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| Circa 1940s mask face doll |
I received the following email from a fellow blogger, Tam of Planet of the Dolls. (The link to her blog is at the end of this post).
Hey Debbie, This is Tam, from Planet of the Dolls. My husband and I
recently rescued a tub full of dolls from a rainy highway, and there was
one I thought you might want. You can have her for free, if you want to pay
the shipping. I rescued all these dolls, but I don't want them myself, so
I'm giving them away. I just did a post on the 'rescue', so if there is
anything there you want, let me know. I thought of you for the cute little
girl in pink and white gingham, but don't feel you have to take her.
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| Some of the black or dark brown twill fabric used for her face is faded and was probably like that when found. Otherwise, the cloth on the face and body is in perfect condition. |
Tam shared pictures with me and I decided to adopt the doll. She had been through so much and my doll-rescuing spirit compelled me to take her in.
Before her departure from Tam, her romper was washed, which I greatly appreciate. I really did not know what to expect regarding her in-person appearance. However, the only thing I did after she arrived was reattached a loose snap in the back of her romper after first wiping her off with an alcohol wipe. Her description is recorded on my Excel doll inventory spreadsheet for 2021 as follows:
11-inch cloth-over-molded face doll has side-glancing black eyes, black faux fur (or plush) hair adorned
with two red ribbons on the top sides, painted circle mouth; wears pink and
white gingham romper. The body is made of black cloth. Found with several other dolls on a
rainy day on the side of the highway by Tammy Sedam, who offered her to me for the cost of first-class
postage.
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| The faux fur used for the doll's hair is illustrated in this closeup of the back of the head. |
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| The rescued girl is now on display with a few other cloth dolls. |
Read Tam's blog post about the discovery of this doll and several others here.
I found Tam's next post about a doll show she attended fascinating. There didn't appear to be many Black dolls there and none that I actively collect, but it was wonderful seeing a room full of vintage dolls that all seemed to be very well preserved.
This little found girl has now been installed in DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum. Read her installation here.
dbg
There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published, so don't waste your time. To contact me directly regarding dolls or any of my posts, please use the contact form on the right of the home page, which is visible in "web view." A link to web viewing should be visible at the bottom of this page.
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LOL, I got a doll out of this bunch too! The one you got sure is cute! It was terribly nice of Tam to think of you when she saw this one.
ReplyDeleteThat's wonderful that you were able to adopt one of the dolls, too. Yes, it was incredibly thoughtful of Tam to think of me and for her to attempt to re-home these found dolls.
ReplyDeletedbg
Aw! Look at her in her new home! She fits right in. In fact, I think the little girl in red and white gingham may be her sister! I don't remember her head being so faded. I would have warned you of that if I had noticed. She was so wet when we found her that I went ahead and swished her through some soapy water and rinsed her before hanging her to dry. She couldn't have gotten any wetter, so I thought I'd freshen her up. Then I washed her clothes separately. I didn't notice her fading though. Maybe my house is really just too dark to see anything! I know it's too dark for natural light photography. Plus of course, my eyesight isn't what it used to be. I hope you weren't disappointed with her.
ReplyDeleteHi Tam. Oh no, I'm not disappointed about the fading at all. It is not so apparent with the "naked" eye (or with my bespectacled eyes) as it is in my photographs, but it is there. She's been through a lot. Minor fading is the least of her worries now. :-) When I viewed these pictures I wondered about repainting the face or just leaving her as is.
ReplyDeleteThe girl in the red and white gingham is Mandy, a more modern doll made to replicate the style of this doll. Mandy is signed by the artist, Eleanor Todd.
dbg
You know....there is something about doll people and our deep connection to dolls. Others might see them as merely inanimate objects to be tossed after their children have outgrown them. And yet there is something deep down within us that "feels for the doll." Maybe she was discarded. Maybe a child lost her favorite companion on the road. Who knows? In any case, the poor doll is now alone with no one to love her. I have bought partially maimed dolls because I felt sorry for them. I once had the idea to buy a bunch of dollar store Barbies, re-do them then hand them out to poor children outside of the store. (But I soon discovered my idea was way too much work (and money). LOL!) Their bodies had a single uni-boob, their hands and feet were blobs, their faces badly screened and their hair consisted of a simple ring around the perimeter caught up in a ponytail. Once I was given some old Barbies and a few Kens that had been abandoned in a garage. I took them with the intentions of cleaning them up and giving them away. But little by little, I grew too attached to them to give them away, imagining how much better they felt in my house. (They seem to smile a little bit more!) In trying to figure out my own curious bond (which I couldn't) I concluded that some of us are doll people and some people are not. God bless you for taking that poor doll in and showing her some love.
ReplyDelete🥰🥰🥰
DeleteHi April,
ReplyDeleteAll of the scenarios you've presented have probably happened to a doll or two on numerous occasions. Only doll people have the hearts to empathize with an abandoned doll and feel compelled to rescue it. (That's why I've missed visiting thrift stores. I think I need to mask and glove up and visit one in the near future -- even though I have a bag of thrift store dolls that I need to do something with.)
I enjoyed reading about your ideas to buy and give dolls away and chuckled after reading that some of the dolls that you planned to give away are still with you. Sometimes it's difficult to let go, even with great intentions.
It is Tam that we owe a great measure of gratitude. She and her husband rescued a boxload of dolls that were strewn alongside the highway on that fateful day. Thank God that a doll person's husband saw them first and helped rescue them and get them to new homes.
dbg