Gebrüder Knoch Dolls 1877-1919 German

A little history about the Gebruder Knoch porcelain factory, it was founded by the brothers Ernst and Christian Knoch in 1877 and located in Neustadt near Coburg, Germany. Many early Knoch doll heads are unmarked, some Gebrüder Knoch doll markings are GKN (Gebr. Knoch Neustadt), a symbol of two crossed bones, made in Germany, a mold number, DEP or heads are marked Ges. Nr. Gesch. with a mold number, but no trademark symbol. Knoch made black or white dolls, bisque head automatons dolls in sizes of a tiny 6″ to around 24″ tall, molded porcelain bonnet head dolls and googly eye dolls.

The Gebrüder Knoch doll mold 233 (shown on left), is a bisque socket head with a molded bonnet in pink, blue or yellow, painted eyes, single stroke eyebrows, open mouth with two upper teeth on a five piece jointed composition body.

Note the German words; gekreuzte knochen translates in English to crossed bones, which gives you a clue as to why Knoch might have chosen this symbol for their doll trade mark. In 1919 the Knoch company was acquired by Max Oscar Arnold, at which time bisque doll head production ceased.