"Eugene the Jeep" Doll, ca. 1936
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GUEST:
This is Eugene Jeep, who is Popeye's dog, kind of a mascot, kind of a...
APPRAISER:
Yeah.
GUEST:
his sidekick, is what I understand of it?
APPRAISER:
Right.
GUEST:
My grandmother had a lot of knickknacks around her house. This one was always kind of on the top shelf. I was always intrigued by it, and a few years ago, when we moved her into assisted living, she gave it to me.
APPRAISER:
You are correct, his name was Eugene the Jeep, and he became to be known as just Jeep. In the storyline, he was his girlfriend Olive Oyl's.
GUEST:
Interesting.
APPRAISER:
And he had these mystical powers, and Popeye would make him stay outside of the house, but for some reason, Jeep would come back in the house or appear back in the house. So there were all these wonderful stories about Jeep and Popeye trying to get along. The comic strip of "Popeye" was started by a man named Segar, and Jeep was introduced into the comic strip in the 1930s. He's kind of a combination between a dog and a rodent.
GUEST:
(laughs)
APPRAISER:
(laughing) I mean, he's just amazingly wonderful. It's not only very rare, the condition of it is amazing when you think it's been around since 1936. This one would retail for about $1,500 to $1,800.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
(laughs)
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