The Return of a Googly-Eyed Doll

Two circa mass-produced porcelain dolls

One of my nieces gave me two porcelain dolls. The 16-inch blonde doll wears a blue and white polka dot pleated dress embellished with lace and faux pearl buttons, off-white undergarments, white cotton socks, and black faux leather shoes. A googly-eyed 10-inch doll (a reproduction of an early 1900s googly) wears a white eyelet dress and pantaloons with white tights and pink ribbons tied around each ankle.

The dolls were found in a 19th-century house in New England, and my niece and the owner of the house both thought they were "old" dolls. Because I am a doll collector, my niece wanted me to have them, so I accepted both.

AI-generated description of googly-eyed dolls:

Googly-eyed dolls, characterized by their large, often side-glancing eyes, were a popular type of novelty doll in the early 20th century, particularly during the 1910s and 1920s. The term "googly" is thought to originate from the German "Guck Augen," meaning "ogling eyes". Original versions of these dolls, often with bisque or composition heads and cloth or papier-mâché bodies, are now highly collectible.

Her name is Cindy.

I removed the partially glued-on pink ribbons from Cindy's curly hair, removed and washed her clothes, and fluffed out her curls to create an Afro. 

Cindy's wig had tight curls and pink ribbons glued onto both sides.

Cindy's curls were fluffed out with a plastic-bristle brush to create an Afro.

I reattached the pink ribbons to Cindy's hair and redressed her in her freshly washed and dried clothes.

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During my 1990s doll-collecting infancy, I purchased a similar, possibly identical, reproduction googly-eyed doll. I was certainly not a doll connoisseur at that time. If the doll was black and nonstereotypical, I gave little thought about whether or not to purchase it before buying. I don't remember what happened to the first googly-eyed doll. I either gave it away or donated it. Determined to be part of my current collection (cookie-cutter or not, reproduction or not, porcelain or not), this googly-eyed doll by Dynasty is determined to stay.

According to Cindy's hang tag, the doll was made in 1983. So, it is an earlier-than-I-thought mass-produced "collectible doll" designed for adult collectors. 

After I gather enough items, I will donate the other doll to an organization that picks up donations in my area once a month, but 10-inch Cindy gets to stay.
 

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