Since I published my first article on the Amosandra Doll a year and a half ago, I have received many wonderful stories and comments about this very beloved little rubber baby doll. The common thread in most of the stories is her terrible rubber deterioration. I had mentioned that I had previously sold the wonderful doll pictured in that first article (Jan.07) and hope that she is still in nice condition. I also mentioned that the one doll I still have is deteriorating at an alarming rate. I decided to show a couple of pictures of her showing the typical problem and also did some research to share some info with my readers. The info was taken from a August 1991 Doll World magazine article by JoAnn Johnson on doll restoration. She hopes that rubber doll owners enjoy their dolls for their life can be brief! Rubber comes from the sap of a Brazilian tree. It is made up of chainlike links that look like coils. Raw rubber has coils that slip when stretched. When rubber is heated (vulcanized), the coils return to their original position. Sulfur is added in the vulcanization process. The amount of sulfur that is added determines if it will stretch or remain hard. Rubber has an odor that remains even when it ages. It is the natural aging process that causes the rubber to deteriorate. Ms. Johnson recommends that one does not use grease on these dolls for it is harmful to the rubber and actually accelerates the aging process. Under magnification one can see those links loosening. She also recommends cleaning, drying and using talcum powder and covering the doll as much as possible. Also a climate controlled room is advised away from extreme heat, light and moisture. Don’t let them touch other surfaces and definitely don’t store them in plastic cases or bags. She also discusses restoration in length which is way beyond my capabilities. My true feeling is that the problem is inevitable. The dolls that still look good after 60 years are just lucky or have been kept in the best possible environment for many years. Keep them and enjoy them until the end!!

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The ever popular Sweet Sue Doll by the American Character Doll Company came in many sizes and versions during the late 1940′s to the mid 1960′s. Similar to the R&B and Madame Alexander hard plastic girl dolls, these dolls had a vast, quality wardrobe (simple school girl dresses to Sunday Best to luxurious gowns). Dolls came in 15″ to 30″ and were all hard plastic, partially vinyl and an all vinyl doll near the end of production. The early dolls were strung and later became walkers. Dolls were usually marked on the back of the neck (Amer. Char. Doll or American Char Doll), but not on the body. Another characteristic of these dolls is a pale complexion with blush cheeks. Some of the finest and hard to find dolls are the 1957 Sweet Sue Sophisticates. Collectors pay very high prices for these mint in box dolls for they were only made for one year.

The Arranbee Doll Company (aka as R&B) was established in the 1920′s and enjoyed many years of creating high quality dressed dolls. Dolls included baby dolls, toddler type dolls and little girl dolls. The dolls of the 1930′s and 1940′s were mostly made of composition, which was an improvement over the early bisque dolls. Both materials could crack and break easily if not handled with care. In the late 1940′s, hard plastic was introduced and improved the doll industry greatly. All competitive doll companies now manufactured dolls with this new material that increased the durablility of the “play” doll. Arranbee manufactured the girl dolls Nanette and Nancy Lee for about ten years starting in 1947. They were similar to Ideal’s Toni and American Character’s Sweet Sue to name a few. They wore outstanding quality outfits ranging from girl dresses to beautiful gowns and ballerina tutus. Often outfits had real fur trim. Wigs were mohair, human hair, floss and saran. Dolls were strung and later walkers. My 14″ doll has been partially redressed and was a ballerina. She has a wonderful floss wig which has not been restyled. These dolls are a true treasure!

The American Toy & Novelty Co. manufactured dolls that resembled the very popular licensed Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls in the 1930′s and 1940′s. Their names were “Buddy” and “Sis”. These dolls were 15″ tall with oilcloth heads and wigs made of yarn. The bodies of these dolls doubled as their outfits. Buddy’s pants were separate as was Sis’s skirt. Outfits were made from odd pieces of fabric often not matching at all! My “Buddy” doll is only in fair condition, but dolls (especially matching pairs) that are in excellent to mint condition are commanding very high prices on eBay!

The Renwal Manufacturing Co. which was located in New York, New York produced dollhouse dolls and furniture from 1945-1956. As a young girl in the early 1950′s, I spent hours playing with my “bending dolls” with my friends. I never had a metal doll house but just set up the rooms of furniture on the floor! The furniture was made of very colorful plastic with many pieces having moveable parts. The style was very typical of the that period. Pieces were marked Renwal and were also numbered. There are some very hard to find pieces (sewing machine, broom, vacuum cleaner) that command some higher prices. Some pieces had decals and some were hand painted which add to their appeal. It is fun to try to outfit a dollhouse with all the rooms available. Renwal also produced the dollhouse dolls. The family consisted of Father, Mother, Brother, Sister and baby. They was also a Policeman, Doctor, Mechanic and Nurse which are very hard to find. The dolls were made of one color plastic and then painted with flesh tones. It is difficult to find a doll with no rubs to the paint as they were heavily played with. I wish that I still had my policeman, doctor and nurse. The nurse came with and without a cap. Mine had a cap which fit into a hole on the top of her head. I have since had a nurse (pictured with the baby nursery) that didn’t have a hole for the cap. The dolls could sit and move their arms and legs. I think these “bending dolls” were very innovative for their time! I have not seen any of these dolls mint in box in my twenty years of doll collecting. Their value would probably be quite high.

In the early 1940′s (’40 or ’41), Georgene Novelties, Inc. added a unique design to the Raggedy Ann and Andy line. The Awake and Asleep version was 12″ tall and was two-sided, one awake and the other asleep. The head, torso and arms were all one piece (the heart was printed only on the awake side). The striped legs were attached to the torso and the black feet pointed to the outside (appearing the same from both sides). The yarn hair was a simple strip across the top and sides of the head. The first version had the black outline nose, while the later version (mid 1940′s) had a curved red nose with no outline. Georgene also changed the hair to rug cotton on the later dolls. Ann oufits had eyelet collars with many different floral prints. My examples are definitely not mint but do show the difference between the two versions. Mint condition dolls can be very pricey!

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In 1946 Georgene manufactured the third version of their Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls. This version is known as the “Silsby” Ann and Andy. When Myrtle Gruelle remarried, Georgene changed their tag to use her new name, Myrtle Gruelle Silsby. These dolls are very rare because this tag was only used for a short time (the marriage did not last long). They dropped the Silsby name on the tags in 1947. The face was changed to a very sweet young look. The shoe button eyes were lowered, nose was smaller with curved sides and the mouth had a pronounced curve which ended just below the eyes. This face just makes you smile! The wig was still orange cotton yarn that was sewn on and the outfits now had white collars. Ann’s collars had two rows of red stitching and Andy sported a blue ribbon that turned purple with age. There were still some unusual variations such as narrow and wide blue striped legs and the very rare vertical striped legs. These early to mid 1940′s�Georgenes are among the most prized by today’s Raggedy Ann collectors.

The first Georgene Novelties version of the Raggedies was produced until approximately 1944. In 1943-1944 Georgene slightly revised the face of Ann and Andy. The nose was now longer and did not have a black outline. The wigs were still sewn on but were made of thicker cotton yarn (rug yarn). My example of the second version has very thin red and white striped legs. These dolls are very hard to find for Georgene only produced them until 1946. Other changes to the dolls were mainly due to the limited availability of materials during the war. The cotton wigs were more orange, metal buttons were only on Andy’s waist, and floral prints might even be seen on Andy! The usual black shoes could be brown and Andy’s hat was often all white. Since metal was going to the war effort, Ann’s apron now had white cotton ties rather than a metal button. Many of today’s collectors strive to find the many different varieties of the outfits and legs!

Of the several varieties of manufactured Raggedy Ann and Andy cloth dolls, my favorites are the wonderful “Georgene Black Outlined Nose” version. Following the death of Raggedy Ann and Andy’s creator, famous author/illustrator Johnny Gruelle, his wife Myrtle Gruelle gave exclusive rights to Georgene Novelties, Inc. to continue manufacturing these very popular dolls. This first and very collectible version started in 1938. These early Georgene dolls were 18″- 19″ tall. They were made of all cotton materials and stuffed with kapok. They had painted faces, shoe button eyes and 100% wool yarn wigs (only Ann had a topknot) that were sewn on separately. Clothes were made from a variety of cotton floral prints and plaids. Their legs were red and white stripes in two widths. Ann’s apron and Andy’s pants had painted metal mushroom shaped buttons and their outfits were fastened with brass safety pins. It is easy to fall in love with these very special dolls. They are true classic American folk dolls that will never lose their appeal.

After World War II, many dolls were manufactured using a newly developed plastic material. This new material was superior to the previously used composition. It was virtually indestructible so dolls could survive lots of misuse and even be bathed! They could now really be play dolls. The Vogue Doll Company produced a cute little 8″ hard plastic doll with painted eyes. She would become known as the “Painted Eye Ginny” even though the name “Ginny” wasn’t really created until 1951-1952. This doll had a moveable head, arms and legs. She was adorned with a glued mohair wig. The wig was styled with bangs or a side part curled flip. These mohair wigs were very pretty, but could not be combed without losing the original set. It is difficult to find a doll today with an untouched wig and are highly sought after by today’s collectors! These sweet little dolls came dressed in lovely outfits which had two different tags.� The earlier dolls had the “inkspot tag”. It was a white tag with a blue cloud-like spot with Vogue written in white. It was attached to the back of the outfit. The second tag was know as the “wave tag”. It was also a white tag usually folded in half with two wavy blue lines and the words Vogue Dolls. It was sewn into a seam on the back of the outfit. These wonderful little dolls are getting harder to find and are prized by many Ginny collectors.