Our personalized gift baskets for all occasions are shipped worldwide!
Join Our RSS Feed!!
Archive for June, 2010
A BRIEF HISTORY OF ANTIQUE DOLLS–Part II, Chinas and Parians through German Dolly Faced Dolls
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Part one of this series covered early dolls–from the Queen Anne wood dolls through papier mache and wax dolls. Now, we turn to some of the jewels of antique doll collecting–Chinas, Parians, French and German fashion dolls, and the French and German child dolls. Although this is mostly a historical series, general price ranges have been included for many types of dolls.
China Dolls and Parians
The first first type of antique doll that is widely-known among non-doll collectors is the, the china doll, and her close cousin, the rarer parian. The china doll had her heyday between 1840 and 1880, before bisque dolls became preferred by children, although china dolls were still mass-produced as late as the 1920s. China dolls have heads of glazed porcelain, and parians have heads of unglazed porcelain, and the majority were produced in Germany from 1850 on. China dolls are often identified by their hairstyles–be it a covered wagon style (hair flat on top with sausage curls around the head, 1840s), an Alice in Wonderland (molded head band, 1850s) or the Dolly Madison (curls all over and a molded ribbon)–whatever was fashionable at a certain time. Most china dolls represented ladies, and were fashionably dressed in up-to-date fashions. After about 1880, china heads were often sold separately, leaving the doll owner to make her own doll body and costume. The more elaborate the hairstyle and decoration on a china or parian doll, generally the higher the value–from about $300 for a common 1860s Highland Mary, to several thousand for a rare, elaborately decorated parian with a swivel-head and glass eyes.
German and French Fashion Dolls
Finally, we come to the best known group of antique dolls–the German and French bisque dolls. These dolls were produced from the 1840s until after World War I, with the amount of production and number of manufacturers increasing significantly around 1860. The years from 1860 through 1890 were dominated by fashion dolls. These dolls were made to represent ladies, and they were dressed in exquisite, elaborate reproductions of current fashions. Most were made in France (frequently from heads produced in Germany, although Jumeau and Bru produced their own heads) with inset glass eyes and woman-shaped kid bodies, by companies such as Jumeau, Bru, Gaultier, Rohmer and Huret. Fashion dolls, despite their elaborateness, were definitely playthings. Little girls (usually affluent since these dolls were quite expensive) would perfect their sewing skills by sewing wardrobes for their dolls, as they learned about the importance and substance of fashion for mid 19th century women. Often these dolls would come with entire trunks of clothes and accessories! In fact, an entire industry existed to costume and accessorize these dolls, in the Passage Choiseul area of Paris. These businesses included seamstresses, milliners, shoemakers, jewelers, and shoemakers! Magazines instructed girls on the proper fashions, and also provided patterns for making clothing. Today, fashion dolls are very expensive to collect, varying in price from around $2,000 for unmarked or later dolls, up to $20,000 or more for Hurets and rare examples in original outfits.
French Bébés
Bébés, or dolls made to represent children, were quite revolutionary for their time (starting about 1850), since most dolls up until that time were made to represent adults. Eventually, Bébés would overtake fashion dolls in popularity, and would lead to their demise. French Bébés, made by the master doll makers Jumeau, Bru, Steiner, Rohmer and others would have their ascendancy from the 1860s to the 1880s, followed by the German doll makers, who basically took over the industry with their quality, but lower priced products in the 1890s.
French Bébés were the pinnacle of the dollmaking industry. These dolls, with their kid or composition bodies, fine bisque heads, and beautiful expressions, were again expensive toys made for upper-class children. Bébés were usually sold exquisitely dressed, in doll-sized fashions worn by children of that era. Today, prices for French Bébés vary widely, depending on quality. Expect to pay several thousand at minimum for Jumeau or Brus. Later French Bébés, by the S.F.B.J (which was formed by French doll makers in 1899 in response to the threat from the German manufacturers) are not as fine quality, with more heavily tinted faces, and lesser clothing, can be had for several hundred dollars, especially for post-WWI examples.
German Dolly-Faced Dolls
BébésThe German “dolly-faced” child dolls are the ubiquitous antique bisque dolls that collectors today are most likely to find, produced from 1890 to about 1930, from such manufacturers as Armand Marseille, Simon and Halbig and Kestner. Most of these dolls came from the Thuringia region, which had rich clay deposits used to make the porcelain. Many of the German dolly-faced dolls are unmarked as to manufacturer, and there are many manufacturers that had their names and other details literally obliterated by the World Wars. The most sought-after of the German dolls of the early 20th century are the character-faced dolls, produced in response to consumer demands for more realistic-looking children dolls. Kämmer and Reinhardt, Heubach and Kestner produced many high-quality expressive character dolls which are eagerly sought by collectors today. Also eagerly sought by collectors are all-bisque dolls (head, torso and limbs all made of bisque) from manufacturers such as Kestner, Heubach, and Simon and Halbig.
For German bisque dolls, as with all antique dolls, remember that quality varies widely even within one manufacturer’s products–dolls with finely detailed features (such as feathered brows and individual upper and lower eyelashes) and pale bisque are always preferred over dolls with single-stroke or other simplified features and darkly tinted bisque. Also, today’s collectors prefer closed-mouth bisque dolls, since many fewer of them were produced than open-mouth dolls. Common German bisque dolls of average quality which are unmarked or from Armand Marseille can be found for as little as $200 or $300, with prices for sought-after German characters soaring into the thousands.
Text & Photos by Denise Van Patten.
Portions of this series first printed in County Lines Magazine March, 1999
Source: About.com
Comment(0)
A BRIEF HISTORY OF ANTIQUE DOLLS–Part I, Early Dolls through Papier Mache and Wax
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
There is so much to learn about antique dolls and their costuming–their history, the history of their creators, manufacturers and seamstresses, how children played with them–research turns up more information about all of this each year, as prices and collector interest continues to rise on all but the most common antique dolls.
All dolls created before approximately 1930 are considered antique. This is a somewhat arbitrary division, but in general, most pre-1930 bisque, china, papier mâché, wood, and wax dolls are considered antique by collectors. For years, all-composition dolls were considered modern, but that is slowly changing, and many of the pre-1930 composition dolls are now considered antique. One reason for this division is that many of the German manufacturers of bisque dolls made them from the 1890s through about 1930, and it is often hard to tell exactly what decade the doll was produced if it is not in original clothing. Most dolls you find today are, unfortunately, not found with original clothing, wigs, shoes and undergarments. Although this is mostly a historical series, general price ranges have been included for many types of dolls.
Early Dolls
The majority of antique dolls found today were manufactured from 1850 on, although dolls representing adults from the 17th and 18th century are rarely found. Most of the very early dolls were made in England by individual craftsmen who carved the dolls of wood,painted their features, and also costumed the dolls. Collectors call the wood dolls from England from the 18th and early 19th centuries “Queen Anne” dolls, which is somewhat confusing, since Queen Anne’s reign ended in 1714! These dolls, in good to excellent condition, are extremely rare, and cost from about $1,500 for an early 19th century doll, to well over $20,000 for dolls made in the late 17th century (very few have survived–less than 30 by some reports).
Papier Mache
Next oldest, and easier to find are the papier mâché dolls made from the beginning of the 19th century through the early 20th century. These dolls were mass-produced in Germany, France, and the United States, and proved a cheaper alternative to wood dolls, since molds could be used. The beginning of production of these dolls marked the beginning of the powerhouse German dollmaking industry, which would dominate the doll industry (except for the heyday of the French Bébé) until World War I. The first well-known American doll maker, Ludwig Greiner of Philadelphia, made papier mâché dolls from 1840 to 1874, and then his sons until 1883. Most papier mâché dolls have molded hair painted black, wooden limbs with a kid body, and painted eyes. A few choice dolls have glass eyes. The value of papier mâché dolls has started to rise because of the difficulty of finding them in excellent condition, as well as the out-of-sight prices of the sought-after early French and German bisque dolls. Prices range from about $500 for a small, marked post-1872 Greiner up to $2,000+ for exceptional German “milliners” models, and French examples from the early to mid 1800s.
Wax Dolls
The wax doll is generally a contemporary of the papier mâché doll. The earliest wax dolls found by collectors tend to be the poured wax dolls made in England (after the demise of the wooden doll industry) from 1840 through the remainder of the 19th century, although pressed wax dolls were made before this time for the very wealthy. The poured wax dolls were made by pouring liquid into warm molds, and then, the hair, and glass eyes were set in the head. Poured wax dolls were mostly made in home-based businesses, and making wax dolls was very hazardous–if a doll maker wasn’t seriously burned by the hot wax, he could have his lungs harmed by the sawdust used to stuff bodies, or, he could be poisoned by the lead used to color the wax!
Bodies of wax dolls were generally made of stuffed cloth, with wax limbs (as you can see, the genre that dolls fall into is determined by the material that their heads are made of–NOT from the materials used for the bodies). Wax dolls can have beautifully realistic heads, because wax can mimic skin much better than either wood or papier mâché. Poured wax dolls from mid-19th century England are mostly valued between $1000 to $2000; earlier dolls much higher. Some later wax dolls are stamped by the maker on the torso; such identification greatly enhances the value. Wax dolls were also made with plaster or papier mâché reinforcement in both England and Germany, and later examples are less costly to today’s collectors, often only a few hundred dollars.
In Part II of this series, we will turn our attention to China and Parian Dolls, French and German fashion dolls, French Bebes and the German Dolly-faced dolls.
Article and photos by Denise Van Patten
Above photos: 30″ all-original 1870 Greiner Papier Mache; wax over papier mache c. 1850.
Portions of this series first appeared in County Lines Magazine, March 1999.
Source: About.com
Hoopfest which takes place this weekend here
Monday, June 28, 2010
There’s just three days left until Hoopfest tips-off in downtown Spokane.
Teams are trying to squeeze in final practices at courts all over. KREM 2 News caught up with those teams aiming for Hoopfest Domination.
The largest three-on-three tournament in the world will take place right here in downtown Spokane and people of all ages are getting ready for it. Each person is getting ready in his or her own way.
For Derek Houk and Ismael Ross it’s a game of horse and one-on-one. They both say they’ve been practicing outside a lot lately. The ball and the rules may be the same but not the outdoor game ,and players know this.
The players KREM 2 talked with say especially downtown, the streets are slanted and the ball goes everywhere.
There are even kids attending a four day basketball camp at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church off 57th to prepare. The camp director says the camp is not geared specifically to get the kids ready for Hoopfest, but rather to teach them fundamental skills. But a good number of the elementary and junior high students will be tightening up their laces for this weekend’s tournament.
History of Spoken Washinton’s Hoopfest
Monday, June 28, 2010
In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, 3-on-3 basketball tournaments hardly existed outside of the Midwest United States. The idea of Spokane Hoopfest was born from two separate groups: one group with members from the Midwest who wanted to see the continuance of the 3-on-3 ball they had back home and the other with members trying to raise money for Special Olympics. Eventually the two groups merged under co-founders Rick Betts and Jerry Schmidt and Spokane Hoopfest Association was created. Finding support for the first tournament proved a challenge as Hoopfest wanted to do something no one else had: shut down the streets of downtown Spokane for two full days of basketball. By going door to door and winning a majority of downtown business owners over with the idea, the permit was granted and 36 courts were taped off on the asphalt.
On June 30 and July 1, 1990, a group of dedicated volunteers including founding board members Betts, Schmidt, Dave Jackson, Terry M. Kelly, Dennis Magner, and Rick Steltenpohl coordinated the first Hoopfest. The tournament hosted 2,009 players on 512 teams. The event was such a success in its first year, the City was happy to have it back again the next summer. Thus began the tradition of Spokane shutting down its downtown core during the last weekend in June to let people play on the streets.
In the many years since inception, Hoopfest has developed into much more than a basketball tournament. Activities have been added to enhance the event experience such as a youth and adult center courts, games and contests for every age, music playing throughout downtown, merchandise tents, and more.
Hoopfest has grown to become the largest 3-on-3 street basketball tournament and family festival of its kind in the world. Annual participation in Hoopfest exceeds 6,700 teams and 26,000 players. With players coming in from 42 states including Hawaii, Georgia, and Kansas, it now takes over 428 courts to house the 14,000 games. It is believed that the second largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament in the country has no more than 1,500 participating teams.
With so many thousands of people in town for Hoopfest, Spokane’s economy is greatly impacted each June. A survey was conducted in 2006 by an independent third party to accurately assess the spending done by Hoopfest participants over the course of the event weekend. Using this survey, Hoopfest predicts that the event brought 30 million dollars into the Spokane economy. This figure includes everything from hotel spending and shopping to entertainment and dining. Beyond the immediate economic impact of the tournament weekend, Hoopfest is committed to supporting area charities. Since 1990, Spokane Hoopfest Association has donated over $1,200,000 to organizations such as Special Olympics, YMCA, YWCA, and other youth sports programs, as well as its court construction program. Hoopfest has built or renovated over twenty outdoor basketball courts in area neighborhoods so local residents have an opportunity to play year-round.
Spokane Hoopfest Association is a Washington nonprofit corporation and tax exempt Organization under section (501)(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Its mission statement is as follows: Spokane Hoopfest Association is committed to organizing and operating the best outdoor 3-on-3 basketball tournament in the country. With the effort and enthusiasm of thousands of volunteers, Hoopfest strives to create a dynamic downtown festival, transcending basketball throughout the celebration of athleticism, fair play, and community involvement. Spokane Hoopfest Association also provides charitable support through distribution of profits to Special Olympics and basketball-related activities.
Hoopfest is extremely proud of its 3-on-3 tournament. With the generous support of the City of Spokane, many wonderful sponsors, and 3,000 dedicated volunteers, Hoopfest has grown into an unparalled event that is cherished by the Inland Northwest. In winning the 2003 Agora Award for Business Excellence, the judges said the following about Hoopfest: “No other single event (here) brings together people of such diverse cultures, economic conditions, and ages for a common purpose. And this common purpose is not just basketball. It is cheering for one another, working together, competing fairly, and celebrating Spokane.” With a successful and solid foundation, Hoopfest boldly looks forward to an exciting and rewarding future!
Recent Comments