Did I get bargains.....?

This is a Madame Alexander Little Women Beth in hard plastic with the Maggie face and she's a walker. She has the large hands with the separated fingers which were used from 1950-1951. I saw this doll online at the starting price of $9.99. I was the only bidder and was hopeful that she would be a doll I could restore. Her face was described as pale. I could see from the photo that her lips had lost color and that her right eye looked darker. After unwrapping her I lifted her to take a sniff and was really sad that there was a strong odor. My husband described it as smoky. I thought it was cheese-like. It wasn't vinegar-like or rotten egg-like and couldn't be smelled through the packaging, which I've heard of. I should have sent it immediately back but..... I washed the very dirty, smelly clothes in my usual borax/detergent mix along with Lysol. Her lovely wig got a Lysol bath as well. I noted that the color was mottled on the left arm and leg. The right eye seemed to have a stain which might be rust behind the eye(?). The doll was cleaned with Lysol, her lips and cheeks were made up, her hair was styled and she was redressed and placed in isolation on top an old cabinet in the kitchen which now holds an old child's stove in need of restoration. I will be checking her often and may have to seal her, inside and out, which might involve some breakage as the walker is in great shape and the arms and legs are on tightly. I'd also have to remove the metal parts from the eyes and glue them in place before sealing the inside of the head.

I purchased this Madame Alexander 11 1/2 Little Women Marmee doll with the Lissy face at an antique store in Wisconsin this weekend. I paid about $4 over my self imposed rule because these dolls are seldom seen at a price I can afford. There was an orange stain across parts of the face which I hoped to remove, as well as slight dark marks on a cheek. The clothes were pretty dingy as well. The apron and underclothes cleaned up pretty well. I damp sponged the taffeta dress as it's not a good idea to soak those. I have most of the stains off the face. I'm going very slowly as I don't want to damage her. So, I guess this is sort of a before photo. ........................................................................................ I have taken some chances on ebay and sometimes been very pleased and often times disappointed. A doll once came without one of it's two unattached arms and the seller said he surely put it in the box. A Little Women 70's Meg had a tear in her underskirt and a cloudy eye, which I hadn't noticed in the photos. The Josephine doll which accompanied her had a badly torn dress. And oddest of all, I bought an 8" Alexanderkins in a Spanish outfit which I have never seen elsewhere, with a lovely edging to the shawl. I could tell from the photos that she had triple stitched hair in a curly flip and not the hairstyle of the Madame Alexander Spanish dolls. And I could tell that she had center tie shoes which I'd seen listed as 1956. The problem was that I didn't see that her bent knee walker legs splayed out in a sitting position. I had to take out her hooks and improvise to get them to hang in a normal position. She looks beautiful now but I have no idea what to do with her so that her legs don't dangle. On the other hand, I bought a vinyl head Muffie with no problem when it was described as having been glued together at the crotch (these dolls often are just slightly offset at that seam). I paid very little for any of these dolls. The jury is still out on whether I got a bargain on these two.

Ginny in his pocket

My husband came home from work the day before Father's Day and guess what he had stuck in his shirt pocket?? An incredible little '55-'56 Ginny straight leg walker doll! Of course, now I wish I'd grabbed the camera before I shrieked and grabbed the doll. I have tried for a couple of years to win one on ebay at a price I consider reasonable (cheap) and this certainly was that at $2. She didn't look like this at the time, and again what was I thinking in not getting a "before" photo. The hair was messy and part of the bang was stiff with glue. There was some dried glue at the sides of the face, also. Now, she's clean and her hair is mostly in the original style (a bit fuzzy in spots) and she's wearing a Bon-Bon style outfit I made from some vintage nylon dotted swiss which I found at a yard sale. (I got a lot of this fabric in pink, aqua, white, peach, and yellow, in dotted or floral flocked.) And I want you to notice that I tatted lace trim for the sleeves and neckline. I'm proud of that!!!!!!! I hadn't tatted in years!!

The yard sale Ginny was wearing a cute little pink floral print outfit with a gold tie at the neck so I was beside myself about that. When looking at the tag, however, I discovered that it was a Nancy Ann Storybook outfit. I have since found it, I think, in a black and white photo in the Encyclopedia of Nancy Ann Storybook Dolls on page 287 in a black and white photo of a 1957 ad; and on page 343 Miss Nancy Ann and Little Miss Nancy Ann wear this print in a dress with a green tie. There are pink polka dot panties with the dress which may or may not be original to the dress. So, this is now being worn by a Muffie whose hair didn't seem to fit with any I'd seen until yesterday. I saw one with the identical color of mid length wavy hair, listed as having been owned by a prominent UFDC member, and wearing a pink polka dot cotton dress with puffed sleeves and ruffled trim. So, I'll do a dress for mine now in pink polka dot nylon with a pale pink under slip. I must reveal that this Muffie came to me as a head and torso. She's using another dolls arms and Madame Alexander bent knee legs for now. I got these in an ebay auction thinking they'd come in handy and they all are in use, sadly. The vinyl head Muffie to the left is in another dress from the yard sale dotted swiss fabric. I recently bought her shoes at an antique shop for $1.25. And, again, the Muffie on the right is a strung doll from about '53 and may have been meant as a boy. I know I need to cover the wood in this cabinet. It's not good for the dolls to sit on it for sure.

Here's my articulated Madame Alexander Wendy in a fitting and in her new dress from the yard sale flocked fabric.