The most collectible foreign dolls are handmade, date to the early 1900s, and are undervalued.

By A. Glenn Mandeville

Building an international doll collection is both fun and smart, as the prices for vintage foreign dolls are comparatively low. Many vintage foreign dolls, even well-made ones, can be purchased for a few dollars. Of course, the most sought-after ones, such as the Chinese Door of Hope dolls, sell for several thousand dollars. But the vast majority of these vintage dolls can be purchased for relatively little. This means you can approach these purchases with a sense of fun and curiosity about a time and place now past and without a lot of worry about making an expensive mistake. The most collectible foreign dolls are handmade and date to the early 1900s; most are undervalued but you can expect prices to rise as they become scarce.

But to say you collect foreign dolls is like telling someone you like to work with food. The definition is too broad. To better describe an international doll collection, you would need to further define what kind of international dolls you collect, just as you would want to more precisely describe the kind of work you do with food — whether you create lavish desserts or grow organic vegetables. The purest definition of a foreign doll is one made by hand outside the U.S. and brought to the states as a souvenir or a remembrance of a special place and event. Americans traveling abroad from the mid-19th century through the 20th century purchased these dolls representing regions they visited as souvenirs and as presents for family and friends back home.

Sounds simple, but these dolls can be the hardest to date, as sometimes the same doll was made and sold for decades. These dolls were primarily made at home, sometimes by entire families from various materials, such as cloth, felt, paper, and wire. The families were usually paid by the piece, and the clothes they made for their dolls were usually sewn on. Since no major names were involved, you can find little documentation, so these dolls often slip past the notice of many doll collectors. As a result, even the oldest and top-quality ones are undervalued, offering collectors some of the best bargains out there. New foreign dolls can also be found in international shops in the U.S., shops like the ones you find at Epcot in Walt Disney World in Florida.

In addition to these truly foreign-made dolls in ethnic costume, companies have long dressed their dolls in ethnic costumes, sometimes without redoing the skin tones or facial features. In the late 19th century through to the present, companies such as the German J.D. Kestner, England’s Norah Wellings, and the United States’ Madame Alexander and Vogue created ethnic dolls out of their regular dolls. In the 1960s, Alexander began its Dolls of the World collection, and since then, the company has created many variations but the basic hard-plastic 8-inch doll is still available. Collectors love this type of doll because they have a basic doll to redress plus they have the international costume, giving them added educational and display value from one doll.

Some people make a study of the country the doll’s costume represents and then they display the appropriate sort of national items with the doll. These dolls tend to be worth their purchase price and rarely appreciate in value, but there are exceptions. Mattel has become a leader in the making of ethnic dolls, and its dolls, particularly by designers Byron Lars and Bob Mackie, just come alive. The hair and clothing are outstanding. Mattel’s Dolls of the World collection — the name of the collection varies a bitfrom year to year — has been a mainstay since 1980. Many a child and adult collector have learned a lot about a country from the literature and the information printed on the box. These dolls tend to rise in value a bit, and some of the early ethnic dolls are bringing high prices on the secondary market. Ethnic international dolls from the 1920s to 1950s are undervalued, making now a great time to buy, as values are astonishingly low.

Slightly out of the realm but highly collectible are the ethnic versions of popular dolls. In some cases, the lead character is available in several ethnic versions but is still sold under the character’s name. Another trend is a lead character doll, such as Tonner’s Tyler Wentworth, with ethnic friends. These friends sometimes surpass the lead character doll. An even newer trend is the creation of a doll whose features and skin tone suggest ethnicity, but which ethnicity is up to the child or collector to decide. Sometimes these dolls far surpass the main character in value and also in esthetics and can become legends in themselves. Some collectors claim that these are international dolls because they do mirror another country’s ethnic features, but the more prevailing view is that these dolls represent the multi-ethnicity of America.

As for me, I will consult my trusty World Book Encyclopedia from junior high to learn what a Greek boy was wearing when the doll I am researching was made. Discovering what your international collection is all about makes you a more informed collector and also reminds us all that it is a small world, after all.