Horsman Dolls 1904-1920s

1910 Horsman Baby Bumps doll

Edward Imeson Horsman (E. I. Horsman) opened a toy company in New York City, New York in 1865 and became a leader in the toy industry.  In the early years Horsman imported dolls from outside the USA, starting in 1904 they distributed "Babyland Rag Dolls" made of all cloth created by Albert Bruckner.  About 1909 Horsman used a new formula to make composition "Can't break Em" doll heads like the Billiken and a variety of Mama and Baby dolls.

1904-1928 Horsman Babyland Rag Dolls, 13-28" tall, white or black, all cloth with a simple flat with little detail painted mask face, mitt like hands, some have mohair sewn to top of head, clothing is removable, marked: Genuine Babyland trademark or unmarked.  Some dolls may have the copyright date printed on the lower edge of the head plate, PAT'D JULY 8th 1901, these were made by Albert Brückner or marked Genuine Babyland trademark or unmarked.  

1907+ Dolls now have lithographed printed face, these seem to be mostly unmarked, they also made a Topsy Turvy doll, that has both a white and black doll face when turned over.

1910-1911 14" tall, Babyland Baby, Babyland Rag, Babyland Topsy, Babyland Topsy Baby, Topsy Turvy, Babyland Fancy, and Babyland Boy.  16 1/2" Babyland Beauty, 20" Babyland Dinah or Babyland Lady, Babyland Big Baby, 30" Babyland Dorothy, Baby and Jackie Robinson.  1911-1912 American Kids in Toyland dolls.

1904 Babyland Rag Doll 13" distributed by Horsman.

1909 Horsman Billiken doll, 12 or 15" tall, "Can't Break Em" adtocolite or composition character head on plush body, marked with a cloth label or stamped on foot.  It's believed that 200,000 of these dolls were sold in the first six months of production and was a major success for Horsman.  In 1910 Sister Billiken was 12 or 15" tall, same as her brother except she wore a mohair wig and wore a kimono.

In 1995 Gata, Gatabox LTD of Hong Kong reproduced the Billiken dolls in a limited addition.

1909 Billiken doll, 12"

1910-1912 Horsman Baby Bumps doll, 9-18" tall, character doll, black doll or white doll,  "Can't Break Em" composition head, painted facial features, head modeled after Kämmer & Reinhardt's doll mold 100), hard cloth stuffed body and limbs, doll marked: E.I.H. 1911, Genuine Baby Bumps Trademark.

The Horsman Baby Bumps Jr doll, (looks similar to Kestner's mold number 211) was the smallest size at 9", Big Baby Bumps doll the largest at 18", in 1916 Sandy Bumps doll and Mandy Bumps doll, that came with a shovel & pail.

1911 Baby Bumps black doll, 14" 

1948 Horsman Campbell Kid doll 12"  painted molded shoes, unmarked

1910 Horsman Little Nemo doll, 15" tall, composition head & short arms, cloth stuffed body with inside disks for limb joints, molded painted hair, painted eyes, closed mouth, marked: E.I.H. © 1910.  Little Nemo is a comic character created by Windsor McCay for the New York Herald on October 15, 1905.

1910 Little Nemo doll, 15"

1911 Horsman Cotton Joe doll, character dolls, 10 or 14" tall, "Can't Break Em" composition brown head with painted features, hard stuffed cloth tan body, olive cloth legs, doll marked: E.I.H. 1911.    Came wearing a red or striped shirt with brown or khaki suspender pants, some may have had a straw hat.  He was one of the original American Kids in Toyland series.

Some other Can't Break Em dolls were; 1919 Little Mary Mix-Up doll 15" or 18" and 1917 Uncle Sam's Kids; Miss Sam doll, Master Sam doll, 15-15 1/2" tall.

1911 Cotton Joe doll 14"

1911 Horsman Puppy Pippin doll & Horsman Pussy Pippin doll, 8" tall, composition head with a plush stuffed body, Grace G. Drayton designed, marked: Copyright 1911 E I Horsman Co. on a cloth label sewn on their tummy.

1911 Puppy Pippin, 8" 

1911 Horsman Jap Rose Kid dolls, Boy and Girl dolls, 14" tall, flared composition head and short arms, cloth stuffed body jointed with inside disks, Girl doll has pin jointed knees, molded painted black hair and brown eyes, open mouth, doll mark E.I.H. © 1911 also had a label sewn to left sleeve The Jap Rose Kid, TradeMark, Process Pat. Nov. 1911, LIC'D by Jas. S. Kirk & Company, Copyright E.I. Horsman Co (as shown right). 

Advertising doll for James Kirk Soap Company makers of Jap Rose soap.  Head mold was also used on the Camp Fire Girl doll, Gretel doll and if wigged with side glance eyes Sunbonnet Sal doll.

1911 Horsman Jap Rose Kid dolls, Boy and Girl dolls, 14"

1914-1930 Horsman Peterkin doll, 11 - 14" tall, all adtocolite or later all composition, girls and boys, cherubic painted faces, some use the Campbell Kid head mold, eyes look slightly to the left or right, smiling closed mouth, molded hair, some dolls have wigs, one piece body and head with jointed arms.  The early Peterkin dolls are unmarked. The later dolls have a composition head and limbs with a cloth body, doll mark EIH, Inc., came with a variety of different outfits. Designed by Helen Trowbridge; Baby Peterkin doll of the Nature Babies dolls, Betsy Peterkin doll, Dimples doll, Fifi a super grade Peterkin doll, Little Peterkin doll, Tommy Peterkin doll and Willie Peterkin doll.  Fulper Pottery made an all bisque Peterkin doll in 1919.

1928 Horsman Peterkin girl doll, Campbell Kid head mold 14"

1915-1918 Horsman Blink doll, 14" tall, comic characters based on Gene Carr's New York World comic strip, "Lady Bountiful".  Dolls were designed by Bernard Lipfert and have round faces and exaggerated features; all 14" tall; other Horsman Gene Carr Kids; Skinny doll, Lizzy doll, Mike doll, Jane doll, Snowball doll and Smoke doll (last two are both black dolls).  

Blink and Mike also came dressed as Carnival Kids in Pierrot type clown outfits. Blink wore a orange and black clown outfit and Mike came in a blue and white one.  (doll is shown re-dressed).

1915-1918 Carnivale Kid 14" 

Blink in pierrot clown outfit

1918 Horsman Child doll, 16" tall + other sizes, all composition socket head, sleep eyes, wigged, closed mouth, composition ball jointed body with slanted hips (see next doll for body photo), shown redressed. Doll mark E.I.H. Co. on both head and body.  See next doll who is very similar except the heads are made of bisque.

1918 Child doll, 16"

1919-1921 Horsman Bisque Socket head dolls, heads were made for Horsman first by Fulper Pottery (1919-1920), then an unknown Japan doll maker Horsman Nippon (1920-1921).  Composition ball jointed body usually with the Horsman marking: E. I. H Co. on the back.  Heads are marked with the manufacturer's marking, some plus a Horsman mark, too.  Johann Martin Stangl's (MS) initials are sometimes above the Fulper vertical marking + Made in USA., some mold numbers used are: H 1, H 4, 2 B and others.  The Nippon bisque head dolls are marked: Horsman, B 6, B 7, B 9 or No. 1, 2, 3,4 Nippon.

1919-1920 MS Fulper marked bisque head doll, 16", toddler body Horsman

1919-1924 Horsman Little Mary Mix-Up doll, 15 or 18" tall, cartoon character by R. M. Brinkerhoff, composition shoulder head and lower arms, cloth body, upper arms and legs with inside disk joints, molded painted hair with a ribbon pinhole, painted blue eyes, tiny closed mouth, doll is unmarked, she has a cloth label sewn on the sleeve of her dress, as shown at right Little Mary Mix-up Trademark by permission New York Evening Herald Mfg'd. by E.I. Horsman & Aetna Doll Co.

1919-1924 Horsman Little Mary Mix-Up doll mark label

1921 Horsman Jackie Coogan doll, 14" tall, composition and cloth, Jackie was a child actor from the Charlie Chaplin film "The Kid" in 1921, there were two dolls; the first one used a generic molded doll head that was used on many other dolls, then a second head was sculpted specifically for the doll by Helen Trowbridge with a likeness of the child actor and wore a pageboy wig. 

Both dolls are dressed in a turtleneck sweater, long pants with suspenders, checked cap and button that said "Horsman Jackie Coogan Kid Patented".

1921 Jackie Coogan, 14" 

The 2nd doll

1923 Horsman Baby Horsman doll, 14, 20 & 24" tall, designed by Edith Hitchcock, composition flange head & hands with loosely stuffed cloth body and limbs, disk jointed shoulders, hip joints are stitched, molded painted hair & facial features (they largest size has painted eyes, the smaller two have sleep eyes), and closed mouth.  Was meant to portray a real life baby and even has dimpled hands.  All are marked: E.I. © H. Co.

1923 Baby Horsman doll, 24"

1924+ Horsman Bunny Tots dolls, 6" tall, all bisque, one piece doll with sculpted bunny hood and pink lined bunny ears, a blond tuft of hair at the forehead, painted side glancing eyes, closed pouty mouth and painted purple shoes and white socks.  Marked on foot: Germany Bunny Tots trademark.  Paper label on chest: Copyright by the E.I. Horsman Co. or could be labeled Bonny Tot.

"Bunny Tots Adventures" was the name of a character that appeared in the Washington Post in an illustrated column on Sundays in 1924 and became part of a series of books published by author, illustrator and creator Edward G. McCandlish in 1926 and republished in 1928.

Photo courtesy of Kothera and Thank You to Don Jensen for identifying the doll!

1924+ Bunny Tots doll, 6"

1924 Horsman Tynie Baby doll, 6-11" tall, all bisque with painted facial features, larger dolls 15-21" tall, have composition flange heads and full arms or just the hands, with a cloth body some may have Mama squeakers in tummy, with painted or tin sleep eyes, closed mouth, scowling like face, designed by Bernard Lipfert.  A Bye-Lo Baby doll type competitor.

In the late 1920s Horsman sued Acme for copying the Tynie Baby doll, but lost the lawsuit as their doll was only marked with the initials E.I.H., not with the full Horsman name, thereafter dolls are marked E.I.H. 1924 Horsman.

All bisque small doll mark: © 1924 E.I. HORSMAN Inc. Made in Germany.  Composition and cloth larger doll mark © 1924, E.I.H. Co. Inc. or unmarked.

1924 Tynie Baby doll 9"

1926 Horsman HEbee doll, SHEbee doll, all composition 7 & 11" tall or 4-9" tall, all bisque, painted facial features, both have a molded white painted chemise, girls have pink shoes and boys have blue shoes each with a metal loop on shoe for a bow. 

These character dolls were designed by Charles H. Twelvetrees a cartoonist & illustrator, from his "Twelvetrees Kids" featured in the Pictorial Review and newspapers throughout the USA during the prior decade.

The HEbee shown are both jointed at the shoulder, all composition, HEbee is 9" tall with blue shoes and the SHEbee is 7" tall with pink shoes with bow loops.  Dolls are unmarked but had a paper tag on bottom of foot: Trademark Charles Twelvetrees Copyrighted 1925.                 Photo courtesy of Flozdolz. 

1996-1997 HEbee & SHEbee all bisque dolls were reproduced by Horsman and artists modern reproduction dolls can be easily found at flea markets and auctions.

1925 HEbee & SHEbee dolls

1928-1930 Horsman Baby Dimples doll, 16-18 & 22-24" tall, composition flange head & partial composition limbs on a cloth body, molded painted hair, sleep eyes, open smiling mouth, doll  marked E.I.H. © CO. INC. or Dimples. Baby Dimples was also distributed thru JC Penney.  Doll shown unclothed on left is 16" tall.

Doll shown clothed on right is pristine and all original, right down to her shoes.                                            Photo courtesy of Wildrose55

1928 Baby Dimples doll, 16"

1928 Horsman Ella Cinders doll, 18" tall, comic character by Bill Conselman & Charlie Plumb, has a composition head with round painted eyes, freckles beneath the eyes, open/closed mouth, cloth body.  Had at least four different costumes, shown is the pink and white checked cotton dress with black sash and white apron.  Marked: © 1925 M.N.S.

Gata, Gatabox LTD of Hong Kong, reproduced this doll in 1988 after they acquired the Horsman name, reproductions were limited to 2,000 - 3,000 dolls.

1928 Ella Cinders doll, 18"

1928 Horsman Mama dolls, various sizes, composition shoulder heads with composition limbs and cloth body, criers, including Baby dolls: Horsman Brother doll & Horsman Sister doll,  12-14 & 18-20' tall and Girl dolls: Horsman Peggy Ann doll & Dolly Rosebud, 14-16 or 22-24" tall.  The Dolly Rosebud doll has her name in the mold on the back of her neck.

1928 Horsman Dolly Rosebud doll 19"

1928 Horsman Mama doll, 20" tall, composition shoulder head, arms & lower legs, cloth stuffed body, stitched hip joints, multi stroke painted eyebrows, gray tin sleep eyes, real upper lashes, painted lower lashes, open mouth with two teeth and celluloid tongue, mohair wig, doll mark on shoulder plate: E.I. © H. Co., E.I. Horsman, Inc.,  EIH © ADC.

1928 Mama doll, 20"

1929 Horsman Boots doll, 14" tall, Patsy type look a like, all composition socket head with jointed body, some have a body twist waist, molded painted hair, large painted brown eyes, dolls are unmarked. 

Note: This doll face mold was also sold by: the Maxine Doll Co. who named their doll Mitzi and is marked on her back and Averill named her dolls; Jimmie a boy and Dimmie a girl, both dolls are unmarked.

1929 Boots doll, 14"

1929-1930 Horsman Peggy Junior, Peggy, Peggy Ann dolls, 12-20" tall, composition doll, molded lightly painted hair with a pin hole or metal loop for a ribbon, has a right bent arm, fully jointed, painted or sleep eyes.  All Peggy dolls are from the Amberg acquired doll molds.

The 12" tall, Horsman Peggy Junior doll is all composition and is marked: IT.

The 14" tall, Horsman Peggy doll is all composition with a body twist waist and is marked: Amberg, Pat. Pend., L. A. & S. © 1928.

The 20" tall, Horsman Peggy Ann doll has a composition shoulder plate head on a cloth body and is unmarked.

1929 Peggy Jr. doll 12"

1929-1930 Horsman Mama doll, 19" tall, composition shoulder head with molded blonde painted curly hair, blue tin sleep eyes, cloth stuffed torso with a Mama cryer, composition limbs, doll marked E.I. HC2. INC. R.M.B. © 1929.