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 below captures the ponytail restyling technique and includes an image of the final result.

Related Link

Dolls from Around the World - Canada

 

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Black Dolls From Around the World - Canada

Reliable Toy Corporation of Toronto, Ontario, Canada is noted for early dark skinned dolls like Hiawatha, from 1948.  Hiawatha is missing her shoes and her wig is not original. Other composition dolls by Reliable include their version of Topsy and other baby dolls. 

Reliable manufactured the above stuffed vinyl Topsy during the 1950s.

These two 1960s babies, also by Reliable, arrived as heads only (without torsos and limbs).  One has molded hair; the other has rooted hair.  Otherwise, they are identical.  A fellow doll enthusiast who resides in Nova Scotia, Canada sent them to me explaining that they were factory extras that she acquired with plans to make them whole.  Not knowing when she would complete the task, after we "met," she sent them to me.  I added Apple Valley doll kit bodies to the heads and dressed them as shown.  The doll on the right has somehow separated herself from her white socks and pink shoes (or perhaps another doll borrowed them). 

Reliable manufactured this 1970s, 30-inch walker that I found on eBay several years ago. I redressed her in a child's size dress, socks, and shoes.  Read more about her here.

Dee and Cee, another Canadian doll company, produced the above male doll, Calypso Bill, in 1960, which is similar to Horsman's 1950s Pete.  Both dolls have female counterparts, Calypso Jill and Polly, respectively.

Two 25-inch Jessie Collection dolls by Jessie International Ltd.

Yet another Canadian doll company, Jessie International Ltd of Quebec (formerly Importations Jaques Fournier), made a line of small-to-large vinyl dolls with cloth bodies, girls and boys.   Called the Jessie Collection, the dolls were actually made in China and distributed by Importations Jacques Fournier Ltd/Jessie International Ltd.  The doll on the left (distributed by Importations Jacques Fournier) is from 1990 and has a white cloth body.  The one on the right is from 1995, distributed by Jessie International Ltd.  The latter doll has a brown cloth body. Described as collectible dolls by the company, the serious collector would consider them play dolls.

These are just a few dark skinned dolls made/distributed in Canada.

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