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Post by RetroMonde on Oct 1, 2016 17:46:15 GMT
I'm not sure I posted this in the right spot so please move it if necessary. Last night I found a large rag doll and I'm stumped about whether it's a genuine antique doll, a vintage 80s reproduction (I made 'em myself back then) or a modern primitive. Is there anybody on the boards that's familiar with old cloth or rag dolls that may have tips about deciding the era? I'll take pictures a little later when it stops raining; she's sitting outside on the porch cause she is rather musty-smelling from storage. She's dressed in genuine antique baby/toddler clothes; that's normal with larger modern prims. I was going to just remove the clothing and saw that her body was made of an old stamped grain or feed bag so I brought the entire doll home instead. Her head is part sawdust or something crunchy, her body is firm with what feels like rags but her legs feel lighter like fiberfill. Of course if she's old she could have been restuffed; none of those stuffing materials is exclusive to one era. After I get her aired out I want to get her listed but can't set a price or put her in the right category unless I know her age. Looks like the rain stopped... better grab my phone & snap some pix. Sorry in advance if the photos are large. I used to get an option to resize them on the tapatalk app but don't see it anymore.
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Post by RetroMonde on Oct 1, 2016 18:34:35 GMT
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Post by titus730 on Oct 4, 2016 19:12:04 GMT
Sorry Retro, I can offer no help but that doll's face is a bit creepy.
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Post by jandsknight on Oct 4, 2016 19:30:00 GMT
The stitching on the hands looks like machine stitching. The boots look synthetic. If they are, they may be the newest part. I have something made with flour sack fabric. I think my grandmother made it in the 20's or 30's. I had a rag doll when I was a toddler over 70 years ago. It had a pancake head, don't remember any shoes. I saw it as an adult, don't remember much about it or what my mother & I did with it.
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Post by RetroMonde on Oct 5, 2016 3:55:45 GMT
I checked the shoes- they're very old with leather uppers and painted oil cloth soles. All the clothing seems authentic. It's the arms & legs that have me so undecided. I"m just unsure whether the doll is genuine antique, if the body/head has the original stuffing and the arms & legs have been restuffed, or if the doll's been aged to look antique... the more I look at it the more unsure I am. The reason I'm obsessing about it is because some of the really old rag dolls go for a buncha money. It would be nice if this was one of the authentic antique dolls. Titus, this doll's face doesn't bother me but I've seen some super-creepers.
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Post by kelkinskelkins on Oct 5, 2016 14:24:00 GMT
My guess is that it is an artist's idea of an old doll. In the 1990s - early 2000s there was a nearby gift shop that had a lot of this type of doll, made by different artists. They are called Primitive Dolls, it was kind of a craze with a few magazines and pattern books put out.
Like someone mentioned above, the sewing on the hands caught my eye, and the face just looks so calculated to be old, that it can't be real!
Search google for Primitive Dolls and you can see a few that are not exactly the same, but similar.
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Post by RetroMonde on Oct 6, 2016 2:37:22 GMT
I did a search on Google, eBay & Etsy and saw a lot of Prims that looked similar, both contemporary and vintage. What I decided it open up a side seam & take a peek at the lumpy stuffing in the body. It feels like rags; I've dealt in vintage textiles enough that maybe it will be obvious whether they're old or newer. Yes, maybe this has pushed me over the edge just a bit, lol. If I can't tell for sure I'll just list her at auction as an unknown-era rag doll and let people figure it out themselves.
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Post by 57roses on Oct 6, 2016 4:45:24 GMT
Did you try searching the wording on the bag? ANAMA is all I see, and couldn't find anything in search.
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Post by RetroMonde on Oct 8, 2016 23:25:39 GMT
As a PS, I just opened her up along her side seam. Socks- she's stuffed with cotton gym socks & what looks like super-fine shavings from a pencil sharpener! So unless she's been re-stuffed recently (unlikely) she's a pretty convincing contemporary reproduction of an antique doll. Bummer but at least I know now and can set an auction price in the right category. Thanks for your help!
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