Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Back To School, Ebay Finds & More!

Hi! I hope all the students, moms, teachers, and families are getting settled into their new back to school schedules. We've been so busy here, that I haven't had much time for blogging. We were blessed to celebrate our 28th wedding anniversary and our son's 20th birthday in the last week.

We are getting our youngest two daughters back into their homeschool routine, and our oldest daughter got a new job as a 1st Grade teacher. I spent the week before school started at her school, helping her to get her classroom ready. She started with basically an empty room. Since she loves Dr. Seuss, she decorated the room in a fun, colorful Dr. Seuss theme. I thought it might be fun to share some pictures of her new classroom.


Her door.


The word wall. We covered all of her large bulletin boards with fabric first, then decorated them.


Teacher's desk. Can you see her Cat In The Hat doll on the top shelf?


Student's desks. We made the truffula trees and the flowers that hang over the tables to mark the groups. We had so much fun working on her room together.


Now, on to more doll related news... I have a few dolly finds to share. This cute little girl was an Ebay find.


She is a vintage Effanbee Half Pint doll from 1966. I just love her big, dark, side glancing eyes and her chubby cheeked smile! She has sleep eyes, that close when you lay her down, with rooted eyelashes. She has red hair in long curls. She is hard plastic, 11 1/2" tall, with a chubby toddler body that is jointed at the neck, shoulders, and hips. She is wearing a yellow dress, bonnet, bloomers, socks, and white shoes.


Tonner has just released a new version of the Effanbee Half Pint doll, well three new versions actually... and they are all pretty adorable!!! You can see all three at Tonner.com, but here's a sneak peek of one of the Tonner Half Pints. She is called Half Pint Grins and Giggles (photo courtesy of Tonner.com). I can definitely see the similarity between the original vintage Half Pint and the new Tonner sculpt.


Another Ebay find was this pair of Effanbee Patsyette in Storyland dolls. The seller was offering both dolls in one auction, so I got them at a bargain price.  They came in storybook style boxes.


The boxes open up like a book. Inside, the doll is tied on the right with a ribbon, and on the left is a storybook. Also included is a stand and tag.


I got Alice in Wonderland and Red Riding Hood.


The dolls are made of hard plastic with molded and painted hair and features. They are jointed at the neck shoulders and hips. Their elbows are not jointed, but the right arm is molded in a bent position and the left arm is straight.


Their costumes are very well made and very elaborate with multiple layers. Alice has a blue dress with white ric-rac trim, white lace trimmed bloomers, white petticoat with lace trim, and a white pinafore style apron. She also has white stockings, black shoes, and a black ribbon headband bow.


Little Red is wearing a red and white gingham dress, white lace trimmed apron, white bloomers, socks, and red shoes. She also has a red cape with a ruffled hood, and she is carrying a tiny wicker basket with a red gingham cloth.


They each come with their own little storybook with adorable drawings.


I love the full color artwork on their boxes.

For size comparison, here is Little Red with Mini American Girl Marie Grace. Patsyette dolls are a couple inches taller than Mini American Girl dolls.


Patsyette is a couple inches shorter than MH Clawdeen who is wearing a similar costume.


Here are the new Patsyettes sharing a shelf in my cabinet with Kewpie and some of my ball jointed dolls.


My most exciting find yet was this sweet little antique Armand Marseille baby at a local antique mall. 


She has a bisque head with dark brown sleep eyes that close when you lay her down, and an open mouth with teeth. My doll club friend, who is also a doll artist and appraiser with 40 years of collecting experience, told me that she is what is known as a German Character Baby. She said my sweet baby is valued at $200-250, which means I got her for an incredible bargain at just $35. 


She is marked on the back of her head Armand Marseille A 975 M Germany 6/0. There is also a mark stamped in purple on her composition back, but I just can't make out what the letters are.


If you'd like to see exactly what an antique bisque socket head type doll on a paper mache composition body looks like, here's a picture. She is jointed at the neck, shoulders, and hips.


Her wig and outfit are not original or as old as she is, but I love her just as she is.


I was so thrilled to find this little girl just sitting on a shelf in an antique mall! She was just waiting to go home with me and be loved and treasured.


Here she is... happy to be home.


I've been thinking lately about the dolls from my childhood... Thumbelina, Giggles, Tippee Toes, Holly Hobbie, etc. I'm not sure what happened to most of my own dolls, but I think I'll be on the lookout for them. I have started a new Pinterest board of the dolls that I grew up with, called Blast From The Past Dolls. Anyone else collect dolls from their childhood?

I'd love to hear about your recent finds, or your thoughts on my finds. Please leave a comment below.
Hugs  
 - Lisa


10 comments:

  1. I wanted the little Holly Hobbie vinyl dolls for many years when I was a girl, but never received any. I've got a nice collection now, thanks to eBay. I'm planning on writing about them on my blog, at some point.

    I miss my homeschooling days. My eldest just graduated from high school and doesn't currently plan on going back to school at all. My youngest started her sophomore year of high school today!

    I don't know if I said this on your previous antique doll post, but I do like antique dolls. I just don't have anywhere to safely store them, at the moment. So for now I will look at other people's. :)

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    1. Barb, I had one of the little Holly Hobbie vinyl dolls when I was a little girl, but I don't think I had any of her friends. I also had a Holly Hobbie rag doll. I'd love to see your Holly Hobbie collection. I'll be watching your blog to read about them.

      I'm sure I don't have the proper storage for antique dolls either. My Kestner is sitting in a chair on top of my piano, and the last picture above is my new antique baby on a shelf in my china cabinet. Oops, I think dolls may be taking over my china cabinet. Hmmm... what should I do with the china??? :)

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    3. At the moment, I don't even have a place to display my dolls behind glass, to keep dust away. My bedroom is where most of my dolls are set up, and it gets awfully dusty. It gets hard enough keeping my modern dolls relatively dust-free. I'm afraid how badly dust could damage an antique.

      Hmm, the china. You could get a plate rack? :)

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  2. Your classroom is awesome!
    Congratulations on great finds and additions to your doll collection.

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    1. Thanks Melody!!! I just love finding an awesome doll or accessory at an antique store and flea market. Makes me feel like a kid on Christmas morning! :)

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  3. I've never seen those Patsyette in Storyland dolls before, but I love their packaging - the boxes themselves look like worthy display pieces, which is fabulous.

    And it's interesting to see the body on the antique doll. I'd never have guessed the materials on that!

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  4. Your daughters classroom is so cute. There will be some happy scholars on the first day of school in her class. Love your doll finds. Sounds like we may have played with some of the same dolls as little girls, however I kept my dolls until I was a big girl :) I don't have any of my originals though. Raggedy Ann has always been my favorite, and I have some, but I am wanting to find one of the last dolls I got for Christmas, a Chrissy doll by ideal co. The one that grew her hair. I've found them in the past, just wasn't interested then. Blessings friend

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  5. Hi Lisa,
    Sam here. I love how you and your daughter decorated the classroom. It looks really colorful and exciting!
    I homeschool year round, so our 'new' year doesn't begin until November.
    I love seeing all of your dolls. You find some amazing bargains.
    Congratulations on your 28th anniversary!

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  6. Hello. I am not a doll collector but recently acquired a huge collection and have no idea what is what. Looking for some help. I can send pictures if you would be interested. There are at least 300 dolls. Some old, some still new in the box and they are from all over the world. Please contact me at aadianar@ yahoo. Thanks so much and hope to hear from you.

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Thanks so much for stopping by. I'd love it if you left a comment to let me know you were here. Have a wonderful day!