Effanbee F & B Dolls 1910s USA

1915 Effanbee Pouty black Boy doll, 14", doll mark DECO

"dolls that touch your heart"

Founded around 1910 in New York City, Effanbee stands for Fleischaker & Baum - F & B - who were the company founders. They became well known for being the first to produce a realistically proportioned child doll named Patsy, they then created companion dolls, a large clothing wardrobe and Patsy's own fan club, reportedly with 275,000 members.  F & B also created the first hard rubber, drink and wet doll named DyDee Baby.  The Effanbee Company produced composition, hard rubber, cloth, hard plastic and vinyl dolls.

1912-1929 Effanbee Baby Dainty doll, 13, 15" tall, composition shoulder head on a cloth stuffed body, blue painted eyes, open mouth with four teeth and felt tongue or closed mouth, molded painted hair or the 1913 version has a closed mouth, came with a pacifier, molded hair or wigged, a 1929 Baby Dainty mold has flirty eyes, wigged.

Early dolls are marked: Effanbee Dolls Walk Talk Sleep in an oval, after 1920  marked: Effanbee Baby Dainty.  Shown is the closed mouth version.

1912+ F & B Baby Dainty doll, 15"

1912 Effanbee Billy Boy doll, 15" tall, copy of K & R bisque head doll mold 115 with a pouty mouth (boy or girl) and similar to Käthe Kruse's Fiamingo head mold, both molds had closed mouths, flared composition head and short arms, cloth stuffed body, upper arms and straight legs with inside disks at hip joints and black sewn on boots, molded painted hair, painted blue eyes, puckered mouth with partial hole for whistling, squeaker inside body.  Doll marked 116, 364.

1915 F & B Billy Boy doll, 18" tall, copy of K & R bisque head doll mold 115, and similar to the Fiamingo head mold used by Käthe Kruse, composition flange head with short composition arms, cloth body, upper arms and inside disk joints with bent legs, molded painted hair, painted blue eyes and closed mouth.  Doll is unmarked.

See also Horsman's 1915 Boy Doll with a similar Fiamingo head mold with brown painted eyes.

1912 F & B Billy Boy doll, 15" tall, shown is the similar Fiamingo head mold by Käthe Kruse, with a closed mouth

1913-1939 Effanbee Baby Grumpy doll or Grumpy doll, 14 & 20" tall, composition flange head, lower arms, cloth stuffed body, upper arms and legs, side glancing painted eyes, molded hair with a "grumpy" facial expression.  Earliest dolls are marked on the head with the mold numbers 34, 104, 108, 172, DECO 174 or 176, later ones use the Effanbee Dolls Walk Talk Sleep in an oval marking on the shoulder plate.  Copy of a Gebrüder Heubach bisque head mold, with slight changes.

1915 Effanbee Aunt Dinah doll, 14-15" tall, black doll, composition flared head (uses the Grumpy head mold smiling face), lower arms, cloth stuffed body, legs and upper arms, painted black hair, brown eyes, open mouth, doll marked 104, 106 backwards.

1915 Effanbee Brick Bodkins doll uses a similar head mold as Dinah, doll marked 201.

1913+ F & B Grumpy doll, 14"

1915 Effanbee Betty Bounce doll, 11-14" tall, composition flange head and lower arms, inside disk jointed cloth body, jointed at shoulders and hips, molded painted hair with hair loop or a staple for a bow, painted eyes, closed mouth.  Doll marks 70, 72, 74, DECO, F + B - N.Y.  D with CO inside the D.

1915 F & B Betty Bounce doll, 14"

1915 Effanbee Pouting Bess doll, 12-17" tall, head is a copy of K & R Gretchen doll mold 114, composition flange head with short lower arms and cloth body and legs with inside disk joints, sewn on boots or molded painted boots.  On the small sized doll; all cloth body and limbs with inside disk joints, all sizes have molded painted hair, painted blue eyes, closed pouty mouth.  Doll marked 162, 166 numbers have been found.

1915 F & B Pouting Bess doll 17"

ca. 1915 Effanbee Boy doll, 19" tall, composition flange head, lightly molded painted brown hair, brown or blue painted eyes, open closed mouth with two uppers teeth and molded tongue, disproportionaly small composition lower lower hands, cloth stuffed body with outside disks at shoulders and hip joints, cloth upper arms and legs,  doll marked 7c.

ca. 1915 F & B Boy doll, 19"

1917-1923 and 1931 Effanbee Mary Jane doll, 16, 18, 20 or 24" tall, all composition, ball jointed body, jointed at the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees and hips, moving sleep eyes some can be painted, real human hair wig,  came dressed in various lace and ribbon trimmed voile dresses, doll marked Effanbee on back of neck and back.

From what we can tell, this was the only doll Effanbee sold that had this all composition ball jointed body.  Mary Jane was also sold thru Sears as noted by the 1921 ad.

In 1919 Effanbee commissioned the Lenox Pottery Company to produce bisque heads during WWI when bisque dolls from Europe were not available in the USA market.  These dolls may not have been marketed or very few were produced, the same Lennox head molds were later made in composition and are considered very rare.  The 1919 Mary Jane doll came on a German kidelene body with composition wood arms & legs with extra joints

1919 Effanbee made bisque head by Lenox Baby dolls on composition bent limb bodies too, at this same time.

1921 Sears Mary Jane doll ad

Mary Jane doll,

all composition, jointed body

1918 Effanbee Bathing Bud Doll 7" tall, all composition one piece chubby baby body and head jointed only at the shoulder, molded hair some with a mohair wig, painted eyes, closed slight smiling mouth, both arms are bent at the elbow, dolls have a faint molding of a one piece union suit, straight legs molded together at the upper inner thigh, bare feet.  Doll also came as a Girl doll or an ethnic brown Girl doll with the upper neckline of the union suit painted and possibly other dolls, too. 

This novelty doll is a copy of the all bisque German Baby Bud doll, marked Effanbee in script.

1918 F & B Bathing Bud doll, 7"