Fritz Bartenstein Dolls 1880-1905 German

Fritz Bartenstein an inventor and doll factory owner was first employed in the doll industry at Schoenau Porcelain doll factory in 1864.  By 1880 he filed his first patent for a multi-faced doll with a pull string inside the head that turned the faces housed inside a hood and a second string inside the torso that simultaneously made the doll cry Mama, as shown in the two patent drawings on left.

The antique doll socket heads are made of wax, composition or bisque with two doll faces laughing an another crying, both white dolls or black dolls or a white face and a black face.

In 1882 Bartenstein won a lawsuit against Peter Schelhorn, a Täuflinge doll maker in Sonneberg selling multi-face socket head dolls without the inventors approval.

The other well known German doll maker of multi face dolls is Carl Bergner.