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The early composition doll's
are made from glue, glycerin, zinc oxide & Japanese wax and are heavy
and dense, the coloring can be almost white, gray or brown. Each
manufacturer kept their exact "recipe" a secret. By 1916 or so the
manufacturers began using ground-up sawdust, also called "wood flour",
which made a much lighter doll. Then the doll was airbrushed with
oil paint.
Various manufactures are grouped here, as not enough examples are known to make each company a
doll page.
 1911-1917
Mitred Box Co. - was a short lived doll maker in New York city,
USA. Only about four composition doll models have been found
and some of these show characteristics of the same body construction
to the Amberg dolls, thus it's assumed they may have shared
suppliers. Some of the dolls resemble the Gebrüder Heubach head molds.
One of their composition dolls was Coquette, (Heubach's #7788, 7850
molds) 14" tall, molded hair
with painted blue hair bow doll, closed smiling mouth, painted blue side
glancing eyes, painted black molded boots. Markings:
unmarked.Other dolls by this maker may
have a marking of: Yankee Doll/Made in USA. |
1911-1917
Coquette, 14" |
| 1914-1929 Nibur Novelty Co.
- made composition dolls in various sizes, also sold doll heads &
parts. Marked: NIBUR within a diamond.
ca. 1920's Baby Doll, 12" tall, composition
head & limbs, cloth body, painted facial features, closed painted
mouth, molded painted hair. Marked on shoulder plate: NIBUR
in a diamond. |
ca.
1920's Baby Doll, 12" |
| 1916-1926 American Doll Co. - was owned
and operated by Bayless Bros. & Co., of Louisville, KY USA.
Not much is known of this doll maker, but the few dolls confirmed
have rather distinctive features. Boy and Girl
dolls have been found in various large sizes (18-25"), they both
have molded hair (his hair is all over curls, hers is a Marcelled
style), if hair is unpainted then it probably originally wore a
mohair wig, composition shoulder head on a stuffed cloth body,
partial composition lower short arms, cloth legs with cloth boots
stitched on or paper mâché body with paper mâché legs with blue or
pink painted on boots, all their dolls have decal eyes, closed
slight smiling painted mouth. The made both Mama &
Baby type dolls. Shown is the
face mold for the Girl doll, she will probably have molded
Marcelled curls beneath her wig, composition shoulder head, with
cloth body and legs, decal blue eyes, closed slight smiling mouth,
short partial composition arms, black cloth stitched on boots over
the cloth legs. Marked: Am. Doll Co.
A trade name of Honey Child was registered
for them, that doll looks very similar to the Bye-Lo doll.
Other markings used by American Doll Co. are: A.D. / C.,
A.D. Co., Am. Doll Co., Am Doll Co. / Copr. 1926
and Honey Child, |
American Doll Co., Girl, 20" |
| 1918-1920 Art Craft Toy Products & 1921
Art Craft Playthings Corp. - not much is known about this short
lived doll maker, they made dolly face & baby dolls in all
composition with ball jointed bodies, sleep eyes and quality wigs,
made to
compete with the German bisque head dolls. Some markings used were:
Art Craft USA (in an oval) or Art Craft in an oval NYC
& ARTCRAFT PLAYTHINGS.
Photo courtesy of Ronsfancy, dress
designed by Ronsfancy as well. |
1918-1920 Dolly Face, 21" |
| aprox. 1915-1920's Character Doll, 14"
tall, cloth jointed body and limbs, composition head with molded
painted hair, painted facial features with open smiling mouth.
Marked on neck: N.D.co.
This marking was used by;
Natural Doll Co or
National
Doll Co |
1915-1920's Character doll, 14" |
| a. 1920's-1949 Cohen, Herman - House of
Puzzy - they made composition character dolls; the Good Habit
Kids, & shown are both Puzzy & Sizzy.
1948 Puzzy, 15" tall, all
composition jointed body, painted facial features with big eyes &
freckles, open smiling mouth, molded painted orange hair.
Marked: H of P USA, Puzzy H of P USA.
|
ca.
1948 Puzzy, 15" |
| ca. 1920's-1949 Cohen, Herman - House
of Puzzy - they made composition character dolls; the Good Habit
Kids, & shown are both Puzzy & Sizzy.
1948 Sizzy, 15" tall, all composition
jointed body, painted facial features, closed smiling mouth, molded
painted orange hair. Marked: H of P USA,
Sizzy H of
P USA. |
ca.
1948 Sizzy, 14" |
| ca. 1930's Ming Ming Baby, 11" tall,
Asian boy doll, all composition jointed body, molded hair,
painted eyes & closed mouth, que hat (wisdom hat) with black braid,
painted black bottom of feet for soles of shoes.
ca. 1930's Ling Ling Baby,
11" tall,
Asian girl doll, all composition, both came dressed in a
two piece pants set made of taffeta with braid trim and matching
hat. Ling Ling has painted white bottoms of her feet for
soles of shoes. Dolls were both
produced by the Quan Quan
company of California. Both dolls are unmarked. |
ca.
1930's Ming Ming Baby, 11" |
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