Barrios or Halopeau Dolls French
ca. 1870 Eugene Barrois 19″ Poupée Peau (doll with leather skin), fashion lady doll, pressed bisque swivel shoulder head, lightly feathered brows, glass almond shaped eyes rimmed with black, painted upper and lower lashes, slight smiling closed mouth, straight limb kid leather body, stitched fingers on hands, doll mark EB.
A brief history of Eugene Barrois doll company, they were one of the earliest makers of porcelain and China head dolls in Paris, France. One of Barrois chief competitors was Claude Joseph Blampoix.
The China head dolls eyes can be glass or painted with long lashes and painted molded hair or wigged, dolls facial paint is very delicate with small, slightly smiling mouths. Barrois also supplied bisque heads to 126 French doll firms including Bru and Rabery & Delphieu. In 1878 Barrois was sold to Aristides Halopeau.
Most Barrois dolls are shoulder heads with a few socket heads, the fashion lady dolls body can be of kid, cloth or a wood jointed body, some dolls are found with wood upper arms and bisque hands.
Doll sizes were from 9″ to 24″ tall (sizing codes of 3/0 – 8). Dolls are generally valued by size with the largest being of highest value, then by painted eyes, glass eyes, a wood jointed body and what must be very rare, a Black Lady doll.
Eugene Barrios Dolls Identified
1870 Eugene Barrios 15″ Poupee Peau, fashion lady doll with kid body, doll mark EB
1880 Eugene Barrois 14″ China shoulder head male doll, molded painted black hair, feathered brows, painted upper and lower lashes, painted blue eyes rimmed with black, closed mouth, kid body, doll mark EB
1880 Eugene Barrois 14″ China shoulder head male doll fully dressed in a wool jacket, vest, knee pants, shirt with tie, knee socks and leather shoes, smart fedora felt hat, doll mark EB
Eugene Barrois Doll Marks Identified
Halopeau H Mold Bebes Dolls 1878+ French
Aristride Marcelling Halopeau purchased the Eugene Barrois doll company from his widow in 1878, whom Halopeau had worked for between 1874-1877, by 1882 he produced the H mold Bébé bisque head doll until January 1899 when the company went out of business. The Halopeau H mold dolls are very rare and desirable to doll collectors with very deep pockets.
(on left) ca. 1880s Halopeau Bébé H Mold doll, 23 1/2″ tall, beautiful creamy pressed bisque socket head, Jumeau jointed composition French body with straight wrists, human or mohair wig, cork pate, finely feathered brows, paper weight sleep eyes lined in black with red dots in corner of eyes, painted upper and lower lashes, painted nostrils, closed mouth lightly outlined, pierced ears, doll marked on the neck rim 4 . H.
Halopeau Bebe Doll Marks and Sizing
0 H = 16 1/2″, 2 H = 19″, 3 H = 21″ , 4 H = 23 1/2″ tall
