The 19th c. Continued; a 1950 Glossary of Popular 19th c. Dolls to Collect

During the late 80s, early 90s, I tracked down at least one copy each of Janet Pagter Johl's wonderful doll histories, "More about Dolls," "Still More about Dolls," "Your Dolls and Mine," and "The Fascinating Story of Dolls." In my copy of "Still More about Dolls," I found the following list with definitions of antique dolls. SMADs was published in 1950 and mine is a first edition. I found the list in an envelope, stapled together. I've kept the old staple with it, even when I Xeroxed it for a friend. The list was stuck before a photo of gorgeous bisque and china heads from the collection of Mrs. Mary Urhetta Jordan of Milwaukee. Wouldn't you like to know what happened to her and to her dolls? Here is the list below; it is a lovely portrait of what one collector gathered during the late 40s, and early 50s. The spelling and grammar are the original author's, and I don't vouch for the updated accuracy of any of the information given. Pictures are from my personal archives and courtesy Fiona's Dolls, Rubylane and Theriault's:

Paper Mache 1846 (I do not have any paper mache dolls left in the collection) This was first made in Germany in 1846. Then, later Ludwig Greiner patented it in 1858. It is a Ludwig Greiner doll. Heads are made from one pound of white paper when cooked, is beat fine, water is pressed out, add one pound of Spanish Whiting, one pound of rye flour and one ounce of glue. This is worked well and mixed. Then it is processed into molds for heads. M & S Superior dolls. CHINA HEADS

Black xxxx haired out number blondes, about 10 to one. And blue eyes outnumber brown. Hair styles 1860 to 1870, waterfall of chignon or snood. 1890 bang style.

Bonnet Dolls - 1850 They are called that for they have rather coarse heads. They are stone bisque - this is largely a matter of grinding and workmanship. The finer the clay is ground the smoother and finer the resulting bisque or porcelain.

Men and Boy dolls Men and boy dolls are rather rare, and most often found in Bisque and Parian - by German Manufacturing Co. 1851. Most of French Bisque unmarked were made from 1850. JUNEAU [sic] DOLLS - FRANCE

Parian Doll - 1750

The name is taken from the Greek Isle of Paros, where the finest sculptor's marble is found. Markings, clear, hard white paste called Parian, looks like xxx an unglazed bisque. Head is sculptured, a mold made and the material formed in the mold. There it is baked, colored and painted and baked again. The hair is tinted and arranged xxxx right in Parian. Some are made with lovely hair decorations, flowers, ribbons, gilt nets all molded right in the parian material. Some Parian dolls also have elaborate yokes and ruffles which are baked in the mold. The dresses are then shaped to fit around yoke. WAX DOLL - 1810

Wax is a beautiful life like material for doll heads. For a long time the English made their finest dolls of this substance. Wax loses it's [sic] color under light and it is very perishable. For that reason authentic old wax dolls are very rare. The glass eyes that do not move are the older doll, as closing eyes were not discovered until 1826.

CHARACTER DOLLS - 1829 They were created from portraits and pictures from Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. A material like wax is built up and sculpted just like a sculptor reproduces the features of a living person in clay. Then a mold is made and a substance for the head is poured in. This is set aside to harden and later the head is removed. The surface is sandpapered and given several coatings of paint. The hair is painted the desired color, then the features are painted on. Skilled artists have an almost uncanny knack of achieving just the right expression in the mouth nad eyes. No two hand painted dolls are every exactly alike. They may look alike as twins, but close study will show the difference. Queen Victoria Queen Victoria was a very lonesome little girl without brothers or sisters, so she played a great deal with dolls. She had as the little Princess, 132 dolls in her collection, at least 32 of which she dressed herself. She was born in 1819 and became Queen at 18. Her ideas and her tastes were so respected that the term "Victorian" indicates. An entire half century Victoria ruled womens fashions all during the early years. Even the Empress Eugenie was influenced by Victoria. Victoria's marriage was a love match, she married Albert of Saxe xx-Coburg. She was 5 feet tall and celebrated her Diamond Jubilee in 1897. She was a very unhappy widow. She married in 1840 - lived to be 82 years old.

Composition Composition dolls were made by Bernice Strickland of Southern California.

Bisque Dolls - 1840 This is the French word for biscuit, a term that is used in reference to any porcelain or china that has just been baked, without the finishing glaze put on. England, the most famous, however the French bisque has a special tint that is very soft and life like. It is the prettiest of all. Many of the molds were used for china, paper mache and bisque heads (all three). The cost of hte molds was considerable and once a design is made the molds were used indefinitely. Malzel, the inventor of the metronome used in piano practice, invented a so called talking doll. In 1827 he took out a patent in Paris for such a toy. Between 1870 and 1880 a bellows contraption called a noise box permitted the doll to say "Mama." In 1855 of the 3 hosues that became supreme in the manufacture of dolls, in Paris, M. Juneau [sic] stood first. These heads were superior in beauty. The hair was either Tibetan goat hair or real human hair. They eyes were made exactly like artificial eyes for humans. The dolls came in 14 sizes, the largest being 29 inches. They were made with leather bodies and later hte composition body was introduced in 1880.