Volland Raggedy Ann & Andy, ca. 1915
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GUEST:
I brought Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy… to the Roadshow because they were one of my first dolls. I was seven or eight years old when I got them…
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
…and I got Raggedy Ann before I got Raggedy Andy.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
And if you notice, Raggedy Ann has brown hair.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
That was before she… found the red dye. And I didn't like her too much when I first got her because her apron did not match the material of her panties.
APPRAISER:
Ah, okay, okay. That's interesting. So you didn't really play with her a lot.
GUEST:
My grandmother gave me this little… ah, penny doll.
APPRAISER:
Yeah, I was looking at this little cute... little doll in the pocket. Now, what's that called?
GUEST:
"Penny doll,".
APPRAISER:
Okay.
GUEST:
Because you bought it for a penny…
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
…and she said that it was her first doll and her only doll. I don’t know…
APPRAISER:
It probably was, yeah. It's a little German doll.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
Ah, do you remember when you got Andy?
GUEST:
I got him probably, uh... My birthday is in January.
APPRAISER:
Okay.
GUEST:
And I probably got her right for Christmas…
APPRAISER:
Uh-huh.
GUEST:
…and him for my birthday.
APPRAISER:
Do you remember the year?
GUEST:
Uh, 1918, 1919.
APPRAISER:
Do you know about who designed the dolls?
GUEST:
Yes, a man who incidentally is... was a native Miamian.
APPRAISER:
Okay, yeah, that's right.
GUEST:
And, uh, he wrote these books, Raggedy Ann... about Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy.
APPRAISER:
Right.
GUEST:
And according to a little newspaper article I read, that these dolls, at one time, were given as a promotional...
APPRAISER:
Right, that's true.
GUEST:
...to - to sell his books.
APPRAISER:
Good. Well, his name was Johnny Gruelle.
GUEST:
Yeah, yeah.
APPRAISER:
And this particular pair that you have here is made by a company called Volland, and Raggedy Ann was the first one. She was patented in 1915, and then Andy came along later. And Raggedy Ann has a painted face, which is a rarer face. The early Volland Raggedy Ann dolls have candy hearts which are placed inside the doll itself, and then later on, they used wooden hearts.
GUEST:
Ah.
APPRAISER:
They both have their original clothes. There's a little bit of wear and tear with age. I mean, you took very, very, very good care of them. Very collectible, very sought after, actually all over the world, even in Japan. Raggedy Ann and Andy are extremely popular in Japan. Um, of course you wouldn't know what your parents paid for them originally, would you?
GUEST:
No, I have no idea.
APPRAISER:
Well, they probably sold new for around probably 50 cents, maybe 75 cents at the max. They weren't a cheap doll. They were a very well-loved doll. Volland's being the first company that's produced them for Johnny Gruelle, uh, makes them the rarest. So on today's market, oh, Raggedy Ann just by herself is probably between $2,000 and $2,500.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
And Andy is probably $1,500 to $2,000. But they are a pair, they've always been yours, along with the little bisque doll, so I put a value on them from, safely, $4,000 to $5,000 for the pair.
GUEST:
Oh, well that’s…
APPRAISER:
So they've gone up in price in their life.
GUEST:
Yes, they have.
APPRAISER:
And the little penny doll in her pocket is made by Hertwig, in Germany, 1890s. That's around $50.
GUEST:
It's a good thing I didn't cut her out to find her candy heart.
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