This is a popular toy doll from the early 1900's that I found at the Orwell Corner general store. It has a porcelain head and hands. It also has a white kidaline jointed doll body with kidaline arms. It has full movement at the knees and cloth feet. It is filled with sawdust and covered in cotton. The doll was made by Armand Marseille in 1895.

Young children enjoyed the pleasure and company of a doll. Dolls' dresses came in many colours because many were hand-made by the mothers as gifts, but sometimes parents bought dresses as special gifts. Dolls' prices ranged from $0.50 to $2.00. Some childeren who couldn't afford the dolls being sold at the general store used the Eaton's Catalogue to cut out pictures of people, furniture, etc. They would then glue sticks or wood to the back and use the pictures of people as paper dolls.

Many of the dolls' eyes closed when the doll was on its back. During my research at the Artifactory, I found out that if porcelain dolls are stored on their backs, the glue attaching the eyes will come undone. The eyes will be lost in the head and will not be able to be taken out. There is only one way to put the eyes back in place, and that is to break open the head. Once you break the head, you can reglue the eye and try to put the head back together. Dollmakers used porcelain because it was easier to mold into the most realistic head possible and it took to colour well.

You can also look at the video called "Dolls" that I made.