German Alice-style Hairdo China Doll, c. 1860
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GUEST:
This is a doll that was owned by my grandmother. She collected dolls for many years, and we sadly had to sell her doll collection. But before we did, I kept one doll representative of her. And this is she-- she's Alice in Wonderland.
APPRAISER:
She's got her ribbon in her hair, her hair is pulled back. She is referred to as an Alice-style doll, and she has got a china head, so glazed porcelain, and she's a very early piece. She dates from the 1850s into the 1860s. Wow. And so she is quite early, and in wonderful condition.
GUEST:
Oh, good.
APPRAISER:
It is not your typical body at all, and it's absolutely correct. She has got a flanged head, flanged neck, so her head will move, and it sits down inside a papier-mâché shoulder plate. She has china hands, china feet, and wonderful little bare feet. You rarely see a china doll with bare feet. In fact, you don't see many dolls at all with bare feet...
GUEST:
I thought she lost her shoes.
APPRAISER:
Well, she may have. Alice is going to go run through the fields in her bare feet, and I really love that. It's an Alice-style hairdo.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
I know that when they were first made, that they probably were not called an Alice in Wonderland. In fact, Lewis Carroll wrote his book in 1865.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
We do refer to the body as a Motschmann-style, or a Taufling-style is the more common term now. There are various makers that made china heads. She has absolutely no marks on her. So we know she's German. We do not necessarily know who made her. What's really fun about this body is that aside from the fact that she has her china arms and her china feet, she has a little squeaker. (doll squeaks)
GUEST:
I didn't even know.
APPRAISER:
It still works.
GUEST:
Oh, my goodness.
APPRAISER:
This doll is that old, and she still has a little squeaker in the middle of her body that works.
GUEST:
I had no idea that that happened.
APPRAISER:
There are not a lot of these particular dolls with this body. They could have a kid body, they could have a cloth body. They would be worth quite a bit less if they had that type of body.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
With this particular body, conservatively, at an antique doll and toy show, she would retail for around $2,500 to $3,000.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
I actually did see her listed on a very good retail site at $6,400.
GUEST:
Wow!
APPRAISER:
But I would feel very comfortable at that $2,500 to $3,000 mark.
GUEST:
That's wonderful. Oh, my God!
APPRAISER:
(doll squeaks) The original little squeaky toy!
GUEST:
I swear, I didn't know that happened. Oh, my goodness.
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