Following on from Pt 2

I believe this little girl may be a Shirley Temple doll. She came just as you see her with the sort of pinky mismatched clothing, a cotton dress with crocheted jacket & booties.  I haven’t changed the outfit to date as it seems to suit her & I love her as is as I found here.

 

 

She has all the usual signs of age related wear & tear not uncommon in composition dolls.  Her body mark identifies her as a RELIABLE doll made in Canada.

 

 

That gorgeous little face, the cracking & crazing, the brittleness of the composition around her lips, the skin & the bruised nose . . .  The crazing comes from cracks in the outer surface. Yes, OK, some of you won’t agree it’s a gorgeous face. It is to me & a big part of what draws me to her and other similar dolls.

 

 

I’m quite confident her hair is mohair by look & feel.  A bit of a Google search reveals that the Reliable Toy Company in Canada used mohair on their dolls from 1922 until 1955.

She’s about 15″ long & has blue glass eyes, the sleep or sleepy  eyes, with remnants of hair eyelashes on top.

While her body shows wear and tear her limbs are all connected meaning she doesn’t need re-stringing.

 

 

The sleepy eyes close when the doll is laid down.

Little finger missing on her right hand.

 

Somebody loved this little girl before me. And I love her just as she is.

No need to do anything to her to bring her back to life.  She talks to me just as she is, tells me her cracked & crazed story.