“I’m just ringing to check what happened yesterday.” I explain, feeling like a person ringing a friend after a boozy night out.
“I was in the there but I’m still can’t believe it. I need to check the final hammer price on one of your lots.”
The nice lady who answers the phone at Bamfords Auctioneers and Valuers in Derby laughs politely. The staff are commensurate professionals used to hearing tales about seemingly everyday objects which somehow capture the hearts of bidders, sending prices flying up to where the air is clear.
“Ah here it is. The final price was …..£750,” she gasps.
“That does sound astronomical. Our estimated value was a bit out.”
In fact, Bamfords estimate was a justifiably speculative ‘come and get me’ figure. It’s not surprising auction houses are struggling to put a value on this doll. In the last two years, the same doll (I’m not telling you which one as there’s a quiz later) has achieved prices ranging from £45-300. If you want the very definition of a doll which is ‘hot right now’; this is it. The auction experts cannot keep pace. Some of these dolls are exchanging hands for silly money.
Really silly money. With commission and VAT, the buyer of this lot will pay more than £1,000.
“I’ve been keeping an eye on price (of this doll) on eBay and they’re suddenly really high,” explains collector and enthusiast Cathy Howard, of Bath, who designs and sells bespoke doll’s clothes through Jolly Dolly Shop on Etsy.
“I think people pay more when they’re tired of losing out at auctions again and again. I’ve spoken to other collectors and we’ve all noticed the price hike. Prices will be higher for mint condition dolls in hard to find clothes. Boxed and factory fresh dolls are also popular with collectors. Even though prices have doubled recently, this still seems a lot. I’d have said £450 tops.”
Cathy says the hammer price could reflect someone’s desire to plug a hole in a collection; “If you’re a serious collector and have little time but lots of cash, this auction lot would be perfect. You pay a premium but you’re not spending years trying to complete your collection.”
Before you run down to Bamfords to fill your trolly with dolly, it is worth pointing out that the overall market trend is not so pretty. Of the 37 lots at the Specialist Toy and Juvenalia Auction (February 6 2019), a staggering 25 dolls and related items (prams, houses) failed to meet even the lower end of their estimated value. One Tudor mansion house was withdrawn from sale completely as the auctioneer, Ian Crawford, refused to sell it for a maiden bid of £30 saying it would be ‘sacrilegious’.
“It seems like the toy/doll market is down right now,” agrees Ann Cook, who is a member of the Facebook group Vintage and Antique Dollshouse Collectors Club.
“There’s no obvious reason. The market just goes up and down. It’s an excellent time for buying – terrible for selling.”
The bench-mark for valuing an antique or vintage doll used to be age, quality, provenance and condition. But in these vintage-obsessed days of ‘granny chic’, something else is driving prices.
“Nostalgia – people want what they had as youngsters or what their parents or grandparents had,” says Kyllikki Inman who runs antique store East Hill Antiques in Ithaca, New York.
“These days, people are buying things their grandparents used everyday – not those they kept for best. So a threadbare cotton tablecloth might be worth more than the white linen your gran never used.”
“It’s just the same with dolls. What’s desirable in antiques changes with every generation.”
Jolly Volley has picked out the top ten of the many dolls on sale at Bamfords Specialist Toy and Junvenalia Auction.
All you have to do is find the star lot which sold for £750 minus commission and VAT. I have deliberately alternated between vintage (from the 1920s to 1980s) and antique (before 1920s).
If you’ve done your homework (read the blurb above) the solution will be child’s play.
Which of these is the star lot?
Is it dolly lot number one?
A vintage Palitoy Tressy doll who arrived at the auction in a pale blue dress with her sister ‘Toots’.
Both boxed.
Auction estimate; £40-60
Dolly details; Tressy has been a crowd-pleaser ever since she hit the toy shelves in 1964. Tressy is a long-legged vinyl beauty with a shy side glance. Tressy was first released wearing a lemon, blue or pink shift dress with a little chain belt (missing). Toots came along a year later and – with her pose-able arms and legs – she was perfectly suited for ballet (a popular outfit).
Both dolls had magic tummy buttons which, when pressed, allowed their hair to grow (why isn’t this an option for real-life girls?). She is still popular with collectors today and the outfits and play-sets (record players, hair rollers, make-up etc) are getting harder to source.
But is there more than a hair’s breadth between the hammer price of this Tressy and the other dolls?
Is it doll lot number two?
A stunning Max Handwerck bisque head doll (left in picture) with jointed limbs, a wavy brown-haired wig and all her own teeth.
Auction estimate; £50-80
Dolly details; A veteran of the dolly world – she derives from Germany and was a product of the great doll-making business founded by Max Handwerck (what a great name for a craftsman) in 1855. Not as famous as her illustrious sister ‘Babe Elite’ but she’s still an impressive article standing at 48cms in her black boots. Generally speaking, the bigger the Handwerck doll – the more valuable. In 2001, a perfect doll of 40 cms would have been worth £3,000.
Which means our Handwerck doll should make light work of achieving a £750 bid.
Is it doll lot number three?
This auction lot sees six dolls competing for the title of star lot.
The group includes a Tammy doll; fresh off the ski slope. There’s also a trio of pretty Sindy dolls – nurse, ‘hippy’ and a tennis playing Sindy with three balls. The lot also contains two annoying little sisters; both called Patch. All the dolls are in great condition for 1960s dolls.
Auction estimate; £40-60
Dolly details; The Patch dolls are in hard to find outfits; one a girl guide, the other in her birthday suit with a red velvet cape. But my favourite doll is Tammy in her ‘Snow Bunny’ outfit with its cute fluffy mittens.
Small wonder Tammy was considered the wholesome alternative to the pneumatic Barbie in 60s America.
The Pedigree Sindy ‘nurse’ is also a perfect specimen – down to the pin in the apron; the only thing missing is her paperwork (the doll came with a temperature chart).
But were these dolls enough to send pulses racing at the auction?
Is it doll lot number four?
Presenting a thoroughbred from the stable of the great Armand Marseille. Our pink-cheeked lady is a bisque head socket doll with sleeping blue eyes, long brown curly hair, a pink and blue dress and a thick white coat.
Auction estimate; £50-70
Dolly details: You can’t argue with with this doll’s timeless appeal. She hails from the factory of the great Armand Marseille, (AM) of Thüringia, Germany. From its conception in 1885 (until the 1950s), AM was one of the best known and most prolific makers of bisque head dolls in the world. At its height, the business was producing 1,000 heads a day from numbered moulds (the bodies were made by other manufacturers). The 320/1 doll was distinguishable by its sleepy blue eyes – admittedly one a little more tired than the other – and her hand-painted face.
Is that a damaged eye or a cheeky wink – could this be our star lot?
Is it doll lot number five?
This is an early Tammy doll (a 900-1 if you’re asking) and was sold wearing a blue and white playsuit with white trainer type shoes. She’s factory fresh (boxed) and comes with her original leaflets and stand.
Auction estimate; £40-60
Dolly details: Those youthful looks belie her age – she dates from 1962. This model was notable for her perfectly straight legs, bubble cut hair and the playful blue suit. Tammy was marketed as ‘the girl you love to dress’; her outfits included a cheerleader set, a red hoodie with a cute ‘T’ and a college girl sorority ensemble (not included in this lot).
But could a mint-condition Tammy clean-up at the auction?
Is it doll lot number six?
A heavy-weight of the doll world. This Schoenau & Hoffmeister is a large socket head character doll (impressed marks 914/10, S PB H). Made in Germany, she has fixed blue eyes, an open mouth and long blonde hair. She stands at 72cm.
Auction estimate; £100-150
Dolly details; Our blonde beauty hails from the 1920s; produced some 15 years after the death of company founder Arthur Schoenau. ‘Hoffmeister’ refers to Carl Hoffmeister; a fellow doll maker. The men formed a partnership in 1901, but ended up locking horns over the type of porcelain head to put on their dolls. It was shoulder head v socket head debate which caused Hoffmeister to walk in 1907 – leaving Schoenau in charge of both of their factories. Arthur’s son Curt went on to commission the famous – and famously desirable – Princess Elizabeth doll in 1937. An Elizabeth could be worth a princely £500-600.
Surely a doll with such impeccable connections must be worth a king’s ransom?
Is it doll lot number seven?
Our little boy in blue denim is a 1960s/70s Sasha doll; complete with thick brown hair, tanned body, patterned braces and blue roll neck jumper.
Auction estimate: £40-60
Dolly details: A hugely desirable doll originally designed by Swiss artist Sasha Morgenthaler; a talented multitasker who embarked on doll making at the age of 40. The initial dolls were expensive studio pieces made for individuals but (in the 1960s) Sasha decided to issue a licence so that two factories – one in the UK, the other in Germany – could produce a reasonably priced doll for all children.
Don’t be put off by his glum face. The serious expression was quite deliberate – the dolls were first produced after the war and Sasha believed children wouldn’t relate to happy, smiling dolls. Boy dolls – like the denim-clad boy above – were known as Gregors. Sadly, this doll is missing his trendy brown sandals.
But could he still stroll his way to an easy victory?
Is it doll lot number eight?
A fabulous Heubach Koppelsdorf porcelain headed character doll (No 320-6 1/2). She has sleeping blue grey eyed doll with an open mouth and curly red brown hair. Another large doll, she is 60cm long.
Auction estimate: £80-£120
Dolly details: In the early part of the 20th Century, you’d have to be very wealthy indeed to afford a fine china doll made by Heubach Koppelsdorf. Created after a brief alliance of two world famous doll makers – Ernst Heubach and Armand Marseille – the ‘320’ was one of the most popular dolls the company ever produced.
Our girl is part of doll aristocracy; surely she is the star of the show?
Is it doll lot number nine?
A pair of Pedigree Sindy Dolls (marked 033055X; a production stamp used from the 70s). The pair travelled to the auction in a pretty pink Sindy case with oodles of assorted clothes (some handmade), shoes, hats and a packaged Geraldine dress with sash.
Auction estimate: £40-60
Dolly details: Both doll dates back to Sindy’s glory years – the mid-70s to the mid-80s. It was the era when Pedigree constantly tweaked her body parts (think good plastic surgery) and improving her face (ditto). Fortunately, we don’t need to see her neck stamp to date this duo as the clothes speak volumes about their age – maxi dresses and satin jumpsuits were left in the 1970s for a reason.
Young Miss Geraldine’s dress may look fancy…but she was a cheap Barbie clone doll from Hong Kong. But don’t dismiss the copycat doll; because they’re a curiosity – they can command higher prices than Barbie. Just last year, a Geraldine doll sold for £56.
But can Sindy’s 70s style bump up the value of this lot?
Is it doll lot number ten?
Introducing Princess Suzette, a riotously decadent hand-made cloth doll with a painted face. For all the fine trimmings – a lace-lined dress and satin ballet shoes – this little madam is filled with straw and wood chip.
Auction estimate: £40-60
Dolly details; Made for the ‘boudoir’, this sexy French lady – and other dolls of her type – made headlines in the early 1900s and were designed for sophisticated adults to pose on their beds and chairs. in fact, fashionable flappers would often take them out for cocktails. A doll with all cloth parts like Princess Suzette – as opposed to ones with a shoulder plate and limbs of porcelain – were cheaper to make and buy. Like all fads, the popularity of boudoir dolls soon waned but their glamorous legacy lingers on…
…but ‘can can’ this French ballet star dance her way into the hearts of the auction-goers?
Did you spot the auction winning lot?
Even die-hard collectors were surprised by the final hammer price of the 1960s Sindys et al. But after double-checking with the auction house, I can confirm that doll lot number three attracted the massive £750 bid.
And the other dolls?
Dolls which met or exceeded their valuation;-
Doll one: Tressy and Toots. Valued at £40-60 – the dolls sold for £120.
Doll three; Sindy collection. “Wow”. Valued at £40-60, it sold for £750
Doll five; Tammy doll; Valued at £40-60, it sold for £100
Doll seven; Sasha Doll. Valued at £40-60, it sold for an impressive £110
Doll nine: Sindy dolls and clothes. Valued at £40-60, they sold for £50
Dolls which failed to meet their valuation;-
Doll two: Max Handwerk. Valued at £50-80, it sold for a disappointing £40
Doll four; Armand Marseille. Valued at £50-70, it sold for £40
Doll six; Schoenau & Hoffmeister. Valued at £100-150, it sold for £95
Doll eight; Heubach Koppelsdorf. Valued at £80-120, it sold for £70
Doll ten; Princess Suzette. Valued at £40-60, she made struggled home with £30
Do you see the pattern here? All of the antique dolls featured performed disappointingly on the day while the vintage dolls met or exceeded the auction house expectations.
Conclusion
In the battle between vintage v antique; vintage dolls are winning hand’s down.
It’s an increasingly common phenomena according to Laura Melton, founder of the fabulously informative Facebook group Antique and Vintage Dolls.
“The older dolls are getting cheaper and cheaper,” she explains.
“I believe it’s mostly older women who buy antique dolls. A lot of these older collector have died or they have too many and they’re finding it hard to take care of them due to age. Also, a lot are downsizing meaning a lot of older, antique dolls are coming onto the market. I just wonder who is going to take care of these beautiful dolls after us older people are gone, it worries me a bit.”
As the popularity of vintage dolls* “Most people want dolls that they remember from their childhood as it brings back memories,” she says.
“I just hope some younger people start collecting antique dolls as it’s a way of preserving the past.”
*Buyer’s beware
The popularity of vintage does not extend to all dolls. Bamfords auction featured many dolls from the 1950s-60s which failed to meet their estimate.
Tatty, raggedy-haired composite dolls may be cute but they don’t have the Instagram appeal of their teenage doll counterparts like Sindy and Tressy. Lot 3010 (pictured left) featured four cute dolls. The dolls were valued at £40-60 but failed to gain any bids at all.
Aww.
Bamfords will be hosting a further Toys and Collectors sale on June 12 at the Derby Auction House, Chequers Road, Derby, DE21 6EN
