Two German Dolls in Original Clothes, ca. 1905
GUEST:
My uncle had a storage room and moved out east, and he was looking to just get rid of everything in there, and so my brother and I decided to take it and, instead of getting a few bucks for the whole lot, we would go through it and see what was in there.
APPRAISER:
Uh-huh.
GUEST:
And we've run across quite a few things, and we ran across a box with some dolls in it. And as far as what I know about them, uh, I'm about to learn, I guess.
APPRAISER:
Okay. I chose two dolls out of the lot just so we could compare the two. Both of these dolls were made at about the same time, early 20th century, about 1900 to 1910. The doll in white was made by a company called Armand Marseille, and it sounds like a French name, but he's a German manufacturer, probably the most prolific doll manufacturer in Germany at the time. They made these what we call "dolly face" dolls, and they have sleep eyes, an open mouth with teeth showing, and those were all the bells and whistles that people wanted. This is a great example. It's got all of its original clothes, original wig. Thousands and thousands and thousands of this type of doll were made in Germany.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
About the same time, one of the companies, called Kammer & Reinhardt, wanted to make some character dolls, something that was a little different than the dolly-face doll.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
So they started making this type of doll, and you'll notice it has painted eyes, it has a mouth with painted teeth...
GUEST:
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER:
People still wanted to buy the doll with the sleep eyes and the open mouth. The dolls like the doll in black did not sell. Therefore, it made that doll extremely rare.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
The artist that designed this doll worked for Kammer & Reinhardt. He had a little tiff with that company. He moved to the Simon Halbig company in Germany and made this series of dolls. This particular doll doesn't really have a name, but it's referred to by the number. It's a Simon & Halbig 1-5-1, or 151. The doll in white, made by Armand Marseille, is a number 390. They're both style numbers for the particular doll.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
The doll in white, on today's market, retail, would sell for about $450 to $550.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
The doll in black is going to sell, retail, from between $10,000 and $12,000.
GUEST:
Whoa. (chuckles)
APPRAISER:
It's just a very, very desirable, sought-after doll. They did a series they called the 100 Series, and there are other dolls in that series that are worth even more than this, but you've got a spectacular doll.
GUEST:
Great. Thank you.
Appraisal Details
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