Posted 10 years ago
fendigood
(1 item)
I just picked up a bag of these beautiful wooden dolls and a couple of small wooden boats. I have never seen them before and am intrigued by the workmanship on a few of them. Can anyone help me identify their age or meaning?
There is lots of info on the net about Kokeshi generally, even here on CW:
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/dolls/kokeshi
There are some knowledgeable Kokeshi collectors here on CW - hopefully they will drop in.
Wow, you’ve picked up quite a collection there! Where shall I start?
Most of them appear to be omiyage (souvenir) kokeshi and I imagine a lot of them are nodders (they have moving heads, attached by a dowel, sometimes called “bobbleheads” boy/girl pairs of these are known as donko kokeshi).
They fall under the general heading of sosaku (modern, creative) kokeshi. Many of them look to be from the 1950s/60s although they are difficult to date, as they are mainly unsigned.
The pink one that has two dots on her forehead and appears to be sitting is a hina kokeshi doll - probably the empress, due to the pink colour.
The seven tiny ones in the boat represent the seven lucky gods.