My Mother-in-Law's Doll

Rebecca was made from an Apple Valley kit.

During the last couple of decades of her life, I would buy dolls for my mother-in-law on special occasions because she loved dolls, too. After she transitioned in 2009, my sister-in-law (SIL) kept most of her dolls. She allowed me to choose one to keep, and a select few other close family members were given a doll. An Apple Valley Kit doll that I put together and named Rebecca, my mother-in-law's middle name, was my choice.

Rebecca's sculpt is called "Raspberry," because she's blowing one.

Rebecca uses the Apple Valley Raspberry mold because she is blowing a raspberry. She is a very happy baby.

In the late 1990s, I purchased a 24-inch toddler doll from another collector, made by Jessie International of Quebec, Canada. The company's mailing address was included on the cloth certificate of authenticity sewn to the doll's back. I contacted them by mail to inquire how to purchase additional dolls. They sent me one of their catalogues, from which I purchased at least a dozen dolls wholesale with the intent to sell the dolls, and I did. I gave one to my mother-in-law (MIL). She fell in love with it, and so did her neighbors and other associates. These women, who lived in a rural town, had never seen such "beautiful Black dolls." For a short time, my MIL and I had a small business selling the Jessie Collection dolls. I kept one for myself, and she kept the one I had given her. The others were sold.

The Jessie Collection dolls are indicated by a yellow star.

Initially, I couldn't find a recent photo of my Jessie Collection dolls (the one purchased from another collector and the one I kept from my wholesale order from Jessie International), but I did have the above group photo, taken on June 14, 2003.

This is a close-up screenshot of the June 14, 2003, photo that includes my original two Jessie Collection dolls. The one on the right is the one I purchased from another collector.

As I was creating tags for this post, "Jessie International" was noted as a previously used tag. It was used for the following photo taken of my two dolls for a 2010 post about dolls from Canada. Find the link to that post at the end of this post.

This is a better photo of my original two Jessie Collection Dolls. They are from 1990 and 1995, respectively.

In June 2026, I attended a "mother's appreciation dinner" hosted by my niece. Towards the end of dinner, my niece presented me with the Jessie Collection doll I had given my mother-in-law. Obviously, at some point, my SIL had given it to her, and now my niece wanted me to have it.

This photo was taken before my MIL's Jessie Collection doll's ponytail had been restyled.

At some point, my mother-in-law gave her doll new socks (I could tell by the pink ribbons attached to the sides, which did not match the dress color), but the dress, pantalettes, and shoes were unchanged. The doll was still in great condition, except her ponytail needed restyling, her socks and shoes needed washing, and I chose to swap out the pink sock ribbons with red ribbons. 

The video at the link captures the ponytail restyling technique and includes an image of the final result.

Restyling a Doll's Ponytail

Related Link

Dolls from Around the World - Canada

 

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