GERMAN DOLLS FOR THE FRENCH TRADE BY DEBORAH JENKINES (Double click to enlarge)

Here is Deborah's handout from her program of the same name.

GERMAN DOLLS FOR THE FRENCH TRADE,May Joint Meeting

Here are our UFDC (United Federation of Doll Clubs) Region 9 Director Deborah Jenkines' French and German dolls she brought as examples for her talk "German Dolls Made for the French Trade" for our May 16 joint meeting with all 4 Birmingham dolls clubs in attendance. We had 29 at the Homewood Library meeting to hear Deborah's interesting and informative talk about the German porcelain factories copying the beautiful French dolls and selling them as French. This occurred during the late 1800's and early 1900's. Most of these dolls were unmarked; the French marks were erased. There were no copyright laws at that time.

We appreciate Deborah's visit from Georgia. Many volunteers in the 4 Birmingham, AL doll clubs helped make this meeting a success; i.e.,Birmingham Doll Club of Alabama, Magic City Doll Club, Doll Study Club of Alabama, and Kollectors' Choice.

RARE BLISS DOLL HOUSE

Thank you, JoAnn, for sharing your wonderful and rare lithographed wooden Bliss dollhouse with us. Bliss is printed on the door. Remember to double click on the photos to enlarge. Bliss made wooden products for 100 years, and began making wooden toys in the 1870's. Click on this URL to find out more about these houses:

http://www.cynthiahoweminiatures.com/bliss.htm

B'HAM DOLL CLUB OF AL ANNUAL DOLL SALE

On April 17 the Birmingham Doll Club of Alabama held our Annual Doll Sale. We had good weather, good comraderie, and met some new doll collectors, as well as greeting more advanced collectors. We raised funds for breast cancer research with sales from our charity table.

2 CARVED HITTY DOLLS

These are carved by Sharon. The big one, 10.5", is not quite finished. She was started when Sharon was carving in the Ozarcs. The small one, Hitty Flossie, has had everything done to her - like Joan Rivers, as Sharon says. Beautiful carving, Sharon.

TWO HITTY DOLLS ENJOYING BIRMINGHAM SNOW

Here are 2 Hitty dolls that Sharon carved enjoying the recent Birmingham snow. Girls, where are your coats? Nice carving job, Sharon!

Go to http://www.hitty.org

to find out about the original Hitty doll and the book that was written about her.

PHOTOS FROM HUNTSVILLE LEEANN LUNCHEON

Here are Billye, Lydia, and Martha arriving.

Here is Martha with Leeann and her Valentine dress, across from a nice lady who moved from New Orleans after Katrina. She and her daughter (2 down) make porcelain dolls. Leeann creator, Denis Bastien, is seated next to her.

Wilma is trying to decide what to buy next - Leeann clothes, shoes, or earrings.

HUNTSVILLE ROAD TRIP - LEE ANN EVENT

Bastien doll clothes for sale

I think Wilma likes her doll and outfit!

Special valentine dress for LeeAnn

Denis Bastien, LeeAnn creator, happily signs dolls for purchaser after his interesting and informative presentation about how he got started with his doll company Affordable Designs. An interesting aspect of his business is working with the Chinese factories that make and dress his dolls.

HUNTSVILLE DOLL CLUB LUNCHEON

Here are photos from our road trip to Huntsville for the Valentine's Day LeeAnn Event. The luncheon was
enjoyable, the hat-making workshop fun, and there were sales displays of items for LeeAnn, Denis Bastien's doll that was our favor. The photos show some of Mr. Bastien's dolls for sale, 2 of our members enjoying the day, a table of delighted girls from a private girls' school, and one special find (valentine dress for LeeAnn). The 68 dolls offered today are one-of-a-kind, and Mr. Bastien kindly signed our dolls on their fannies. LOL His dolls are offered for sale at the Paris Doll Museum, and were featured there in an exhibit, with dolls posed in the windows. I have seen this important museum, and am quite impressed that they sell his dolls.

MINTY EBAY FINDS

Here is a 16.5" hard plastic 1950's walker with "160" on her neck. She may be LuAnn Simms by Roberta Doll Co. LuAnn was a singer, and one of her recordings is "Little Rag Doll." The 1915-1922 compo on the right is 15" Effanbee's "Baby Dainty," all original,complete with skates. Her body is cloth. They are both all original and in wonderful condition; dolls like this hold their value.

CLOTH DOLL DISPLAYS (Double click to enlarge pics)

This collector loves cloth dolls, as you can see, but these china dolls at the bottom by Ruth Gibbs caught her eye, and they joined the others in her doll case.

EFFANBEE PATSY LOOK-ALIKES

Effanbee's Patsy dolls were a hit in the 1920's and 1930's, and many other companies tried to copy her looks without getting too close in order to avoid a lawsuit. This resulted in many other cute dolls representing this time period for collectors to enjoy today. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed this program on often overlooked dolls.

MD. ALEXANDERS BABIES WITH KITTY

Here are 2 sweet Md. Alexander babies in their Christmas dresses - Victoria and Kitten, along with the real cat Hello Kitty. These belong to our brand new doll club member Lydia. Glad to have you with us, Lydia!

ENJOYING SECRET SANTAS

No ashes and switches in these stockings!