A bisque doll or porcelain doll is a doll made partially or wholly out of bisque porcelain. Bisque dolls are characterized by their realistic, skin-like matte finish. They had their peak of popularity between 1860 and 1900 with French and German dolls. Bisque dolls are collectible, and antique dolls can be worth several thousand US dollars. Antique German and French bisque dolls from the 1800s were often made as children’s playthings, but contemporary bisque dolls are predominantly made directly for the collectors market.

Colloquially the terms porcelain doll, bisque doll and china doll are sometimes used interchangeably. But collectors, when referring to antique dolls, make a distinction between china dolls, made of glazed porcelain, and bisque dolls, made of unglazed porcelain. When referring to contemporary dolls the terms porcelain and bisque are sometimes used interchangeably.

Most bisque dolls have a head made of bisque porcelain and a body made of another material. It is usually tinted or painted a realistic skin color. The bisque head is attached to a body made of cloth or leather, or a jointed body made of wood, papier-mâché or composition, a mix of pulp, sawdust, glue and similar materials. Doll bodies are only rarely made entirely of bisque because of its fragility and weight. Bisque dolls usually have eyes made of glass. They vary widely in size, from lifesize down to half an inch.

History

The earliest European porcelain dolls were china dolls, made predominantly in Germany between 1840 and 1880. China dolls were made of white glazed porcelain, giving them a characteristic glossy appearance, and their hair was painted on. Parian dolls were made in Germany of white unglazed porcelain from the 1850s onwards.

French and German bisque dolls began taking over the market after 1860, and their production continued until after World War I. These dolls wore wigs, typically made from mohair or human hair. Between approximately 1860 and 1890 most bisque dolls were fashion dolls, made to represent grown up women. They were intended for children of affluent families to play with and dress in contemporary fashions. These dolls came from French companies like Jumeau, Bru, Gaultier, Rohmer, Simone and Huret, though their heads were often manufactured in Germany. In the Passage Choiseul area of Paris an industry grew around making clothing and accessories for the dolls.

Up until the mid-1800s, most dolls were made to represent grown-ups, and when child-like dolls first appeared it was a big shift. By the late 1800s child-like dolls overtook the market. Foremost among these were the French Bébés from doll makers like Jumeau, Bru, Steiner and Rohmer, which grew in popularity between the 1860s and 1880s. These were high quality dolls made with great skill. Like the earlier fashion dolls, they were made for children and dressed in contemporary children’s clothing. In the 1890s German doll makers began taking over the market with less expensive dolls. In response, the French doll makers began making dolls as a consortium under the name Société Française de Fabrication de Bébés et Jouets (S.F.B.J.) but these later French Bébés were often of lesser quality.

German child-like dolls were predominantly produced between 1890 and 1930. The earliest ones are often referred to as dolly-faced dolls and were made by companies like Armand Marseille, Simon and Halbig, K*R, and Kestner. Many came from the Thuringia region, which has significant deposits of kaolin, which is needed for the manufacturer of porcelain. In the early 1900s companies like Kämmer and Reinhardt, Heubach and Kestner began making more realistic and expressive child-like dolls, often called character-faced dolls.

Small lower-priced all-bisque dolls known as penny dolls were common from the late 1800s to the 1930s. They were unarticulated and made of a single piece of bisque. A few German manufacturers like Kestner also made more detailed dolls entirely of bisque with articulated necks. Bisque was the most common material for doll heads until the turn of the century, when composite material took over. In the early 1900s the bisque doll production began moving to the United States. American Kewpie dolls from the early 1900s were made of bisque, before celluloid became more common.

In the 1980s bisque dolls had a revival with the growth of the collectors market and towards the end of the 20th century production began to move to China.

Collecting

Antique bisque dolls are collectible and can be quite valuable. The most expensive bisque doll ever sold went for US$200 000. But prices vary widely depending on the quality and condition of the doll. The bisque should be slightly translucent without spots or holes and have well painted detailed features. More articulated bodies that allow for a wider range of posing, like jointed wood or composition bodies, are valued higher than stiffer papier-mâché or leather bodies.

French 1860-1890 fashion dolls are commonly worth over US$2000, and dolls from well-known doll makers like Jumeau, Bru and Huret can be worth over US$20,000. Among the French Bébés early dolls from Jumeau and Bru generally go for several thousand dollars, while later S.F.B.J dolls may be worth only a few hundred. Among German dolls, the character-faced dolls are the most collectible, with rarer dolls fetching several thousand dollars. At the lower end of the price range are dolls that can be found for a few hundred dollars, like dolls from Armand Marseille and common types of dolls from Kestner. Unmarked dolls that can’t be identified as coming from a specific manufacturer also fetch lower prices. Small all-bisque penny dolls can be found at low prices as well.
Source: Wikipedia

Text & Photos by Denise Van Patten
Source: About.com

Part one of this series covered early dolls–from the Queen Anne wood dolls through papier mache and wax dolls. Now, we turn to some of the jewels of antique doll collecting–Chinas, Parians, French and German fashion dolls, and the French and German child dolls. Although this is mostly a historical series, general price ranges have been included for many types of dolls.

China Dolls and Parians

The first first type of antique doll that is widely-known among non-doll collectors is the, the china doll, and her close cousin, the rarer parian. The china doll had her heyday between 1840 and 1880, before bisque dolls became preferred by children, although china dolls were still mass-produced as late as the 1920s. China dolls have heads of glazed porcelain, and parians have heads of unglazed porcelain, and the majority were produced in Germany from 1850 on. China dolls are often identified by their hairstyles–be it a covered wagon style (hair flat on top with sausage curls around the head, 1840s), an Alice in Wonderland (molded head band, 1850s) or the Dolly Madison (curls all over and a molded ribbon)–whatever was fashionable at a certain time. Most china dolls represented ladies, and were fashionably dressed in up-to-date fashions. After about 1880, china heads were often sold separately, leaving the doll owner to make her own doll body and costume. The more elaborate the hairstyle and decoration on a china or parian doll, generally the higher the value–from about $300 for a common 1860s Highland Mary, to several thousand for a rare, elaborately decorated parian with a swivel-head and glass eyes.

German and French Fashion Dolls

Finally, we come to the best known group of antique dolls–the German and French bisque dolls. These dolls were produced from the 1840s until after World War I, with the amount of production and number of manufacturers increasing significantly around 1860. The years from 1860 through 1890 were dominated by fashion dolls. These dolls were made to represent ladies, and they were dressed in exquisite, elaborate reproductions of current fashions. Most were made in France (frequently from heads produced in Germany, although Jumeau and Bru produced their own heads) with inset glass eyes and woman-shaped kid bodies, by companies such as Jumeau, Bru, Gaultier, Rohmer and Huret. Fashion dolls, despite their elaborateness, were definitely playthings. Little girls (usually affluent since these dolls were quite expensive) would perfect their sewing skills by sewing wardrobes for their dolls, as they learned about the importance and substance of fashion for mid 19^th century women. Often these dolls would come with entire trunks of clothes and accessories! In fact, an entire industry existed to costume and accessorize these dolls, in the Passage Choiseul area of Paris. These businesses included seamstresses, milliners, shoemakers, jewelers, and shoemakers! Magazines instructed girls on the proper fashions, and also provided patterns for making clothing. Today, fashion dolls are very expensive to collect, varying in price from around $2,000 for unmarked or later dolls, up to $20,000 or more for Hurets and rare examples in original outfits.

French Bébés

Bébés, or dolls made to represent children, were quite revolutionary for their time (starting about 1850), since most dolls up until that time were made to represent adults. Eventually, Bébés would overtake fashion dolls in popularity, and would lead to their demise. French Bébés, made by the master doll makers Jumeau, Bru, Steiner, Rohmer and others would have their ascendancy from the 1860s to the 1880s, followed by the German doll makers, who basically took over the industry with their quality, but lower priced products in the 1890s.

French Bébés were the pinnacle of the dollmaking industry. These dolls, with their kid or composition bodies, fine bisque heads, and beautiful expressions, were again expensive toys made for upper-class children. Bébés were usually sold exquisitely dressed, in doll-sized fashions worn by children of that era. Today, prices for French Bébés vary widely, depending on quality. Expect to pay several thousand at minimum for Jumeau or Brus. Later French Bébés, by the S.F.B.J (which was formed by French doll makers in 1899 in response to the threat from the German manufacturers) are not as fine quality, with more heavily tinted faces, and lesser clothing, can be had for several hundred dollars, especially for post-WWI examples.

German Dolly-Faced Dolls

BébésThe German “dolly-faced” child dolls are the ubiquitous antique bisque dolls that collectors today are most likely to find, produced from 1890 to about 1930, from such manufacturers as Armand Marseille, Simon and Halbig and Kestner. Most of these dolls came from the Thuringia region, which had rich clay deposits used to make the porcelain. Many of the German dolly-faced dolls are unmarked as to manufacturer, and there are many manufacturers that had their names and other details literally obliterated by the World Wars. The most sought-after of the German dolls of the early 20^th century are the character-faced dolls, produced in response to consumer demands for more realistic-looking children dolls. Kämmer and Reinhardt, Heubach and Kestner produced many high-quality expressive character dolls which are eagerly sought by collectors today. Also eagerly sought by collectors are all-bisque dolls (head, torso and limbs all made of bisque) from manufacturers such as Kestner, Heubach, and Simon and Halbig.

For German bisque dolls, as with all antique dolls, remember that quality varies widely even within one manufacturer’s products–dolls with finely detailed features (such as feathered brows and individual upper and lower eyelashes) and pale bisque are always preferred over dolls with single-stroke or other simplified features and darkly tinted bisque. Also, today’s collectors prefer closed-mouth bisque dolls, since many fewer of them were produced than open-mouth dolls. Common German bisque dolls of average quality which are unmarked or from Armand Marseille can be found for as little as $200 or $300, with prices for sought-after German characters soaring into the thousands.
Portions of this series first printed in County Lines Magazine March, 1999

Text and Photos by Denise Van Patten
Source: About.com

There is so much to learn about antique dolls and their costuming–their history, the history of their creators, manufacturers and seamstresses, how children played with them–research turns up more information about all of this each year, as prices and collector interest continues to rise on all but the most common antique dolls.

All dolls created before approximately 1930 are considered antique. This is a somewhat arbitrary division, but in general, most pre-1930 bisque, china, papier mâché, wood, and wax dolls are considered antique by collectors. For years, all-composition dolls were considered modern, but that is slowly changing, and many of the pre-1930 composition dolls are now considered antique. One reason for this division is that many of the German manufacturers of bisque dolls made them from the 1890s through about 1930, and it is often hard to tell exactly what decade the doll was produced if it is not in original clothing. Most dolls you find today are, unfortunately, not found with original clothing, wigs, shoes and undergarments. Although this is mostly a historical series, general price ranges have been included for many types of dolls.

Early Dolls

The majority of antique dolls found today were manufactured from 1850 on, although dolls representing adults from the 17^th and 18^th century are rarely found. Most of the very early dolls were made in England by individual craftsmen who carved the dolls of wood,painted their features, and also costumed the dolls. Collectors call the wood dolls from England from the 18^th and early 19^th centuries “Queen Anne” dolls, which is somewhat confusing, since Queen Anne’s reign ended in 1714! These dolls, in good to excellent condition, are extremely rare, and cost from about $1,500 for an early 19^th century doll, to well over $20,000 for dolls made in the late 17^th century (very few have survived–less than 30 by some reports).

Papier Mache

Next oldest, and easier to find are the papier mâché dolls made from the beginning of the 19^th century through the early 20^th century. These dolls were mass-produced in Germany, France, and the United States, and proved a cheaper alternative to wood dolls, since molds could be used. The beginning of production of these dolls marked the beginning of the powerhouse German dollmaking industry, which would dominate the doll industry (except for the heyday of the French Bébé) until World War I. The first well-known American doll maker, Ludwig Greiner of Philadelphia, made papier mâché dolls from 1840 to 1874, and then his sons until 1883. Most papier mâché dolls have molded hair painted black, wooden limbs with a kid body, and painted eyes. A few choice dolls have glass eyes. The value of papier mâché dolls has started to rise because of the difficulty of finding them in excellent condition, as well as the out-of-sight prices of the sought-after early French and German bisque dolls. Prices range from about $500 for a small, marked post-1872 Greiner up to $2,000+ for exceptional German “milliners” models, and French examples from the early to mid 1800s.

Wax Dolls

The wax doll is generally a contemporary of the papier mâché doll. The earliest wax dolls found by collectors tend to be the poured wax dolls made in England (after the demise of the wooden doll industry) from 1840 through the remainder of the 19^th century, although pressed wax dolls were made before this time for the very wealthy. The poured wax dolls were made by pouring liquid into warm molds, and then, the hair, and glass eyes were set in the head. Poured wax dolls were mostly made in home-based businesses, and making wax dolls was very hazardous–if a doll maker wasn’t seriously burned by the hot wax, he could have his lungs harmed by the sawdust used to stuff bodies, or, he could be poisoned by the lead used to color the wax!

Bodies of wax dolls were generally made of stuffed cloth, with wax limbs (as you can see, the genre that dolls fall into is determined by the material that their heads are made of–NOT from the materials used for the bodies). Wax dolls can have beautifully realistic heads, because wax can mimic skin much better than either wood or papier mâché. Poured wax dolls from mid-19^th century England are mostly valued between $1000 to $2000; earlier dolls much higher. Some later wax dolls are stamped by the maker on the torso; such identification greatly enhances the value. Wax dolls were also made with plaster or papier mâché reinforcement in both England and Germany, and later examples are less costly to today’s collectors, often only a few hundred dollars.

In Part II of this series, we will turn our attention to China and Parian Dolls, French and German fashion dolls, French Bebes and the German Dolly-faced dolls.

Portions of this series first appeared in County Lines Magazine, March 1999.

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