Doll Show - Toledo, Ohio - April 27th, 2024

I see by one of Tam's latest posts that she was here too. We were hoping to bump into each other, but it was not to be this time. Fortunately for me, the photos that I took are almost completely different from hers, although I took a lot fewer.

This table near the front attracted me, because the dealer arranged some of her dolls in a holiday type theme. I took pictures of Easter and Independence Day displays. I know RagingMoon likes the red, white and blue, and I do as well.

 

 

This was technically a Doll and Bear Show (most of them are around here) and there were plenty of stuffed animals for sale. The adorable bunnies appear to mostly be Steiffs. I'm not sure who manufactured all of the cats, but I'm guessing that the Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood character Daniel Striped Tiger was a cousin of one of these felines. (By the way, Daniel's middle name is pronounced like bi-ped.) At least one seems to have the Steiff logo, so they may all be Steiff animals too.

When Mr. BTEG and I were in Hamburg for several weeks, one of our favorite places to visit was a local toy store. Mr. BTEG loved the LEGO and building toys, and I looked at all the dollhouses, but we each ended up with a Steiff animal too. The new ones at least are a lot cheaper there, although I suppose ours are vintage now, since they're over 30 years old. Yikes! I got a sweet stuffed lamb named Laemmchen, which literally means Little Lamb. Not very creative, I know, but it suits her. She measures around 7" inches long.

This dealer is building up her own Tammy army. Barbie, Midge and Ken are not very far behind, but no match for the wall of Tammy.

There were very few modern dolls compared to the vintage and antique dolls. There was one Ellowynne. I was tempted by the Mattel Teen Trends Gabby to the bottom right behind Ellowynne, but her white pants were badly yellowed.

I also saw my first Leeann doll in person. Leeann is a doll created by Canadian doll enthusiast and creative, Denis Bastien. He was mostly involved with doll sewing until he got the idea to create his own doll, a girl with endless energy and curiosity. Leeann was eventually joined by a whole group of friends. I have linked to his website, but there will be nothing on it until August 15th, as he has journeyed to France for the summer. Leeann is about 12" tall, if I remember correctly. Judging by her box, this particular doll was a UFDC convention souvenir.

I saw one My Child doll, a boy in a very pastel get-up.

I loved this doll, but also her outfit. When you get closer to her, you see that her jacket is a very tiny check pattern.

I took a few pictures of dolls to share with people. The Disney Fairies were for my youngest daughter, who loved the Disney Fairies series when she was a girl. I think these were Disney Store exclusives.

And the Terri Lee dolls photo is for RagingMoon, who shared pics of her own Terri Lee recently. My favorites here are the one in the blue velvet coat, and the one in plaid.

Unlike Tam, I did not buy any dolls. I don't have the money or proper storage space for antique or vintage dolls that I would consider right now, and antique and vintage were the huge majority of this show. I didn't see any newer dolls or clothes that I couldn't live without, either. I did buy three pieces of doll jewelry, though. Cecilia from Rainbow High will be my model, as she was handy and has appropriate clothes that won't detract from the baubles. I got a pair of blue teardrop earrings. Cecilia is merely holding one up to her ear. The posts are very long, and I'm not ready to trim them until I figure out which type of dolls will be wearing these.

 

The chain is also rather long on this necklace with the porcelain rose pendant. You can see it to Cecilia's right going down her back, if you look. This means a larger doll will probably get to wear this.

Lastly is this petit point pin. This is also a little bit large for a 1/6" scale doll, but I love petit point, so I had to get this. It will certainly look nice on a Tonner size doll. It's even about the same size as a petit point pin and earrings which are supposed to be for humans. My set is also vintage now.

Sadly, most of these dealers at this show seemed to be based out of Michigan or thereabouts, which is further west from me than Toledo, so I won't see many of these people in Strongsville at the next doll show there. It was an hour and a half drive from home, and I think any large area in Michigan might be a bit too far for a day drive. If I want to go to something badly enough, Mr. BTEG and I can always make a vacation out of it, I suppose. What would you most want to see/purchase at a doll show?

My Child Doll by Mattel

This sweetheart is one of the oldest dolls that I have in my collection, and shows my enduring love for dolls past childhood, because I must have been around a senior in high school when I acquired her. Since she is made in Taiwan and has a green heart on her rear, she dates from 1985, according to this site. I don't have her original box, but I do have a lot of her paperwork.

This paper seems to be for the shelf stocker at the store. Her box was open in front, unlikely to happen today.

This gives the proud parent the opportunity to order a locket and also shows the different features available for the dolls at this time. The idea was that the doll was supposed to look like you, being your child, but of course you could buy any doll that caught your eye. I am a brunette with hazelish eyes, so my doll looks mostly like me.

This is a brag book, where you could fill out your doll's favorite things, draw pictures of your doll and record special events with your doll. If I was a child when I got my doll, I probably would have filled out some of the pages. As it is, I can't even remember what I named her at the time.

Here she is! Since her feet are so big, she can stand on her own, despite the fact that her head is pretty large also.

Here is a closeup of her face, showing that some of soft, peach fuzz skin is loose. That seems to be something common to certain dolls. Also, I added the blue star on her sailor dress. The original star was some kind of label and either I didn't like it, or it started coming off. I bought this star at JoAnn's and sewed it on by hand. This is her original dress. Her original diaper cover needs a good soaking in Biz and new elastic.

She also came with Pampers diapers. The glue on the tab on the other side dried up, and the tab fell off. I recall seeing replacement diaper packs occasionally on eBay. Maybe someday I'll spring for one.

This are her original shoes and socks. The socks have yellowed.

The My Child dolls seem to still be rather popular in the collector's market. Dolls in the best condition are going for over a hundred dollars on eBay. The dolls have very endearing faces, the fabric skin is pleasant to touch, and at about 12 1/2 inches tall, are a nice size for a child to hug and carry around. The hair on dolls that were actively played with generally looks disheveled, but can be washed, brushed and combed into decent order, from what I have seen. I bought dolls for my daughters on eBay about nine years ago, when they expressed an interest in mine, and the hair looks acceptable, if not factory new. My poor darling seems to have been made with the lowest overall quality from this line, but even with the skin sag, she is still a wonderful doll.