Oh, You Beautiful Doll!
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday July 22, 1987
THERE is a question that most doll collectors have been asked at one time or other. It is, quite simply - why?
The idea that dolls are for children is a comparatively recent one. In ancient history dolls had a talismanic purpose and they still do in some contemporary societies, for example, in West Africa, where the fertility doll is a gift to the prospective mother.
Perhaps that is why in our society collecting is frequently imagined to be the rather sad pursuit of childless women. If so, it is a myth that should be laid to rest immediately, says Jacki Brooks, publisher, lecturer, lover of dolls - and mother.
"People are always asking me why people collect dolls, as though there must be some complex reason, fathomable only by a psychologist.
"I refuse to enter the debate. There is no such thing as a typical collector. I know collectors without children, but I probably know more with large families," she says.
Patricia Thorpe, who bought her first doll as a gift and then could not part with it, says she and daughter Melinda, a fashion model in Los Angeles, share a delight in dolls.
"They are our friends - sometimes we sit down and have tea with them," she says.
It is not just any doll that has this magic. But the "laughing Jumeau"sitting across the tea table from Mrs Thorpe - an example of the late 19th-century French bisque "bebe" dolls - is enough to bring a glazed look to the eyes of most collectors.
Bisque, in this sense, is a fine unglazed china with a soft surface of palest pink, and an appearance not unlike human skin.
French "bebe" are as different from the German bisque dolls - also highly sought after - as a chic Parisian to a Bavarian folk dancer. From 1843 the Jumeau factory made fashion dolls which were admired for their wardrobe rather than looks. The "bebe" produced from the 1880s were more childlike - chubby, pouting, solemn, very endearing with wide, haunting blue eyes. The most sought after are by Leon Casimir Bru, Jules Steiner and Emile Jumeau.
The appeal of the German "bebe" is character rather than beauty - an uncanny reflection of all the nuances of childish temperament. Introduced by the firm of Kamer and Reinhardt in 1909, they were soon being imitated by other makers
The NSW Doll Collectors' Club is said to be second only to the State's philatelists in the number of collectors. This weekend it holds its annual doll fair at the E.G. Whitlam Centre, Memorial Road, Liverpool. Nearly 200 stalls will offer antique dolls, miniatures, teddy bears, dolls' houses, new wigs, wardrobes and much more.
These collectors' dolls were never cheap. Even after the advent of the Jumeau doll factory, a French fashion doll with a trousseau that included carved ivory accessories cost the equivalent of $US1,000. An early wooden fashion doll given to the Duchess of Orleans in 1722 cost 2,200 old francs.
Such early dolls are extremely rare. Dolls that are more available are the English wax dolls of the Pierotti and Montanari families, American rag dolls by Martha Chase, Italian Lenci felt dolls and the German cloth dolls of Kathe Kruse.
Examples are to be found at the specialist doll sales organised by Dahlia Stanley of the auctioneers, Geoff K.Gray, and dealers who include Jacki Brooks, Brian Bates of Sydney Antiques Centre and Lorain Foster of Margo Richards in the Strand Arcade.
Jacki Brooks suggests the following price guidelines: French open-mouthed Jumeau -$4,000 to $6,000; closed-mouthed (more rare) - $6,000 to $9,000; German character dolls vary enormously in price, depending on rarity - $1,200 to $8,000; fine-condition Martha Chase rag dolls - $1,000 to $2,000; cheaper are the earlier 19th-century china and Parain-headed dolls - $300 to $600.
© 1987 Sydney Morning Herald