Posted 13 years ago
icestorm40
(3 items)
i was given these dolls from my mother inlaw a few years back. im still trying to find out the history on them, but im sure they are quite old.
black americana old cloth dolls | ||
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can anyone tell me the history on these cloth dolls?
It's really hard to tell from your photo if they are handmade or not... can you take some closeups of the faces? Are there any tags sewn into the clothing? Marks on the backs of the dolls anywhere? If they are handmade, then it's pretty hard to date or identify them unless they were made from a kit or something.
From your photo, it looks as though the pinafores are very white, which makes me wonder if they are really all that old. I am fairly knowledgable about dolls (not as much as Manikin) but I'm not really an expert on rag dolls.
Starting in the 1980s, there was a trend of making vintage-looking primitive, Americana, and folk-art types of dolls. Don't know if these are modern, or authentic folk art. They look recent to me, but it's really hard to be sure from the photos.
These are newer folk art dolls . Likely made by one person from a pattern . Hard to see real clear the stitching from photo's . They are very cute and I have collected some Afro American cloth dolls and all have been homemade . Very nice collection and they display nicely as a group . Stef you are on same page as me and the 80's to 90's seem to be right date on these . I have seen them as old as 1800's in fact I have a photo of one I had I will post it . It was made as a male by a slave for her son ! Very unusual to give a boy a doll back then . Oh sorry ice I got of track :-) Thank you for sharing your treasures ! Love them .
thanx mani,and stef. they dont have n e tags on them,andthe mammy doll dont have upper arms or upper legs althow she looks like she does cause her clothescover that area up. so ya i figure they are newer,idk. also the one doll in the group is just a head w been bag type torso under her dress. no legs, but it sits up . i hav another doll sorda like these but much much smaller and not quite as nicely made il dig it out n send a pic. of it .u ladies seem to know wat ur talkin bout , maybe u can giv me info on it. again-THANX!!!
Some of them could be from 50's and 60's . The one you mention that has no legs was likely a toaster cover :-) Very retro and they did make these homemade to cover appliances . It is so hard to tell as photo's are dark if all are same age . Lets say to be fair any where from 50's on some to 1990's on a few .The big mammy is the toaster cover .
ok iv got another listing w 4 pictures up cloe hope to hear ur opinion . then il go on to something else.lol!