In the old days the doll makers would take great pride in their work with hand painted porcelain heads, cloth bodies and china limbs. The dress of these dolls of yesterday were sewn by hand by seamstresses who shared a similar pride in the work.
Today we can see the pride reflected in the dolls have survived the past hundred years or more and are really a joy to watch. Fine china heads with human hair laid on their faces. The wonder and innocence that seems to emulate from those faces can bring us back in time in our imagination.
The dresses were wonderfully refined and cultured of antique dolls that were made to represent women that were exquisite. From the long underwear to the layers that rest above, these dolls were adorned with high-topped shoes and a large brimmed sun shade hats.
Armand Marseille, Handwerck Heinrich Ernst Heubach, JD Kestner, Kammer Ernst, Franz Reinhardt, Pierre Leon Casimir Bru Jumeau were each at the top of the doll makers in that era.
Marceille, Handwerck, Heubach, Kestner, Kammer and Reinhardt were all of German origin, Jumeau and Bru of French descent.
When collecting antique dolls, the wishes of all for the better, of course, a doll with no cracks or splits, which is an "erosion" wrist is shown by lines on the surface, and certainly not missing limbs. However, even these dolls are worth having in your collection. They show a loved and well played with history and are valuable as they are not all cleaned and painted and repaired and given new wigs.
More often, a repair would decrease the value of a collector doll.
If you are a doll lover of any type, be careful before you buy any antique doll.
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