Darlene's Modern Porcelain Collection

Probably Emma Clear created, or began to create, the first reproduction porcelain dolls in the 1940s. Others, many individual artists, also flocked to ceramic shops and began to make them. The Repro. market reached its peak, I think, in the 1980s, then began to decline. Companies like B. Shackman of New York made dozens of reroduction dolls; I have many in my museum collection. These were made in Japan, and well made. There were also doll house dolls, a wooden bodied mannikin doll with the head of a famous Goebel pincussion, tiny forzen Charlotte or penny dolls, a large elaborate Parian head with a decorated collar, china heads, a Jenny Lind, and Bye-lo babies and Kewpies. I stopped seeing the dolls in their disctinctive boxes in the 80s. Then, about 1985, a white procelain doll made in China began to appear in Mail Order magazine ads. One collection of these on YouTube calls them 'Wanda.' Soon, many companies including Duck House, Dynasty, Gold Key, and many others unnamed began to make Porcelain dolls with cloth bodies, wigs, often glass eyes. Toys R Us marketed a cheaply done version with open/close eyes. Many were clowns. Schmid and Gorham made higher end examples, and Goebel hired artist Bette Ball and others to crate them. Seymour Mann, a company founded by the parents of novelist Erica Jong, Seymour and Eda Mann, had their own company and made many diverse dolls. Gepettos set up kiosks in them alls. The Victorian Papers carries good examples of these dolls, and they are better made than many of their Asian counterparts. Dollar General, Younkers, Montgomery Wards, Hudson Bay Company K-Mart, Target, Everything's a Dollar and many other chains began to carry examples of the porcelain head and limbed dolls with cloth bodies. They appeared in museums in Canada, and now are plentiful in Goodwill stores. Most are not assigned much value, but I think they become colletible in coming years. They have a place in doll history; they represent a piece of nostalgia longed for by many. I know grown women who have collected the new porcelain dolls to decorate their Victorian bedrooms. I have seen them in prop in shows like "Who's the Boss," "Days of our Lives," and "Search for Tomorrow." More expensive versions appeared as prizes on "Wheel of Fortune" and other game shows. When I was young, I created my own copies of antique dolls of china using clay, playdough, Xeroxed images built up of papier mache, carved soap, carved candles, wax, etc. The porcelain dolls fueled my imaginataion. The Ruth Gibbs dolls of the 40s fit this category, too. Not many people work in porcelain anymore; a few of the Heritage Mint type companies do, and I think Ashton Drake does. The dolls are expensive to make by hand, and the best examples now have values comparable to antiques. The mass produced versions are still inexpensive; I recently bought one of Shirley Temple for $1.60 at a thrift store. Here are some examples my husband recently bought for me from a co-worker. They are about twenty years old or so, and Mint, most MIB. I hope you like the long-promised photos! :)