Wax-Over Character Doll

Wax-over Character Boy Doll

Seen in a photo shared by the seller (Vicky Hoff Forbes), this wax-over (unknown materials) shoulder head character boy entered my collection earlier this month, and is now a permanent installation in DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum. 

A lace-trimmed two-piece undergarment was worn underneath his romper.

He arrived wearing a cotton lace-trimmed undergarment underneath his romper. After removing the undergarment, the lower portion of the cloth upper arms and upper legs, and the strings that attach these to the wax lower arms and legs were visible. To cover this, I made knit arm cuffs and full-length socks.

This is the remaining sock of a pair of 15-inch-long black knit doll socks.

Several years ago, I purchased a pair of black knit doll socks that measure 15 inches long. Until my wax boy's arrival, I never had use for the socks. I used one of these to make his arm cuffs and socks.

After measuring the 2-1/2 inches needed for each arm cuff, I cut two pieces of this length from one of the doll socks and hemmed the raw edges. The cuffs were then tucked underneath the ends of the romper sleeves. 

The end of the romper sleeve is lifted up to illustrate the top of one arm cuff made from the doll sock. The cuff is not permanently attached to the romper.

The sleeve covers the top of the cuff, and the cuff covers the wax doll's upper and lower arm attachments.

The remainder of the sock was cut in half to create two full-length socks. Only one end of one of the created socks required sewing to close in the toe area. The original toe area was pre-sewn by the manufacturer.

One leg of the romper lifted up illustrates the top of one sock from the back.

Both legs of the romper cover the tops of the socks, and the socks cover the areas where the cloth upper leg attaches to the wax lower leg.

The previously worn undergarment covered the areas that the cuffs and socks now cover. It also covered his brown cloth body, where the romper did not close fully in the back.

With the undergarment removed, a small portion of his straw-stuffed brown cloth body was visible in the back. I used two black beaded map pins to close the gap in the back of his romper, as illustrated next.

With the map pins inserted, the back of the romper is properly closed.

I contemplated redrawing his rubbed-off eyebrows, but I will leave well enough alone. He's adorable just the way he is.

Doesn't he have the most adorable face?

View his museum installation here.

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All photos and text are copyrighted and cannot be used elsewhere unless permission is granted by the author.

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.

__________

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A Collector Shares: Number 1-5 Barbie Details and Collecting Reflections

Barbies from the collection of Telisa Hodge Spain-Watson

Recently, Telisa Hodge Spain-Watson shared in-depth information about number 1 through number 5 Barbies and reproduction dolls that use #1 Barbie's head sculpt and/or body. With her permission, I am sharing the post here. 

The dolls she discussed are illustrated in the above photo and identified from left to right as, 2020 75th Anniversary Silkstone Number 1 Reproduction Black haired Barbie (which tries to imitate the pale skin that the original sometimes fades to); 2020 75th Anniversary Silkstone Number 1 Reproduction Barbie with blonde hair; 2020 Silkstone Number 1 African American Barbie; a vinyl Number 1 Reproduction Barbie with blonde hair; Number 3 Barbie with faded skin, brown eyeliner and blonde hair; Number 4 Barbie with black hair; and Number 5 Barbie with red hair.

The number 1 and 2 Barbies came out in 1959; the number 3 and 4 Barbies came out in 1960; and the number 5 Barbie came out in 1961. These numbers are numbers that collectors gave the dolls to distinguish the changes; these are not numbers that Mattel gave the dolls. All of these dolls came wearing the black/white swimsuit. Some collectors take the number all the way up to number 7; however, I don’t because after Barbie number 5, the Barbies no longer came wearing the black/white swimsuit.

Barbie number 1 is distinguished by the white irises, arched eyebrows, blue eyeshadow, a solid body, and she has holes in the feet because the first stands had prongs that went into the feet. She came with either black or blonde hair. 

The number 2 Barbie is identical to number 1 Barbie, with the exception that she is a little lighter in weight because she does not have the metal rods in the feet and legs because the stand was changed to one that goes underneath the arms. The number 2 is rarer than the number 1 Barbie because she was only made for a short period before the number 3 Barbie came out. 

The number 3 Barbie's look was softened, and she no longer had the arched eyebrows and white irises. The majority of these dolls had brown eyeshadow, although some had blue eyeshadow. The number 3 Barbie is the only one of the early Barbies that had the brown eyeshadow. Although rarer, the number 3 Barbies wearing blue eyeshadow are harder to distinguish from a number 4 Barbie, unless the skin has faded. The number 1-3 Barbies were made out of a material that often turned pasty white, or darker beige over the years because of the material that was used in the doll. 

The number 4 Barbie is identical to number 3 Barbie except that it was made out of a new material that didn’t fade. The eyebrows were a softer brown, and the eyeshadow was blue. The number 4 Barbie was the last Barbie to have a solid body. 

The number 5 Barbie was made out of a new material and had a hollow body, so she is lighter in weight than the previous Barbies. Her body is marked with Barbie ®, instead of Barbie ™. She is also the first Barbie that came in a red-haired version in addition to the black- and blonde-haired versions. Many of these dolls turn greasy because of the material used, and the later versions corrected this problem. There are also transitional dolls out there because Mattel often used whatever parts were available. That means that one may have a number 4 Barbie body and a number 5 Barbie head.

Sixty-one years after the White number 1 Barbie was made, Mattel righted a wrong and came out with the first African American number 1 Barbie in 2020. I considered this a legitimate number 1 African American Barbie because she is stamped 1958 on the head meaning that she uses the original face mold. The body is stamped 2019, because she is made out of Silkstone material, which is the first Silkstone mold to have the holes in the feet. This doll was also made in two White versions, one with blonde hair, and one with black hair and pale skin. There were fewer than 25,000 of all three made combined, so I do not know how many of those were African American. I have two of the African American Barbies. I was able to get them when they first came out, so the price was affordable. The price of the African American Barbie is crazy expensive now, although the price of the White ones is still affordable, especially the blonde one. 

Telisa shared that she still wants the original number 1 or number 2 Barbie, but if she can never afford them, she'll be fine with the ones she has. She continued by sharing the early beginnings of her Barbie and Friends ownership and her continued collecting throughout adulthood.

My first Barbie doll was a Skipper, which I got for my kindergarten graduation in 1966. After that, I got a White Francie doll and a color Magic Barbie. I also got the PJ, Stacey, and White Talking Barbie. I wasn’t fond of Francie at the time because she couldn’t wear Barbie's clothes. I was crazy over the Color Magic Barbie, and quickly used all of the packages of hair color to color her hair. My friend, Aquilla (who I am still friends with today), my cousin Bridget, and I spent hours playing with our Barbies. Bridget had a Julia doll and a White Barbie, and sadly other than thinking it was cool to have a doll that was made after a TV character, we didn’t really like playing with her because she had short hair that was too short to style. We would sometimes use Aquilla’s older sister’s Barbies as props—she probably had a number 3 or 4 Barbie—but we didn’t like playing with them too much because they looked old, their legs didn’t bend, or their waists didn’t turn. We pretended they were the parents. Even though for the most part, our dolls were White, they were never White to us, because we weren’t White. Our dolls in our child’s mind were the same race we were. We just considered them light-skinned with good hair or long hair. But Barbie had boobs and a butt, and looked as much like a Black person to us as she did a White person. Later, when Christie came out, we got her, and it was only then that we saw that she was Black in comparison to the others. Plus, we were older and more aware of race. As a kid, I never saw Barbie racially. I believed that Barbie represented all women and what they could achieve, and not just White women. I loved the fact that when I was in the Army, they came out with an Army Barbie.

I asked my mama why did it take her a while to purchase Black Barbie dolls for me, and she told me that these dolls were harder to find and often she was not even aware of the fact that they were out. She said, because we lived in the South, many of the stores did not even carry the Black dolls until later.

Today, I think it is great that Barbies are much more inclusive and representative of all races. As an adult collector, I have strived with Barbie to try to get most of the African American versions of Barbies that were made, or at least, a version of that face mold. But I also believe that there is a sacrifice in the quality of playline Barbies. They have gone from vinyl to hard plastic, which is cheaper. The packaging is cheaper, and the clothes are much cheaper. One has to pay quite a bit of money to get a quality Barbie when you used to get quality in a playline Barbie. I know this is not just me showing my age, lol, because when I go on eBay to get used Barbies to redress, the newer plastic Barbies are very cheap, but the price of the Barbies with the classic or older bodies is much higher. I lucked up and found one Julia doll head for $15, but I had to pay $45 for a second Julia doll head, which was still a good price. 

The cool thing about the older Barbies is that almost all of them that were made from 1966 until around 2000 (except for certain dolls that do action stuff, Silkstones, or Shani Barbies) the bodies, which may have 1996 on them, use the 1966 TNT mold. So when I purchase an older head doll like Julia, I will put that head on a 1966 Barbie body that is the same complexion. In doing so, this doll suffers no depreciation because of this, other than normal depreciation it may have had through child pay. I also have replaced the bodies of out-of-the-box Barbie dolls I had that have had green spotting, broken legs, or necks, etc. so that the dolls would stay mint. I also enjoy what I call "righting wrongs" in that dolls that I believe should have come out in a Black version, I make my own. I do not do this by repainting the doll; I do it by redressing a mint African American doll in the clothes of the White version. When I do this, I also keep an original White version as well. 

Because Barbies were the primary dolls I played with as a child, Barbie is still my favorite doll to collect. Barbie is also the reason I have branched out into collecting other dolls and the reason I collect dolls in general.

About Telisa Hodge Spain-Watson: Telisa is a diehard Barbie collector. She also collects other dolls. Collecting dolls began during her childhood with very few interruptions. She retired from the military after serving for 20 years. When she was an Army drill sergeant, she even kept some dolls in her office. She has loved dolls all her life, and said, "I promised myself, as a child, that when I got grown, I was going to buy all the dolls I could afford. I collect other dolls besides Black dolls; however, my Black dolls are special to me because of what they represent."

******

Thank you so much, Telisa, for allowing me to share your detailed post. 

Reference Links

#1 Barbie

#2 Barbie

#3 Brunette Barbie

#4 Barbie

#5 thru #7 Barbies
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All photos and text are copyrighted and cannot be used elsewhere unless permission is granted by the author.

©Black Doll Collecting/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, go to the About page (visible in the web view mode); find and use the email link.

If you're not already a subscriber, visit, "like" and follow the Black Doll Collecting Facebook page or bookmark the Black Doll Collecting home page and visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays when typically new posts are published.

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The Brown Bomber Joe Louis

I am now the very proud owner of a one-of-a-kind papier-maché portrait doll of Joe Louis by Bernard Ravca made during the 1940s. The doll's previous owner decided to part with it after owning it for 20 years. When I saw the for sale listing, I acted swiftly. 

I had longed to install this remarkable doll in DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum for documentation purposes and had asked the prior owner if she would share photos of the doll with me. She agreed, but the opportunity for her to do that never arose. Now that I am the new owner, I have photographed the doll in its arrival state and installed it in the virtual museum.

After the initial photos for the museum installation were taken, I performed some minor cosmetic work on this remarkable piece to stabilize it in areas where the papier-maché had weakened. I also touched up some painted areas to even out the color or to replace missing paint. (The ear had been repaired and repainted in the past.) I didn't take before-and-after photos during the stabilization process because I was eager to stabilize it. For this post,  however, I went ahead and took some after photos to compare with the original photos of the areas that needed painting or stabilizing. 

I repainted the ear to better match the overall skin tone.

The papier-maché of one thumb had deteriorated. I stabilized and repainted it.
 

The edge around the sole of one boot had peeled. I stabilized the peeling and flaking areas and repainted both boots.

View the museum installation here to learn more about this beautiful work of doll art.

While researching Joe Louis, the man, and Bernard Ravca, the artist, I stumbled upon an online interview of the previous owner that features the Joe Louis doll. Read it here.

__________

All photos and text are copyrighted and cannot be used elsewhere unless permission is granted by the author.

©Black Doll Collecting/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, go to the About page (visible in the web view mode); find and use the email link.

If you're not already a subscriber, visit, "like" and follow the Black Doll Collecting Facebook page or bookmark the Black Doll Collecting home page and visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays when typically new posts are published.

Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
*New*Visit/Follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum
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Dolls and All That Jazz! UFDC 76th Convention Journal

UFDC's 76th Annual Convention Journal, Dolls and All That Jazz!

During the second week of September 2025, I received my beautiful copy of UFDC's 76th Annual Convention journal, Dolls and All That Jazz! The convention was held in July 2025 in Norfolk, Virginia. I did not attend, but because I contributed an article to the journal, I received a copy.

The journal spine includes the convention name, location, and year.

Printed in full color, the 132-page hardbound journal includes 20 articles about dolls from the 1920s or those inspired by that decade. 

Table of Contents (TOC)

The title of my article is seen better in this close-up of the TOC.

Dedicated to the memory of my parents, who were born during the 1920s, this is the 1st page of my article.

"A Beloved Collection of 1920s Black Dolls and Their Provenance" starts on page 39 and begins by honoring my parents and discussing an Armand Marseille 362 character baby. 

The final page includes dolls inspired by the 1920s Harlem Renaissance.

I ended the article with another mention of my parents and a quote from Josephine Baker (an African-American entertainer who found fame in France during the 1920s). 

The things we truly love stay with us always, locked in our hearts as long as life remains.

__________

All photos and text are copyrighted and cannot be used elsewhere unless permission is granted by the author.

©Black Doll Collecting/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, go to the About page (visible in the web view mode); find and use the email link.

If you're not already a subscriber, visit, "like" and follow the Black Doll Collecting Facebook page or bookmark the Black Doll Collecting home page and visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays when typically new posts are published.

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Check out my eBay listings here.
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I Got the Right One, Baby

This Xian Xian Supermodel with short, straight auburn hair is as she was upon arrival.

I received a refund from the China website whose merchant sent me the incorrect doll (seen on the right in this photo). I reordered the desired doll (shown above) from a different merchant on that site. She arrived this past weekend, wrapped in bubble wrap inside a thin plastic mailer, thankfully, without any issues. 

This photo illustrates the extra articulation underneath the breasts, at the elbows, wrists, and at the knees.

This doll uses the same head sculpt as the Xian Xian (XX) Supermodel dolls shown here. The short, straight auburn hair and facial screening colors differ from my other XX dolls. I didn't think I would like the pink eyeshadow, but it isn't as evident in person as it is in some pictures. 

Dressing Her

I didn't have anything in mind for her to wear, initially, and started to go with one of the original denim fashions purchased for my XX supermodels. Instead, I opted to create another Clueless-inspired look as illustrated in the next series of pictures.

She wears the crop top and shirt of a three-piece suit and black Barbie mules.

Her first close-up illustrates her pink eye shadow and pink lip color. 

I Saran wrapped her hands before putting on the coat to prevent the stiletto fingernails from snagging the inside of the coat.

With the coat on, the look is almost complete.

This is her second close-up photo. Charge the blurriness of her right eye to the camera's flash.

With her bare legs covered with a pair of black fishnet stockings, the look is enhanced.

She needed a hat to complete the look, and this one did so after a few modifications.

The above hat was originally brown with a brown tulle floral accent, three gold beads, and a brown feather. I painted the hat black with a brown liquid eyeliner (that looks and acts like a felt-tip marker). I painted the brown flower black and added white acrylic paint in the center of each tulle petal for contrast. Lastly, I painted the three gold beads white. 

I needed long drop earrings to add to her pierced ear lobes that her stiffened auburn hair covers, but none were available. So she remains earring-less until I find a suitable pair.

The Complete Look

Two full-length poses illustrate the total Clueless look.

A profile photo and a photo from the back further illustrate this look.

She poses with my Defa Lucy Studio doll.

The new girl towers over my Defa Lucy Studio doll in the above pose, with both dolls sporting the Clueless fashion statement.

I now have a total of five Xian Xian-marked dolls. They pose together in the last two photos. 

My Xian Xian Five in full view.

My Xian Xian five close-up.

Do I need a black-haired version of the new girl? Probably.

__________

All photos and text are copyrighted and cannot be used elsewhere unless permission is granted by the author.

©Black Doll Collecting/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, go to the About page (visible in the web view mode); find and use the email link.

If you're not already a subscriber, visit, "like" and follow the Black Doll Collecting Facebook page or bookmark the Black Doll Collecting home page and visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays when typically new posts are published.

Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
*New*Visit/Follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum
Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!

More Supermodels

I ordered the doll on the left above that has ear-length straight hair because I found the hairstyle appealing. Unfortunately, the China-based seller shipped the doll on the right, which is a duplicate of a doll I already own. It took several days for the return to be approved. The incorrect doll has been returned and a refund was issued after the post office scanned in the package. If I reorder the doll, it will be from a different seller on this China-based site.

With this mishap aside...

A Poppy Parker knockoff and a matching body

...in the same order (from a different seller on that site), I ordered a supermodel fashion doll head and a body to match it, which was properly sent. Other collectors refer to this sculpt as a Poppy Parker knockoff. I already have three versions of this doll with different hair colors, but the new head has bangs. The other dolls do not. 

This doll has below-the-waist length straight auburn hair with bangs, hazel eyes, and has extra articulation underneath the breasts, at the elbows, wrists, and knees.

I tried several different fashions on PPK (Poppy Parker knockoff) before settling on one that suits her best.

She kept having a malfunction in this one-shoulder black dress, as illustrated in this photo.

The malfunction has been corrected in this photo, but it kept happening. So this dress was out. Besides, I had no idea what the lace ribbon was for (a headband, maybe?), and the red stockings are a no-no with a black dress in my opinion.

Because the doll has stiletto nails that easily snag the inside of long sleeves, I wrapped the hands in Saran Wrap to prevent fabric snagging while inserting the arms into a sweater that she tried on.

Next, she tried on Defa Lucy Studio doll's yellow sweater and shorts.

The shorts are too big for PPK, and shorts are not a good match for her pencil-thin, shapeless legs. For these reasons, this fashion was also eliminated. 

We thought we had a winner with this vintage Barbie Evening Splendor fashion paired with gold high heels. Unfortunately, the skirt of the brocade dress is too tight, limiting PPK's leg movement and mobility.

Just for kicks, she tried on the fur-trimmed matching coat, and she does look stunning.

Finally, she added the fashion's olive corduroy clutch after I confirmed that it is part of the original 1959 Evening Splendor fashion.

After realizing the Barbie fashion was from 1959, I certainly didn't want PPK's wide hips to ruin it, so I re-stored it with other vintage Barbie fashions that a friend gave me a few years ago. (I checked the current beginning bids on eBay for this fashion and was wowed!)

I looked through recently purchased fashions and found a dress that looked suitable. Piper Parker--that's a good name for her--modeled that dress next.

The dress has a shimmery gold bodice with a small cutout below the neck. Faux pearls and lace adorn the waist. The peach three-tiered high-low skirt is shorter in the front. She paired the dress with gold angel-wing shoes.

 

The color scheme of the dress matches her skin tone and coral lip color.

I'll paint the yellow beads on these earrings gold later.

Who's going to know that the beads are yellow? asks Piper.

Piper posed once more because...

...this dress works well for now.

Epilogue

I colorized the yellow beads on the earrings with a copper marker.

She's totally coordinated now and among new friends.

 

__________

All photos and text are copyrighted and cannot be used elsewhere unless permission is granted by the author.

©Black Doll Collecting/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, go to the About page (visible in the web view mode); find and use the email link.

If you're not already a subscriber, visit, "like" and follow the Black Doll Collecting Facebook page or bookmark the Black Doll Collecting home page and visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays when typically new posts are published.

Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
*New*Visit/Follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum
Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!