Good Deed part II - the gentleman returns

I spent hours sorting and researching all the dolls in the tubs. It seems like there are hundreds, but I know there really aren't that many.

Today the gentleman came back. He said 'Do you still have the dolls I gave you last week?' I said that yes, I did. He said that someone wanted the one in the long white dress. I was very nervous about that.

The tubs were tucked into a corner, piled on top of each other for space reasons. I opened the top one - and there it was! The one he had come to retrieve. It was a 'Mint'* baby he was looking for. (*Bradbury, Danbury, Franklin Heirloom, whatever - that cranked out contrived collectibles in the '80's) I was so glad it wasn't one I had become attached to.




To me, this is the most special doll in the bunch. She needs some TLC - cleaning and reattaching her wig, but she is very sweet. The top of her dress is yellowed from nicotine and I have to find out how to get it off. She's going home with me - soon. I just have to decide where I'm going to put her once she gets there. The little chair is cute, but a bit small. It's part of my collection of props I'd like to sell. We used to take elaborate pictures of the cloth SewSweet Dolls in settings with all sorts of props. Now, I'd like to sell the props, but haven't had much luck.

Dolls are kind of an affliction for me. I have tons. It isn't my intention to keep these recent donations - well, maybe just a few . . .

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished, maybe . .

You know how no good deed goes unpunished? Well - last Friday (Good Friday) an old man (by that I mean lots older than us) called and asked if I would be willing to take some dolls his wife had collected. He said he had been trying with no success, to give them to someone who would appreciate them. He sounded so sad . . I said 'sure'. He showed up a short while later with 4 huge tubs full of porcelain dolls, plus bags of plastic dolls, clothes, shoes, wigs, etc! You know how much room I have here, so I think you can picture this. He was so sweet, and appreciative; talked about his wife a little. I thanked him profusely, and gave him my sympathy in the loss of his wife, and he left.

And, there I was, barely able to get in my office, with 4 huge tubs taking up most of my floor space. My original plan was to just pass it all on to some group that could clean them up and give them to kids, but these aren't toys, they are 'collectibles'. Joey was very encouraging, even offering to sell some on Ebay. His other idea was to offer them on our web site, which would bring in more (and new) customers. A really good idea!



The dolls turned out to be mostly 'contrived collectibles' and porcelain reproductions, but . . . (naturally) there a few I actually like. One, a repro, might even make it home! So what did I say about no good deed? hmmm

So, now to Ebay to look up values. Some have numbers on them, like 4579n, which I think means that they made 10,000 for each letter of the alphabet. That's a lot of dolls. They are probably about 25 years old, which I think is new, but Joey assures me that, to a lot of people that's OLD. Who'd a thought. I think I have to keep the little Fireman. He looks very much like my Tommy, when he was little. Tom always wanted to be a fireman, and he is!


The little 'Cub' is about 4". The doll in white is a lovely, repro about 16" tall.