Kestner Bisque Googly Doll, ca. 1910
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GUEST:
It was given to me from my father. My great-grandmother brought it ho, over from Czechoslovakia and gave it to her daughter. And when my dad was born, she gave it to my father,’ cause he was a boy, and it's a boy doll. (chuckling): We named him Hunzi-Czech,'cause he's from Cz…
APPRAISER:
Hunzi-Czech.
GUEST:
’Cause he's from Czechoslovakia. My daughters think he's creepy. (laughing)
APPRAISER:
(chuckling) Oh, those dang daughters.
GUEST:
But I, I think he's cute.
APPRAISER:
What are we going to do with them?
GUEST:
So, he’s all hand-strung. Um, his eyes move.
APPRAISER:
Okay.
GUEST:
I mean, he's, he's… He's a family member. (chuckles)
APPRAISER:
He is one of your family members. That's what I like to hear. Your doll is actually from Germany.
GUEST:
Oh, is it?
APPRAISER:
And then maybe sold in Czechoslovakia as a, a souvenir doll. He was originally made about 1910.
GUEST:
Ooh.
APPRAISER:
And what we really love about him is that he was made by Kestner, and he's mold 221. And Kestner was a self-proclaimed king of doll makers, and he kind of used that to market his dolls, but he ended up really being the king of them. He sold and made a lot of dolls. And your doll has a, a bisque head and a composition body. And his eyes are made of glass. It's mouth-blown glass, and they're what we call googly eyes. His costume was probably made in Czechoslovakia, 'cause it is...
GUEST:
Well, that's where my grandparents were from, is Czechoslovakia.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm. And then he does have on his original mohair wig and his little wool felted hat with silk flowers and beautiful embroidered ribbon. And then the other thing we talk about with this doll is their grin. Just a big, like, "I am so happy, but I'm, also might be up to a little bit of something." His bisque head is in excellent condition, and that's where the value is. But we've got a little damage to our toes, and that's just because it is composition. It's just a wood product, and that's really easy, to break fingers and toes. And we're really lucky, 'cause he has all his fingers. It's just, we do have that toe damage. And then he also needs a little restringing.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Because you can see, his arms just… Normally, you could actually hold their arms up, because that's how I like to pose 'em. I like to pose 'em with the arms standing straight up, like, "Ta-da, here I am." (chuckles) "Ready to start trouble." These dolls are actually pretty hard to find. In today's market, his retail value– with the damage– would be somewhere between $4,500 and $6,500.
GUEST:
Hm! That's great. (chuckles) Y, you move out of the box. (laughing)
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