Lots of Doll Sightings

Since there are several antique stores in Amish Country, I knew that I would see some dolls there on my trip. None of them came home with me, although one piece of furniture almost did. Would you have bought any of these three dressers? I was seriously considering the piece on the far right, but in the end I decided it was a little too banged up.

Amish Country has people who sell new doll clothes and make new doll furniture, but I haven't found anything that isn't for 18" dolls, and most of the furniture is for the little ones who play with 18" dolls. Clothes and accessories are a mix between handmade and factory made, "plain" style and modern everyday. I found the juxtaposition of plain black hats and starched bonnets, with sparkly shoes above, humorous.

There was a glass case filled with true antique dolls, but I didn't get a picture of it. There were some older dolls like Terri Lee, and a xylophone player. I presume at one time the musician used to have something looking more like mallets, on top of the springs she holds in her hands.

There were also a vintage Barbie, Alan and Skipper.

The little blond Ginny Sasson doll in this case caught my eye, but there is quite a variety of dolls inside.

And in the "Wait, how can these dolls be that old?" category are Gene Marshall, and a friend in the Alexandra Fairchild Ford 16" doll line by Madame Alexander.

I found this Knitting for Barbie canister, but since I wasn't planning on buying it, I didn't want to open and root around to see what was inside.

If you grew up playing with Fisher-Price toys, like I did, this section of vintage Fisher-Price might have enchanted you as it did me. Some of these toys pictured are older than me.

And although this large area of craft wood supplies didn't have doll crafting in mind, there were a *lot* of very nice pieces of wood that could be used to make doll items. I'm picturing only one part here

I did pick up a few things for my dolls. Two were for the 18" girls, sunglasses and a pair of faux Crocs.

Then there was this guitar, which I bought in a store that sells Christmas ornaments and decor year round. There were lots of other musical instruments, but I only felt seriously drawn to the guitar.

Last thing, big news! The Dancer is ready to move out and be on her own, so there will be lots going on here. Right now, the living room is crowded because the Dancer is working on repairing bunny chew marks in a couple of stools that she got from friends, along with a matching table. Mr. BTEG and I are of course talking about what we will do with the extra space. Stay tuned!

2022 World Doll Day - In Honor of Dorothy in PA

Technically, yesterday was World Doll Day, but I didn't get a chance to celebrate it until today. World Doll Day was started in 1986 by famous doll artist and collector, Mildred Seeley. It is a day to share the love of doll collecting by giving a doll to "someone special." It is promoted by the United Federation of Doll Clubs, although you do not need to be a member to take part. I especially wanted to give away a doll this year in honor of a blog commenter, that many of you know, Dorothy in PA. Dorothy very kindly spent a lot of time last year getting me signed up as a member of UFDC, as an independent member. This is my way of honoring her time and effort.

Sadly, there aren't any little girls in my immediate circle anymore. So I gave a doll to the daughter of someone I am friendly with, who works at a restaurant that Mr. BTEG and I like to eat at. I've met the girl a couple of times; she is a little cutie and will be turning three next month.

The Girlfriends line is sold at Meijer, if you wanted to know. Thank you to Dorothy in PA for being a great doll friend!

My Collection Part Two: American Girls

I plan to intersperse collection photos with other blog posts, but these photos were easy to take, so I decided they would come next. I have a human-sized photography light on order, but it's being held up due to current virus issues.

Samantha is an original Pleasant Company doll, but she wasn't made in Germany, like the very earliest AG dolls were. Caroline is a Mattel doll. I have taken some detailed comparison pictures for people like Farrah, who were interested in the little differences between the Pleasant Company and Mattel dolls, but I'll put those at the end. If you're not interested in the minutiae, you don't need to read that far.

Quick historical note, Pleasant Company was started to help girls learn American history. I remember reading that the books were actually supposed to be the focus of the collection, and the dolls and accessories were additions, to help girls "act out" the scenes from the books. There were even girl-sized outfits that matched Pleasant Company doll clothes, for further immersion.

Samantha was released in the 80s, but I think I received Samantha for Christmas from Mr. BTEG in 1997. Eldest got her Bitty Baby (by Pleasant Company) for Christmas that year, though, so it's possible that I might have gotten mine the year before and started getting Pleasant Company catalogs then. I bought Caroline in 2015 when it was announced that she and her collection were going to be retired. Something about her had appealed to me ever since she was released, but her being retired made me finally buy her. Most of you are probably pretty familiar with this type of 18" doll, since there are so many other similar dolls that have been produced. American Girls have stuffed, cloth bodies, as you can see by looking at Caroline's neckline. In general, Pleasant Company dolls have more stuffing than more current releases.

A closeup of Samantha. I wish that if she had to have bangs, they wouldn't have been so long and thick. I've included a shot of her with her bangs somewhat pushed aside, so you can see part of her eyebrows.

And Caroline. She has slightly less of the whites of her eyes visible, which I think makes the biggest difference in their expressions?

I had to take a few pictures of the girls with their mini-versions, especially since I just featured the minis in my last post. Originally, Samantha did have a matching hair ribbon in her hair, but it was sewn in, and at one time I dressed Samantha in a different dress, so I had to remove the original ribbon. If I sewed the ribbon onto a bobby pin or narrow hair clip, Samantha could wear it again. Just one more thing on a long list. :)

As you can see, the two doll sizes are *very* similar in their outfits. My 18" Samantha came wearing drawers like I show on mini Samantha, but the elastic is shot in those, so 18" Samantha just wears her tights. Of course, the real Samantha wouldn't have been wearing tights, but I forgive Pleasant Company this, as knee stockings might have gotten loose at the top pretty quickly. Period garters would have added a lot of expense, and difficulty dressing the doll. Not to mention, the garters would have been attached to a stiffened sort of sleeveless undershirt with shoulder straps, like a corset, but unboned. That would make for more expense, plus American Girl dolls did not give completely accurate attention to undergarments, which is acceptable for me. The American Girl doll Felicity doll did have ribbon garters to tie her stockings around her knees, but those are far more simple.

I love having both of these dolls in my collection. I have some of Samantha's accessories and furniture, but nothing of Caroline's. Someday I would like to find Caroline's accessories second-hand. Her straw bonnet is the only thing I think that I would have a hard time making myself.

Now let's get to where these two dolls are the most different: their eyes and eyelashes. Honestly, they aren't even that different here, at least on my pair. People enjoy comparing dolls from different eras, though, so here are some pics.

Samantha's eyelashes are obviously sparser and rougher looking. Neither doll has ever been played with by a child, so I think that makes for a pretty even comparison. I'm not aware of my Samantha ever losing any eyelashes. The iris decal looks about the same for both girls, which was probably a wise choice by Mattel. No point in differentiating these dolls from earlier ones in more ways than necessary.

As you can see, Caroline's eyelashes curve up more at the ends. Samantha's look more realistic to me, though. As far as touch, however, neither doll's eyelashes feel softer than the others. Caroline's *eyebrows* are brush strokes, whereas Samantha's are a straight line. Caroline's are more realistic, but I don't think Samantha's are bad.

One last very small difference, and that is in their teeth.

Samantha's teeth are painted further up underneath her lip. Her eyes and teeth are not as white as Caroline's, but that could be partially due to aging. Samantha is over twenty years old!

Total dolls: 11