jointed at the shoulder and her elbow so it is just the hands that are missing. She is also jointed at the hips and knees and her feet are nicely...

A nice early antique cloth doll with an amazing brown calico dress. She has a sweet ink drawn face with big round eyes. She has applied black fabric on the back of her head representing hair. She has an hour glass body with a tiny waist. Under her calico dress is a early petticoat and pantaloons. She has sewn on brown polished cotton fabric shoes or boots. Her dress is sewn on and the dress is fragile. The hem either never was done or it has more than likely been cut off to accommodate this doll...

This big folk art oil cloth doll has a lot going for her. She has heavy brush stroke painted face done by some no nonsense mother. She gave her a suggestion of curls around her face, no fussy curls here! She colored her lips a dark purple but definitely not bright red. Seeing that she is all oil cloth her body is very firm as well as her legs and arms. She has wear and some cracking to the paint but not through the oil cloth, which often happens. She has just a bit of flaking paint on the top of...

This doll doesn't need any detective work to know that she is old and completely original. I think she has two other faces under this one but I would never take the risk of hating the other two faces and not being able to get this face back on. I often don't like to take socks off a doll. When you know by the looks that the socks have been on forever they never look the same when you take them off and put them back on. Anyway, she is 18" tall, sits nicely, is firmly packed with cotton. Her arm...

A man and woman black cloth dolls with composition heads. They were not made by the same person but they were sold to me as a pair and they are great together. She is 24" and very heavy. He is 27 " and is tall and lean with cool clothes. I think they are both from the 1930's. Both have early and probably have original outfits also the sun fading on the woman skirt looks like she had a different apron. They are in very good condition. A terrific pair of black dolls.

Bold folk art cloth doll with drawn ink face and button eyes. I love ears and she sure has them. Her body is all original, clothes are antique, she looks great in her bonnet. She is wearing socks with shoes and the shoes fit her perfectly. Sitting in a doll chair really sets her off. She is solid as a rock and is so appealing. Her condition is really good with a few stains here and there and around her eyes and mouth she has mends...see picture. It is hard to know what that is about and I don't ...

She is firmly packed with rags and cotton, how can I tell, she is very heavy and doesn't give much when you squeeze her. Rags are dense and heavy, cotton is lighter and can be pushed more easily into small places like arm and legs and feet and gives more when compressed. She has a great pencil face with eyes way at the top of her face. She is old and played with and her dress reflects all of that, see pictures for shredding material. Her body is all original and her dress is old and came with he...

This great antique lady is home made and naively painted. She has a great face with painted black hair and a big red bow painted on the top of her head. The paint appears to be all original, there is some flaking of the black paint on her head but the face paint is stable and good except near her hair line. She has a big firm body with a modified hour glass shape. She is wearing her original dress and pantaloons and they are sewn on. The condition is such that a blouse over the dress I think loo...

I am partial to sister dolls and have been collecting them for years. I have always liked these two. I had dressed them, it is very hard to find two dresses alike as you can imagine and they rarely have their matching dresses 120 years later. No question the same person made both dolls. They are very firmly stuffed with cotton, jointed arms and legs, embroidered faces with that straight neutral red mouth and an embroidered nose done with black floss so it is hard to see. Their hair is the astrak...

This is a very nicely made black stockinette doll with a sculpture face, applied nose and ears and embroidered eyes and mouth. She has applied hair made from a fine net fabric and sewn in place. She had really nice clothes with a blue dress, and colorful striped petticoat a lace slip and lace pantaloons. On her head she is wearing a black net bonnet. Her body is straw and cotton filled. She sits but it is a little bit of a forced sit. She is 16" tall and circa 1880.

This black cloth doll is from a private collection in New Hampshire. She is 16" tall and has embroidered face with a pinched raised nose. She has floss hair coming out from around the sewn on gathered bonnet. She is rag stuffed and is very firm. She sits but it is a bit forced maybe because she has been stored flat in a box for many years. She is hand sewn as is her great early dress with a pocket on one side.The dress is without arms but with her black cloth arms it is hard to notice. She is a ...

Do you believe it, this little linen doll has the best face with tiny bright blue eyes, two tone big rosy pink cheeks, and a little red line for mouth. She has horsehair stitched carefully to her head giving her a whimsical crown of hair. Her body is all original but she has been recovered around her shoulders and chest. The material from her face is the same material all the way down her body. she is firmly stuffed with cotton. Her brown/tan dress is worn and faded and soft as can be. She is as...

I have owned this doll for 30 or more years and I never found the right clothes for him and I like his looks without clothes. When I took the pictures today of him I suddenly thought, maybe it is a her and not a him. I am not sure and I guess it doesn't matter, I still like the doll without clothes. Roben Campbell made me appreciate the doll bodies when she exhibited my black cloth dolls collection at our local Historical Society. For that exhibit she researched black cloth dolls and then made a...

A wonderful character cloth doll that just might be one of the earliest selfies. I can imagine a grandmother making a doll in her likeness to give to a child that is not living close by but loves her Grammy. This doll has a face created by using same color thread and string to sew on the face for knotted string eyes, applied nose and a golden floss for her mouth. She is made with a heavy cotton homespun and is stuffed with a grain. She is very heavy. She has a stick from the top of her head that...

A black cloth doll with lots of assets. This doll has a very nice embroidered face, the clothes are fabulous, (including pantaloons, petticoat, skirt blouse,apron, lace shawl), her hair is deerskin hide, her socks are hand made with a different color yarn on the sole to make it look like a shoes and she is 20" tall. She is firmly stuffed with cotton. She sits but resists a little so she would sit on an upholstered chair but would tend to slip on a wooden surface. I have had her sitting on a woo...

This doll has a very early body and was recovered from the waist up in the late 1800's. She feels like she has another face under this one but this has been on there so long I wouldn't want to take it off. She has layers of petticoats and then bloomers all under her blue and white period dress. She is heavy and stuffed with rags and maybe some cotton. She has a pencil face with shoe button eyes. She doesn't look like she ever had hair. She is fully jointed and sits great. Her hands have fingers ...

Antique cloth doll with a bold painted face, black eyes and eyebrows, worried black eyes, red rosy cheeks and staight serious mouth. Her body is curvy and cotton stuffed with arms and legs that are jointed so she sits easily. The dress is a calico print with little heart and flower design in a deep pink and brown colors. Over the dress is a blue check apron and blue checked bonnet on her head. She has mitten hands with stitch defined fingers. Her clothes are all antique. She is from Pennsylvania...

Not all black dolls have black bodies. Some of the best dolls I have had were dolls that the maker took an old rag doll and gave the doll a black head. In the Jim Crow era, it became common in the north for mothers to teach their children about the plight of African Americans, by making a black doll for them. So mothers even ones that were not really skilled at sewing were making black dolls. Putting a black covering over a rag doll was one of the easiest ways. This is one of those dolls black h...