Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Circa 1970s Tammy/Sindy Competitor

Circa 1970s Tammy/Sindy Competitor
Found in June on eBay at an acceptable price, based on the prices dark-skinned 1970s fashion doll clones/competitors usually sell for, I snapped up this circa 1970s Hong Kong-marked fashion doll in a buy it now. The auction was offered by a Canadian seller. My BIN price after converting to US dollars was a little less than the Canadian dollar price.  The small packets parcel arrived within two weeks.


I love her face, which is different from any clone/competitor I own.  Her thin plastic body and the quality of it is similar to that of dolls by Shillman , with Shillman possibly being slightly better in quality.  The face is reminiscent of Ideal's Grownup Tammy and/or Sindy's friend Gayle by Marx.  Her face, however, is not as full as Gayle's.  Her swivel waist is her only extra articulation and her fingers and toes are fused.  A new body would be a nice upgrade for her pretty face, but I will probably leave her as is.

She arrived wearing a Barbie-tagged red blouse with sailor collar, a red/yellow/green floral-print pencil skirt, and a brown plastic belt, the length of which I shortened to fit her thin waist.  Her feet were bare.

Initially, I was very disappointed in this purchase because of the poor quality of the body.  It screams today's dollar store fashion dolls.  My displeasure led me to immediately remove this type doll from my eBay saved searches.  After being on my desk, standing alongside my CPU (waiting to be photographed and spreadsheet documented), she seemed to peek out at me each time I glanced in her direction, appearing to sense how I felt about her.  She almost looked ashamed.

I have since warmed up to her and found shoes to match her clothes. The eBay search for this type doll, however, will remain deleted from saved searches.  



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Check out my eBay listings here.

16 comments:

  1. Poor thing. It wasn't her fault. I really like her hair and the side eye she is giving.

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    1. True. She can't help that her manufacturer chose to cut costs and have her made in Hong Kong where quality is usually absent from anything made there to be sold in the US.

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  2. It's too bad about the quality issues, but she really does have an surprisingly expressive face. I feel like you can almost see her thinking there!

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    1. Hi jSarie,

      It was her face that caught my attention before I read the description and completed the buy it now. She does look deep in thought about something serious.

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  3. Her face is great! So expressive.

    The body does have that dollar-store-beauty look, alas.

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    1. Yes her face is very expressive, Smaller Places!

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  4. I'm interested to know what the search title was?! There was a Dutch doll that was released in the Seventies that was like a European Sindy doll called Fleur, your doll very much reminds me a little of her as she has a leaner look to her than Sindy or Gayle had. I do think your doll is kinda cute, but sometimes when the quality is not quite there it can be a little disheartening (here's a quick link for Fleur) http://www.fleurdolls.com/sindy.html.

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    1. Thanks for sharing the link to the Fleur Dolls site. I can see some similarities in Fleur and my doll. My girl does not have rooted eyelashes. It appears Fleur does. I wonder if dark skinned Fleur dolls were made.

      The deleted search was pretty generic: black Barbie clone. I believe the seller used all three words in the title. This doll is definitely not a Barbie clone.

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    2. I had a look and in the 'faces' section there appears to be a dark skinned doll that is inexplicably described as coffee toned "to appear as if Fleur has been tanning" I'd ask myself how tanned she would be before burning to a crisp if that was the case rather than the simpler description that it is a Black Fleur?!! I did read a little and it says that the eye lashes were glued on in a strip to the eye and are known to fall off easily.

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    3. Thanks for pointing me to the Faces section, Julius where they indicate coffee-colored vinyl was used to create the "Beach" version of Fleur. Beach version, huh? SMH.

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  5. That skirt looks like the one that Mrs. Sunshine from the Sunshine family wore. Is your poor dolly possibly eligible for a body transplant?

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    1. Hi Barb,

      I just looked at this image. My doll's skirt is very similar to the fabric used for Sunshine Family mom's fashion. The flowers are a little different.

      Initially, my thought was "no" to rebodying her, but the more I look at her and appreciate her face, I am beginning to reconsider.

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  6. Sorry to read she wasn't what you were expecting but she does have a cute face. She does remind of Gayle though. I'm glad she growing on you, she just loves it there.

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    1. Thank you for the condolences, Brini. ;-) I think she does love it here now, too.

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  7. I think she is adorable. Personally, I would not re-body her because I like vintage dolls (even dime-store ones) to remain in their original state as much as possible. She might have been very much loved by a little girl whose family could not afford a more expensive doll. She has her own place in the history of black dolls.

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    1. I agree,she is adorable. It is her cheap body that I had issue with. I have not rebodied her. The only changes I made were the addition of the red shoes, which were originally white pumps that I painted red. For some reason there is a deficiency of red playscale shoes. I also shortened her belt which was too long for her waist.

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