early 1920' Doll et Cie STEAM TOY

Started by Peter Doll and and Isodor Sondhelm in 1898. Doll had a wide variety of both steam engines and steam toys, and were widely distributed to the US and UK.

Update! The Doll Company is alive and well! Well, sort of... Back in 1974, Fleischmann created a separate division to make polishing equipment. Providentally, it appears that they resurrected the Doll name for this venture. While it is usually called DollCo, their website lists the official name as Doll & Co, GMBH. Their current website can be found at: http://www.fleischmann.de/dollco/english/indexe.htmMost of their equipment appears to be of commercial grade, but they do make a Dremel sized tool that would be only too appropriate for restoring Doll engines. Stay tuned... I have recently been passed some very interesting and detailed information about the history of Doll et Cie.

Julius Waller in Belgium has supplied some much needed information on the fate of the Doll company and family. The Doll family held out longer than most Jewish owned businesses, but finally sold out in 1938 to Fleischmann. By this time, the 'Nuremburg laws' were in full force, so formal business arrangements could not be made with any Jew (which included Peter Doll), and this transfer of assets was made largely on the faith that they would be returned to the Doll family if and when the Nazi regime had left power. Curiously enough, the Fleischmann family was also of Jewish origins, but managed to obtain an 'Aryan' certificate, whereas Doll did not.

From there, it appears that at least some of the Doll family did survive the war, either by leaving the country or possibly hiding in Germany. After the war, Fleischmann maintained the offer to return the assets of the Doll company, but the remaining Doll family accepted a cash settlement instead. Fleischmann did restart production under the Doll name for one year only - 1949. (see below)

I would still very much like to hear any other information regarding the Doll family, especially what became of them after the war.

read more here : http://johno.myiglou.com/dollsteam.html