Antique Metal Head Dolls | Metal Doll Makers 1861-1930s

Antique Metal Head Dolls 1861-1930s

France has the first patent recorded by René Poulin in 1861 for making dolls heads and limbs of metal. In 1876 Lucien Vervelle, also of France, secured a patent for dolls heads made of metal, too. 1898 Sommereisen obtained a French patent making hollow aluminum doll heads. Beginning in 1886 the majority of metal head dolls were made in Germany of which was doll maker Joseph Schön (1886-1887). The German metal heads were made from stamped sheet metal, that were welded together and then painted. The heads seem to have been made primarily as a replacement head for bisque or china doll heads that were easily broken,

The trade name Minerva, over a helmet symbol, was used by the German doll maker Buschow & Beck from 1888-1930s, their USA partner was Alfred Vischer with George Borgfeldt, Louis Wolf & Co. as distributors and metal head dolls are found in old Sears catalogs under the Sears brand name of WearWell Dolls, also on dolls made of celluloid.

Karl Standfuss 1898-1930s used the trade name JUNO. Alfred Heller 1901-1910 used trade name DIANA. Both are German doll makers of metallpuppenköpfe - metal doll head.

Aluminum Doll Head Works 1919-1920 USA, made aluminum doll heads and hands on composition ball jointed or cloth stuffed bodies.

Atlas Doll & Toy Company 1917-1930 USA, made all metal dolls, also dolls with metal heads, sleep eyes, wigged and metal arms on cork stuffed bodies, Atlas doll mark or trade name are A.D.T. Co and 1919 Hug Me Kid with sleep or stationary eyes, molded hair or wigged. Atlas also made a Dolly Jump Rope doll.

Giebeler Falk Doll Corporation 1918-1921 of the USA, used the trade name Gie-Fa, they made an aluminum head with a wooden body phonograph doll named Primadonna, who has a clockwork mechanical mechanism in the dolls torso, a crank handle in the neck works the turntable located in the top of the head, dolls with a metal head, hands and feet with wooden or composition bodies and entire dolls made of all aluminum. Doll marks Gie Fa Trademark New York, NY., Aluminum Heads ~ Hands Guaranteed Unbreakable or the initial G inside a six pointed star symbol U.S. Pat.

Armor Metal Toy Stamping Company, 1922 of Bayonne, NJ USA, made metal Armor heads on composition jointed or cloth stuffed jointed sanitary bodies and walking dolls, doll sizes 14-22" tall, doll marking unknown.

Horsman made a metal head marked Horsman doll on a composition jointed body, but we have been unable to find any reference documentation, other than the boy doll shown at the top of this page and below.

Metal Doll Company 1902-1903 USA, made entire dolls of thin steel sheet metal, fully jointed steel body, some have jointed wrists and ankles, strung with steel springs in 12 and 18" tall, called All Steel Doll, distributed by Borgfeldt.

Antique Metal Head Dolls Identified

1901-1910 Diana metal head doll, 16" tall, shoulder head on cloth body by Alfred Heller.

1900s-1930s Buschow & Beck, Minerva metal head doll, 21" tall with a cloth body.

ca. 1920s Horsman metal head boy doll, composition jointed body and limbs. Doll marked Horsman, a mystery boy. Photo courtesy of Ronsfancy

Buschow 7 Beck 22" metal head doll

1900s-1930s Minerva metal shoulder head doll, 22" tall on a kid body, by Buschow & Beck.

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