A Thoughtful Gift

A lovely gift of dolls

The best thing someone can give me is a nice thought, whether I know about it or not. Couple the nice thought with a doll or two, and I'll think I've hit the lottery. 

I was asked by a Facebook doll friend if I wanted the above-pictured dolls, specifically Baby Nancy. I did! Five dolls plus a bonus doll arrived a few days after I accepted them. Unfortunately, the star doll, Baby Nancy, didn't tolerate the trip very well.

I removed each carefully-wrapped doll from the shipping box. When I reached for Baby Nancy, I could feel her lower body crumble into pieces!* Her head, arms, and legs were okay. The upper torso, while still intact, had several long cracks in it. I removed all pieces of the bottom torso from the shipping box and placed them in a plastic bag. "I need to save her," I thought. The other five dolls were in great condition. I made some minor changes to three. The dolls and any changes made are described next.

Teeny Tiny Tumbles Surprise 

Teeny Tiny Tumbles Surprise really tumbles!

With a copyright year of  1996 by Toy Biz, Teeny Tiny Tumbles Surprise is a 4-inch doll that actually tumbles. When placed in the seated position on a flat surface, she makes a forward flip and lands on her back. If something obstructs the full tumble, however, she does a headstand. Too cute!

Bratz Big Babyz Felicia

Bratz Big Babyz Felicia

From 2006, Bratz Big Babyz Felicia by MGA Entertainment is my first Bratz Big Babyz doll. This 12-inch-tall, all-vinyl doll wears her original clothes and socks and still has her baby bottle necklace and stud earrings. (I washed her socks.) Her original hairbrush is missing. A former "little mommy" added three braids to the right front of the rooted brown hair (because that's what little girls do... style their dolls' hair). 

Felicia has a healthy head of hair.

Cloth Mammy Doll

Upon arrival, this cloth mammy doll had googly eyes.

Made by an elderly woman in New Orleans, who sold these handmade dolls at a tourist shop, is an 18-inch handmade cloth mammy with hand-painted facial features (except for its original googly eyes). It is very well made and was given to the former owner during the 1990s. She wears a beige and pink floral-print dress and a matching headscarf. A white shawl is pinned in place, and she wears a white apron.

Close-up of Mammy's face

My changes included hand-washing the apron and removing and replacing the googly eyes with a pair of brown buttons. 

She now has brown button eyes.

To avoid the tediousness of sewing the buttons onto the face, I placed several diagonal stitches using white thread into the four holes in each button to give the illusion of crisscross stitches. Next, I added a glue dot to the back of each button and pressed each over the glue residue where the googly eyes had been. The brown button eyes give her a more serious look rather than a surprised or startled appearance. 

Hand-Painted Artist Doll

This is Little E. by Shirley E. Banks of Kaity Dolls Collectible, circa 1990s.

Made by Shirley E. Banks of Kaity Dolls Collectible, this 14-inch cloth artist doll's hang tag identifies her as Little E. The former owner purchased her from the artist at a doll show several years ago. With time, Little E.'s facial paint faded. So, I painted over the original paint with every effort to preserve the doll's original appearance.

Little E.'s face is now freshly painted.

She holds a furry bunny.

Trixie

Trixie, a Flatsy doll by Ideal

The bonus doll in the package was Trixie, a Flatsy doll introduced in 1969 by Ideal. Trixie arrived with her cap stickpinned to her head. I removed the pins and added a glue dot to the inside front of the cap. I placed the cap on her head and pressed the front against her head to force the glue dot to stick. This is my second Trixie. My first Trixie, seen below, arrived in 2011 without her dress and shoes. I made a top for her using orange ponytail holders. 

This is my 1st Trixie. I am happy to now have a fully dressed version.

Baby Nancy

Baby Nancy in parts

I took this picture of Baby Nancy (Shindana's first doll, ©1968)  after gingerly removing her from the box, removing her clothes, and placing the broken torso pieces in a plastic bag. I've already begun repairing her. After the repair, another blog post will follow. 

*What happened to Baby Nancy is not the first time this has happened to a doll in my collection. I purchased three Baby Nancy dolls several years ago from someone who informed me beforehand that one of the dolls' bodies was broken inside its one-piece romper. The vinyl/plastic used by Shindana for some of their dolls' bodies can become brittle with age. Exposure to extreme temperature changes can also cause this breakdown. 

`*`*`*`*`*`*`

I truly appreciate my Facebook doll friend's thoughtfulness and desire for me to have these dolls, and I wish her well.

__________

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. To contact me directly, go to the About page (visible in the web view mode); find and use the email link.

Visit and follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum for detailed installations of antique, vintage, modern, and one-of-a-kind black dolls. http://virtualblackdollmuseum.com

A Child's Doll, Gifted Twice

The former childhood doll of Ellen Gordon was a c. 1965 Christmas gift from Ellen's sister.

Meet Elle. She is a 14-inch handmade cloth doll that was the former childhood doll of Ellen Gordon. Ellen sent me the following message through Facebook Messenger, which outlines the doll's history and how "Elle" (the doll's new name) became part of my personal collection. With Ellen's permission, I am allowed to share the pertinent parts of our messages.

Hi, Debbie! Been enjoying your posts for a couple of years now. Quick question - would you have any interest in a handmade doll made c. 1965? My sister sewed it for me when I was little. She's not a sophisticated and detailed beauty, like many of the beautiful dolls you post, but I think she has her own charm.

And she's reflective of an exciting and (sadly) unjustifiably optimistic time in history when we thought things were changing rapidly and irreversibly. Black dolls were really not available then, and one Christmas my sister decided to address that shortage with her gift to me.

…I am downsizing to move, and feel it's time to let go of my dolls - LOL! She was much loved, and I'd be thrilled if she could find a home with someone who would enjoy having her.

(Of course, I accepted the offer, but I informed Ellen that I would need to redress the doll before installing it in DeeBeeGee’s Virtual Black Doll Museum.) In hindsight, redressing the doll was not really necessary because of the sentiment the doll holds, but that has been done, and I enjoyed every second of thought that went into completing the redressing task.

My Reply:

Hi Ellen. Thank you for letting me know you've enjoyed my posts. I love the background story about the doll your sister so lovingly made for you. I would love to accept her, even though I am also in the process of downsizing. If I accept her for the museum, I'd have to dress her. If you don't mind my doing that, let me know. Did you name her?

Ellen’s reply:

OH, I'm so glad! It means a lot to me that she will have a good home, and others can enjoy her.

Good luck with your downsizing - it's a TON of work…

As to this doll's back story… when I was a child I thought (I suppose like all children) that most families were like mine. Later I realized how wrong I was.

I have to laugh a little at how stereotypical we were in some ways of mid-century liberal progressive Jewish families, but I am very grateful to my parents for ensuring we were raised with an awareness of a larger world.

My parents were both products of the radical Eastern European Jewish of the '20s and '30s. They were extremely vested in the anti-war movement, the civil rights movement, the protest against atomic testing (and the resulting Strontium 90 in cow's milk), etc. I attended my first march against the Viet Nam war in my stroller. I remember helping my mother make protest signs for other actions when I was about 4 or 5…

Anyway, I guess my fondness for this doll relates to her connection with an optimistic and energizing time, when it seemed that tremendous progress was being made (and indeed it was), and radical social transformation was just around the corner (sadly, it wasn't).

Plus she's very sweet - I think my sister (about 13 or 14 at the time) did a really good job embroidering her face!

I'd be thrilled to have you dress her properly - I have no idea where her clothes vanished to. She will arrive in the panties (I think also handmade by my sister for her) and vintage doll sweater and socks (not original to her) that she has lived in for the past 55 years.

And, sadly, as I sit here and look at the line up of my beloved childhood toys - about a dozen dolls and bears I've kept all these years - it disturbs me that I cannot remember ANY of their names. That seems odd to me, but maybe not. Each of them had an imagined personality, a soul, to me, and I remember those, which I suppose are more important than their names.

Am I a crazy old lady? Perhaps! But I'm delighted for this doll to have a new home!

Just let me know where to send her, and I'll ship early next week. Thank you SO much! And thank you for the important (and fun!) work you have done in assembling such a wealth of historic dolls and information on them.

Elle's Redressing

After Elle arrived, redressing ensued, was completed, and photographs were taken for this blog post and for DeeBeeGee’s Virtual Black Doll Museum. 

Elle was redressed in a floral-print pink dress and white lacey ankle socks. I added two pink ribbons to her hair.  She insisted on keeping on her handmade red silk panties, which I gladly permitted.

This close-up of Elle's lovely embroidered face illustrates her continued happy disposition.

There was no question that Elle would continue wearing the vintage pink sweater. The charming sweater is the reason the pink dress was chosen for her.

Elle's redressing was completed with the addition of white patent leather shoes.

I am thrilled to have Elle in my collection and as a permanent installation in DeeBeeGee’s Virtual Black Doll Museum even though as Ellen wrote, “She's not a sophisticated and detailed beauty, like many of the beautiful dolls you post, but I think she has her own charm.” I concur wholeheartedly.  

Thank you again, Ellen, for your willingness to part with Elle and for choosing me as her new human. She is truly a special gift that represents the important roles childhood dolls play as comforters, companions, confidantes, and secret keepers for the humans (young and old) who own them.

After 6 a.m. CST on 11/3/23, view/read Elle’s museum installation here.

 

©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 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.

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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When I Saw Her Standing There

A group of exhibited dolls from the collection of Marjorie Loring Gauley

An online doll friend solicited my help in finding a museum or another organization to donate her Black-doll collection. She shared a link to photos of some of the dolls when they were displayed in a past exhibit.

In one of the pictures (shown above), I saw a doll that interested me. I asked for more information about it. At that time, the dolls were packed and stored. She promised to share the information later.

At one point, before making the decision to donate the collection, I attempted to help her sell some of the dolls. After the decision to donate, I shared the names of a couple of individuals who are involved in organizations that work with children. One of her goals was for the dolls to be enjoyed by children. The main goal was to keep the small collection together.

After communicating with one of the two people I recommended, Marjorie Loring Gauley chose to donate the dolls to Karen Oyekanmi's American Black Beauty Dolls Association.

After this decision was made, Marjie asked for my mailing address. She wanted to send me the doll that I saw standing on the far right in the first picture of this post. This pleased me beyond measure. I gave her my PO Box address.

A couple of weeks later, in an email, Marjie explained that while attempting to ship the doll through a UPS Store, she could not use my PO Box address. My physical address was required, which she didn't have and had no way of getting from me at the time she needed it. In her words, this is what happened next:

I checked to see if I had a phone number for you so that I might obtain an alternate address. In contacts a phone number showed in pale print with your other information saying that Siri thinks this number might be yours. I called it and Karen’s name popped up as she is in my contacts so I cut the call right away.

But in this day and age, she of course, saw the call and called me right back. I explained that the call had been an accident and explained the situation and she provided me with your contact information... Karen and I ended by agreeing with her observation that the call was God running interference to smooth the way, no accident after all. I hope you concur.

I replied and agreed that this was indeed divine intervention. As confirmation of the divine intervention that occurred, had I not shared Karen as a possible recipient of Marjie's collection, or had Marjie chosen the other person I suggested—who does not have my physical address or any of my contact information, in fact, I don't think she knows me—the shipping issue would have been prolonged.) Yes, God was certainly in the mix from start to finish.

A doll with such a sweet face will forever remind me of how God's grace reveals itself through the kind acts of others.

The lovely doll that I had no information about arrived safely. I opened the box, and before removing her, hoping she was not porcelain, I blindly touched her face and discovered that she is painted cloth. Cindi Ciampa made this beautiful doll.

With the doll, Marjie included a beautiful Annie Lee Shades of Color note card titled "Sunday Evening Radio." The front of the card and her handwritten inscription are shared next.

The Annie Lee note card, "Sunday Evening Radio" features a pre-television era family seated in their living room or parlor listening to the radio.

Marjie wrote a touching inscription.

The additional information that I have gathered about the doll and the artist is included in the doll's installation in DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum. Read it here.

Thank you, again, Marjie for your kind and generous gift of Grace, which is the name I have given her. I am honored and feel truly blessed to be Grace's new owner.

©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 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.

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!

LOL Surprise O.M.G. Present Surprise

L.O.L. Surprise O.M.G. Present Surprise Miss Glam's box front

The text in the left upper corner of the back of the box is printed in English and seven other languages. In English, it reads: O.M.G! It's time to CELEBR8! Miss Glam is throwing herself the most outrageous surprise birthday PAR-TAY! and everyone is invited.

Close-up of the aforementioned box text.

I wrote about a mini LOL Surprise O.M.G. Present Surprise doll in the post, Christmas Dolls 2021 Part 2 of 5. The doll featured in this post is my first 9-inch O.M.G. Surprise doll. This one is another gift from Telisa Spain. (Telisa gave me my first Rainbow High Doll, Phaedra Westward that was featured in the previous post.)

View Miss Glam's YouTube unboxing video:

In the video, I mistook her choker for a bracelet, forgot to mention the sunglasses; and at the end, I mistakenly referred to her as Miss Sass.

Her name is Miss Glam. The description cell of my doll spreadsheet for Miss Glam reads:

9-inch vinyl doll has brown rooted hair styled in two curly pigtails with side-swept bangs with one silver hair clip attached to the bangs. Dressed in a shimmery silver top, mini skirt, and black over-the-knee stockings with silver glitter embellishments, the surprise accessories include three empty gift boxes, confetti, a blue jacket and a crop top with PAR-TAY on the front, a turquoise tutu, two hangers, black sneaker boots and a shoebox, a shoulder bag and a round storage box, black fingerless gloves, sunglasses, silver earrings, extra hairclips, silver choker, a hairbrush, and a large blue hairbow, a turquoise doll stand with three waist attachments, a flip-out booklet that illustrates the stand assembly, and a party invitation.

Out of the Box Photos

Miss Glam wears her two-piece shimmery top and skirt and black thigh-high stockings with the black high-top sneaker boots that were included with her fashion surprises.

She styles an extra hair clip, her surprise fashion, and her shoulder bag in this photo.

The banana curls of her two pigtails have been fluffed out to create fluffier curls.

Miss Glam poses with all her surprises.

Here she poses with MGA Entertainment's Rainbow High Phaedra Westward (the other gift from Telisa Spain, reviewed in the previous post).

Including the Tweens, Telisa shared pictures of the LOL Surprise dolls that are considered ethnic in her collection. Because MGA Entertainment does not assign ethnicity to these dolls, the collector or child can choose their ethnicity. She shared several pictures that I will share in separate blog posts. The final picture of this post is Telisa's Miss Glam.

This is Telisa's Miss Glamm. She's holding a tambourine that goes with one of the dolls from the Remix series.

Thank you again, Telisa for my first LOL Surprise! O.M.G. 9-inch doll. She's a cutie! With all the surprises, I understand the thrill of wanting to own the entire series. It was fun discovering her surprises.

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.

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!

A Compo Baby to Love More

10-inch composition baby has a straw-stuffed cloth body and cloth legs with teddy-bear-joints.

After helping a collector authenticate a couple of dolls, she sent me this 10-inch circa 1920s-1930s straw-stuffed composition baby doll as a gift. 

The back of the head and arms needed repainting as illustrated below.

Before Pictures

The original paint had lifted from the back of the head, arm joints, back of the arms, chin, and ears.

What Was Done

Several layers of Mod Podge were applied to the areas that needed painting. Heavier applications to level the surface were necessary in some areas.

After the Mod Podge dried, painting and blending took place.

The baby now has a full head of painted hair and all other areas have been repainted as illustrated here and in the next two photos.

A final layer of Mod Podge sealed the painted areas.

Ready to be Dressed

This baby arrived wearing a homemade blue dress that I discarded because it did not fit properly and because it was heavily soiled.

I dressed her (or him) in a yellow knit romper that has a matching bonnet as illustrated in the next three photos.

He looks so fresh and so clean. I have assigned male gender to this baby.

I just love his Campbell Kids' smile.

He is adorable with or without the bonnet.

Except for whited-out areas, his spreadsheet entry, which includes his picture, is illustrated next.

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.

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!

Doll Gift: Norah Wellings Boy

Norah Wellings 11-inch Islander ZuZu boy circa 1929

Last year, in one of my Facebook groups, the administrator shared a photo of her Norah Wellings ZuZu boy that is documented in the Norah Wellings 1929 catalog. I expressed my desire to own a Norah Wellings boy because, until recently, I only had girls.

A few months later, I received an email from a woman who desired to find a new home for her dear mother-in-law's Norah Wellings doll. After contacting me and sharing photos, she had to look no further.

Full view of my doll identified as an Islander ZuZu boy by Norah Wellings illustrates the intact cloth tag on the doll's left foot that reads MADE IN ENGLAND/BY/NORAH WELLINGS.

My ZuZu boy has a brown curly mohair wig, brown glass side-glancing eyes, painted lips and teeth, brown velveteen head, arms, and legs, and wears gold velveteen suspender pants that are sewn onto his body. There is one pearlized white button at the front end of each suspender and two are on the sides of his pants.

One pant leg, unfortunately, is stained.

He arrived with a stain on one of his pant legs that I could not remove, so I added temporary felt pockets, one on each leg. 

I wanted orange pockets, but I did not have orange felt available. The tan felt pockets are temporarily applied with double-sided tape.

He arrived from Wellesley, MA with a beautiful handwritten note dated December 5, 2020, that reads:

Dear Debbie,

Thank you for adopting my mother-in-law's Norah Wellings doll. We know little about its history. My mother-in-law recalls that it was her mother's, as she had quite a doll collection. Other than that, we know nothing...

Please enjoy the doll with our compliments.

Regards,

The xxxx Family.

P.S. Hope this note finds you, your family, loved ones, and friends safe and healthy.

From L-R: Circa 1930s 14-inch Norah Wellings Dudu #119 Islander, 11-inch Islander ZuZu circa 1929, circa 1940s 14-inch Norah Wellings doll with painted eyes, and a circa 1930s 14-inch Norah Wellings Nassau, Bahamas souvenir doll.

My ZuZu boy fits in quite nicely with the girls who have all welcomed him with open arms. 

Much gratitude to ZuZu's previous family for their kindness.

dbg


There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
__________
Thank you for reading. To contact me, 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.

Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!

An Offered Gift

A circa 1930s composition Topsy gift

I was offered a gift of a circa 1930s composition doll that had been owned by the grandmother of the kind person who offered. He shared the story of purchasing the doll for his grandmother in 2000 to replace one that her mother gave away when she was a child. In one of the email notes he wrote, "My grandmother was so happy to have Topsy back for the remaining twelve years of her life. She’s been stored safely for the past eight years."

Topsy arrived in well-preserved condition with a handwritten note:

18 Oct 2020

Dear Debbie, 

Thank you so very much for including sweet, orange-dress wearing Topsy into your collection ~ I can't tell you how happy I am that she will be part of a cherished collection within your larger, entire collection, and that she will be loved at a deep level by a human and doll companion!

After photographing my new-to-me 9-inch Topsy alone, I photographed her with several similar-sized dolls and finally with some that are larger. Those photos are shared below:

Topsy posed with similar-sized dolls. The one on the far left was also adopted. These two look like sisters.

Close-up of the previous dolls

Three other smaller dolls posed with Topsy. The one on the far left is a composition Topsy-Turvy--a doll with two heads that share one body. The doll head underneath Topsy-Turvy's skirt is white.

This is a close-up of the dolls immediately above.

These two 16-inch Topsy dolls are almost twice the size of the newest doll.

Here they are again in a close-up.

Topsy poses with two straight-legged Topsy dolls. The largest is 16 inches tall.

A slight imperfection in the composition had been described to me before new-to-me Topsy's arrival. This was just an indentation flaw in the composition on the thigh that was an easy fix with Mod Podge to fill in the indentation and a mixture of brown paints to match the doll's original tone. Before and after photos are shown next.

The thigh imperfection was filled with Mod Podge to level it with the surrounding area.

A brown paint mixture covers the Mod Podge.

Higher up and on the side of the same leg, there was another imperfection. Mod Podge to fill and paint to cover were repeated.

Finally, I hand washed Topsy's pink dress, hung it on the showerhead to dry, and redressed her.

Hand washed dress

Topsy posed for this final photo.

As I indicated to the sender, I am delighted I was chosen to care for Topsy. As illustrated by these photos, she is in good company.

dbg


There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
__________
Thank you for reading. To contact me, 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.

Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!