|
ca. 1913-1922 Girl with flirty eyes and open
mouth. |
Not much is known of the
American Beauty Doll Company, who began making
composition dolls during World War I, when bisque head German
dolls became scarce, due to the war. This was a family run business of
hand made artist dolls by Putnam David Smith, his wife Mabel Smith and
young daughter Margaret Smith.
American Beauty, PD Smith dolls were sold on the west coast of California, each
composition doll was hand made
and unique, most the dolls have cloth stuffed bodies, others
have a composition ball jointed German type body. Very few of these artist dolls
were made, sold or have survived, as it
proved to be unprofitable to make the dolls and the short duration of the
company.
|
Here are some rare American Beauty PD Smith dolls we have found;
dolls and photos courtesy of mperkins.
|
 |
ca. 1913-1922 American Beauty Doll, PD Smith, Girl Doll, 22" tall,
shown at left, composition
shoulder head and limbs, stuffed cloth body, mohair wig, one stroke painted
eyebrows, glass flirty eyes, painted upper and lower lashes, open
smiling mouth with teeth.
The two dolls shown below, are similarly made with
composition shoulder heads - but these PD Smith shoulder head dolls
are not typical - they are more like a socket head attached to
the shoulder plate which is a fixed to the cloth body, thus the
neck can swivel.
These character faced dolls with flirty side to side
eyes, winsome smiling mouths, are truly unique and unusual. What
a delight to add these dolls to your collection, if you could find
one.
|
ca. 1913-1922 American Beauty Doll, PD Smith, Boy
with flirty eyes, composition shoulder head and
and limbs, stuffed cloth body, short mohair wig, one stroke painted
eye brows, flirty eyes, open smiling mouth with two lower teeth. |
ca. 1913-1922 American Beauty Doll, PD Smith, Girl with
flirty eyes,
composition shoulder head and and limbs, stuffed cloth
body, wig, one stroke painted eye brows, flirty eyes, open smiling
mouth with teeth. |
|
