Beloved Belindy, Raggedy Ann & Andy Group, ca. 1920
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GUEST:
They belonged to my mother-in-law. I think in the book, it says she got them when she was eight years old. And they lived on, on a little bench in her front room for as long as I can remember. And then after she passed, we got them.
APPRAISER:
You have a Raggedy Ann, Andy, and Beloved Belindy. In the early 1900s, Johnny Gruelle created the Raggedy Ann doll. So he was an illustrator, and he wrote these books. If you look at the condition of Ann and Andy, you can tell that they have been well loved. The cloth is worn, and that makes sense because these two dolls were the earliest ones made by the Volland Company, and that was around 1918, 1919. Because Ann... Raggedy Ann was so popular, they created Raggedy Andy as a companion brother, and then they created Belindy to be the caretaker of both of them in the nursery. In the "Beloved Belindy" book, Raggedy Ann and Andy and Belindy are dolls, but they come to life when the parents and adults weren't around. I love seeing your dolls, all three of them. But especially I love seeing Beloved Belindy. I've never seen her in person. But when I look at her, it's a little tough because she was supposed to be the mammy to Raggedy Ann and Andy. In the 1920s, when she was made, she was a product of her time. And we look at it now, and we think it's racist. The book was written and the dolls were made for predominantly white children to read and play with. We can acknowledge what happened in the past, but we can look back on it now and appreciate how far we've come. There's still a lot of work to do, but we have come so far. And her growing up, she loved her doll.
GUEST:
Because she moved around so much and went to 26 different schools...
APPRAISER:
Mm.
GUEST:
...these were the only friends she had. I'm sure they were in her bed with her every night and brought her a lot of love and joy, too.
APPRAISER:
The books themselves don't have a lot of value. They're about $25 each. But they're important that they show the whole context. Ann and Andy, they are worth about $200 to $400 each.
GUEST:
Whoa. Okay. Okay.
APPRAISER:
And Belindy? What do you think she's worth?
GUEST:
Probably similar, maybe, a few dollars more.
APPRAISER:
She's missing her lace collar. She's missing her apron. And she has this spot on her sleeve, And the lace has come undone over here. In her present condition, she's worth about $900.
GUEST:
(gasps) Wow. That's amazing. (chuckles)
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