Posted 10 years ago
shero
(3 items)
This small antique googly doll (30cm/12") probably dates from the 1930s. She has a half-turned head with a moulded and painted cotton mask-face. The rest of her body is made of blue artificial silk knit material, possibly an early rayon. She probably originally had cotton floss curls on her forehead and temples, but only a tiny scrap of the forelock and some of the glue remain. She is wearing a cotton-lined dress and bonnet of extremely fine printed voile and cotton lace, possibly original. Her stuffing is very soft, possibly cotton wool or rags. The doll's design (construction, seaming on the body) and the materials used closely resemble the Kuddle Kewpie dolls patented by Rose O'Neill in January 1930 (Catalogue of Copyright Entries, 1931) and made by Krueger of New York, but several details differ: she lacks the miniature "wings" on the shoulders and the painting of the face is slightly different (more melon-shaped mouth, longer eyebrows). The Kuddle Kewpies do not appear to have had ribbon ties at wrists and ankles. They also appear to have been chunkier, and the faces fairly flat rather than moulded as here. Possibly this doll is a copy or spin-off by another maker.
Your could buy the mask face separate and make your own doll. She appears to be homemade .
She is very expertly machine-sewn, seen close-up she looks to me more like a factory make.
I can see dress is also homemade and material for body would be 40's I still think homemade :-)
Well, whether she is home- or factory-made she is very nicely made. You can see a red Krueger Kuddle Kewpie on Rubylane at the moment (http://www.rubylane.com/item/511144-970/Vintage-Rose-Ox27Neill-1920s-Cloth-Kuddle), I think incorrectly dated to the 1920s. She is "fatter" than my blue girl and the face mask is different, but the pattern used to make her is almost identical, the cut is just slimmer in mine and she has no little wings on her shoulders. Perhaps patterns like this were sold or printed in magazines?
And yes, I am pretty sure the dress is home-made.
Do you have a source for the information that the faces were sold separately?
Yes the faces were sold separate and still can be found on internet as old store stock . She is precious and being homemade is not a bad thing as a Mother made these or maybe a Grandmother and were cherished by little girls. Several companies did produce factory mask dolls but bodies would have been made of cotton cloth and often hat was sewn on heads .
just a quick look here is example however these are not like yours . Some pattern kits came with face in package also .
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Doll-Supplies-Doll-mask-face-plastic-from-Lee-Wards-package-of-6-D-62-/251482123081?pt=US_Dolls&hash=item3a8d80ab49
I will agree the one you posted for sale on Ruby lane does seem to have same body material ?
http://www.rubylane.com/item/101168-k-105/1920x27s-Rose-Ox27Neill-Mask-Face-for
Thank you very much for the links.
A small misunderstandung: the Kuddle Kewpie doll link on Rubylane is not mine, just an example I found when I was researching these dolls. I was especially interested in it because the body material seems to be the same.
I suppose it mightn't be possible to fully identify this little googly, but she is very charming even without "complete" knowledge! ;-)) And precious for having survived so long (whether it's 60, 70 or 80 years...)