All My Children

Other Soft Toys

Many of the toymakers who produced teddy bears also made other animal toys and soft cloth dolls. Rabbits and elephants were favourite animals, followed by pigs, lions, tigers, dogs, cats and monkeys. Some had articulated joints or even a clockwork mechanism that enabled them to move or make a noise. Early rabbits (of about 1903) in good condition and clockwork tigers and lions fetch £800-£ w00 at auction today, while clockwork elephants fetch around £500. Monkeys, dogs and cats sell for £100-£150.

Soft dolls by highly rated craftsmen can be extremely collectable. Early (1918-25) toys by the German dollmaker Bathe Kruse, with painted and varnished heads, can fetch over £1000 if in good condition.

Felt dolls by the Italian manufacturer Lenci are also sought by collectors. Those depicting famous people of the 1920s and 30s — such as Josephine Baker, Marlene Dietrich and Rudolf Valentino — and Pompadour fashion dolls and clown dolls can fetch thousands of pounds at auction. Lenci dolls with conventional faces usually sell for £300-£500.

Even for collectors on a budget, cloth dolls can be a good investment: under £r o0 will buy a 1920-30 long-legged, stockinette-covered French `boudoir’ doll. For £150-£300, you could buy an English velvet-covered doll by Norah Wellings, Merrythought or Chad Valley. Steiff dolls, particularly gollies, cost about the same as Steiff teddies.

Rag Dolls

In most countries rag dolls were made in vast quantities, selling in country fairs and shops or homemade by parents for their children. In Britain, Dean’s Rag Book Company started in 1903, while in France the ‘Rag Bag Doll‘ was born in 1908. Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy were first made in the United States in 1915. These early painted dolls with movable arms and legs, twisted wool hair, striped socks and original clothes realise £400-£475 at American auctions, whereas in Europe they might fetch only around £100.

The most sought-after American rag dolls are those made by Izannah Walker from 1840 (but first patented 1873) and Mrs Thomas Beecher ( 1893 -1910). A Walker doll standing 17 in (43.2 cm) high and in excellent condition, which is extremely rare to find, has been known to reach £ 10, 000 at auction in the USA, while one in poor, flaking condition made E1600. Beecher dolls in good condition can command a price in excess of £1000 in the USA, but slightly less in Europe.

A similar American rarity is the stockinette doll by Martha Chase, who started in 1889 by hand-painting stockinette-covered heads in oil paint. A Martha Chase doll in good condition is worth £500 or more for a child model of 12 in (30.5 cm), whereas a 13 in (33 cm) adult doll can command as much as £1300.

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