Doll Reference - Home

      Home | Doll Auctions | Barbie Dolls | Dolls For Sale | Donate | Forum | Kiddle Dolls

  Advanced Search

Doll Makers by Country  American USA | Doll Glossary | Doll Makers World | English UK | French FR | German DE

Dolls by Material  Bisque | Celluloid | China | Cloth | Composition | Hard Plastic | Metal | Papier Mache | Rubber | Wax | Wood

Jules N. Steiner 15" waltzing lady face

ca. 1855 Jules Steiner 15" Waltzing Lady doll

Antique Mechanical Dolls Automata Dolls 1850+

 

Antique Mechanical dolls are referenced as early as the mid 17th century, with the golden years being roughly 1850 to the early 1900s. 

 

Antique Automata dolls or Mechanical dolls are dolls that moved, usually through a clock work like mechanism, the dolls were made by Americans, French and Germans. 

Some types of mechanical dolls are: Automatrons; dolls that played a musical instrument, Animated dolls, Autoperipatetikos dolls, Cymbaler dolls, Gigoteur dolls that cry, kick, walk or talk. 

 

Musical Marottes a doll head on a stick atop a music box, Ondine swimming dolls.  Dolls with Pull Toys, Phonograph dolls, Creeping, Walking, Talking, Kiss throwing dolls and Waltzing dolls, are some of the early movable, magical and innovative dolls that have amused adults and children.

Jules N. Steiner 15" waltzing lady body

Jules Steiner 15" Waltzing Lady doll - body

Autoperipatetikos 9 1/2" tall

1862 The patent Autoperipatetikos

or Walking doll by Enoch Rice Morrison,

9 1/2-10" tall.

 

She has a cloth, papier mâché, china or untinted bisque head with painted facial features,  Walks by a key wound clock work mechanism.  Doll marked on base

Patented July 15th, 1862: also in England or

Patented July 15th, 1862: also in Europe, 20 Dec. 1862.

Distributed by

Daniel S. Cohen

Joseph Lyon & Co

of New York City

 

Martin & Runyon

of London, plus others.

1772 Android - Automata doll;

La Joueuse de Tympanon -

The Dulcimer Player

 

Created in 1772 by Pierre Kintzing a watch maker and David Roentgen a cabinet maker. 

 

Purchased by Queen Marie Antoinette of France in 1785, restored in 1864 by Jean Eugene Roubert-Houdin and now resides in the Musée des Arts et Métiers.

 

video courtesy of You Tube

 

Some additional Doll Makers of Antique to Vintage Mechanical Dolls not shown

 

Automata Mechanical Dolls; Pierre Jaquet-Droz, Fleischmann & Bloedel, Dehais, Arthur Heinze, I M Helvetic Corp.

also called H & M Corp., Leopold Lambert, Henri Maillardet, Ferdinand Martin, Henri Phalibois, Louis-Marie Renou,

Charles Rossignol, Roullet & Decamps, Jean Rousselot, SFBJ, Schoenau & Hoffmeister, Alfred Schroeder, Max Schudze,

Alexandre Nicholas Théroude, Gustave Vichy, Ungarische, VanHollbeke, plus others. 

Doll heads are marked by the maker they were obtained from, other marks maybe on the keys or on the mechanical device.

Animated dolls; Adolf Zinner, Gottlieb Zinner   Cymbalier dolls made by Simpson-Crawford Co

Musical dolls; Heinrich Schellhorn dolls sound like a xylophone, William A. Webber; The Webber Doll, Zeuch & Lausmann.

Phonograph Dolls; Max Oscar Arnold, Madame Hendren Dolly Record, Emile Berliner gramophone talking dolls,

Thomas A. Edison phonograph doll, Giebeler-Falk Doll Corp Primadonna a phonograph doll,

Jenny Lind Doll Co phonograph doll, Bébé Phonographe Jumeau, Metal Devices Corp phonograph doll,

J.L. Schilling talking doll; patent by Jesse J. Warner & Son wind-up talking phonograph doll

 

Creeping, Crawling, Walking, Talking, Dancing, Singing Dolls;

American Toy Co, Babs Manufacturing or Harry S. Coleman, Robert Clay or George Clark,  L. Cohen & Son, William Farr Goodwin, Ferdinand Imhof, Irwin Corporation, Japan, Ernst Paul Lehmann, Johannes Maelzel, Louis Marx, Francis Pelobet walking dolls, Rabery & Delphieu, Sayco, Schoenhut, Johann Siedar, Simon & Halbig, Steevan's, Transogram, Wood Toy, Bernard Zehner, plus others.

Bébé Gigoteur dolls made by Jules Nicholas Steiner    Swimming dolls; also known by the term Ondine dolls

Makers of Mechanical music boxes used in dolls;  Thorens 1883+ Switzerland

Buy, Collect, Sell or get pricing values worth for antique Mechanical dolls, use ebay sold listings

Antique Mechanical Dolls | Automata Dolls 1850+

Home | Doll Auctions | Barbie Dolls | Dolls For Sale | Donations | Forum | Kiddle Dolls

Doll Makers by Country   American USA | Doll Glossary | Doll Makers WorldEnglish UK | French FR | German DE

Dolls by Material  Bisque | Celluloid | China | Cloth | Composition | Hard Plastic | Metal | Papier Mache | Rubber | Wax | Wood

All trademarks are respective of their owners and have no affiliation to this website. 

Doll Reference © Copyright 2000-2013 all rights reserved including photos & content