Dolls and Doll-related Items for Sale

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Matryoshka Dolls

Russian nesting dolls have been showing up on a few blogs recently, so I decided to put up a few pictures of the set that I have. I can't remember where I got it. I *think* I bought it at a store in a mall near us that sold Russian manufactured items.
The ever photogenic Fashion Fever Teresa is my size model here.
Can you see the littlest doll of the set in this picture?
Traditionally, by the time you get to the smallest doll, there isn't a lot of detail left. This one has about the least amount of detail possible.
And here is a set of the entire group. The faces of the dolls are not as yellowish as they appear in this light. What I think stands out about this set is the little pieces of wood glued on as accents on the dolls' dresses and their babushkas. :) The two biggest dolls do not fit back together as well as they should. I'm going to take Black Kitty's advice and do a little sanding around the join.
And speaking of Black Kitty, she very kindly offered to translate the piece of paper that came inside my largest doll. I'm pretty sure I recognize the word Matryoshka on there, but not knowing Russian, I can't read any of the rest of it. I will be thankful for translation assistance!



12 comments:

  1. Wow, this is pretty old! You don't see this type of design any more. I have a room thermometre from around the same time, made in this style with small wooden elements. It represents a section of a traditional hut, with a fox brewing tea in a samovar :)
    The paper reads:
    "Nolinsk souvenir factory
    Kirov region
    Nolinsk, 21 K. Libknecht str.
    Matryoshka, 7-piece, inlaid, souvenir"
    And the rest is the article code and fields for the shops to manually put in the price and date. The paper was printed in 1992, and the stamp says "May 1992".

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  2. I'm even happier to have this set now if you don't see the design type anymore. Your thermometer sounds cute! Thank you for your help with the translation; it's nice to know what this says.

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  3. These nesting dolls are so amazing! I'm jealous of you guys who have these! It's neat that yours seems to progress from a tiny nude "baby" to a fully-grown woman.

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  4. Yeah, I guess that little one could be the "baby" of the group. Except for that littlest one, I like how each doll gets a little less detailed, but still retains a similarity to the one before them.

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  5. That teeny tiny one is so adorable... and nekkid!

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  6. Those are lovely! I love nesting dolls, there's something so homey about them, isn't there?

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    Replies
    1. I hadn't thought about them that way before, but I think you're right.

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  7. These bring back some memories - I played with nesting dolls at my grandmother's when I was little.

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    1. Sounds like fun! My grandparents didn't have much by way of interesting toys so we really had to improvise.

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  8. Replies
    1. Thank you! I'm glad I picked them up when I had a chance.

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