Noah's Ark
The Noah's Ark was a popular toy in the 19th century. It was considered a suitable toy to play with on Sundays, because it was based on a bible story.
This ark is made from wood, covered with strips ...
Pedlar Doll
This pedlar doll tells fortunes. Her skirt is made up of folded pieces of paper. Each one unfolds, to reveal a rhyme.
Most of the fortunes are about love and marriage :
'A darling young officer, ...
Pedlar Doll
Pedlar dolls were ornaments to display in the home, not playthings. They were dressed like real pedlars, complete with a basket of tiny goods for sale.
This pedlar is made of wood, and carries a large ...
Picture Blocks
This box contains a set of picture blocks. Each wooden cube has part of a different picture on each side. The aim is to match up the cubes so they make a complete picture.
Sets like these often had ...
Plastic Doll
New plastics, developed during World War II (1939 - 1945), were used for doll and toy making from 1945. They largely replaced more traditional materials like porcelain and composition.
This 'black' ...
Plastic Doll
In the 1950's, new plastics (polyethylene, or 'vinyl') gave manufacturers a soft and flexible material for producing dolls.
This doll has a hard plastic body and legs, with soft plastic head and arms.
The ...
Plastic Doll
This plastic fashion doll, called 'Little Miss Vogue', comes with the original box and several fashionable outfits from the early 1960's.
The head is made from soft plastic, with the hair inserted ...
Porcelain Head Doll
This doll was made by the French maker Jules Steiner. His company made high quality dolls, as well as mechanical figures.It has a bisque head, with composition body and limbs. 'Composition' is a papier-mache ...
Porcelain Head Doll
This doll, sold under the trade name 'Revalo', was made by the German maker Gebruder Ohlhaver.
It has a bisque head - a matt (unshiny) porcelain, with blue closing eyes and a real hair wig.
The ...
Porcelain Head Doll
This doll has a porcelain head with painted hair and features. It is called a 'glazed china' because the head has been given an overglaze to make it shiny.
Glazed china heads were popular until the ...
Porcelain Head Doll
This doll has a head made from untinted bisque. This is a matt (unshiny) porcelain with painted features added, but is otherwise left white.
It has a fabric body, with bisque arms and legs. The clothes ...
Porcelain Head Doll
This fashion doll was probably made in France, perhaps by the firm of Pierre Jumeau.
Fashion dolls were popular between 1860 - 1890, and were made to look like elegant young women.
This doll has ...
Porcelain Head Doll
This doll has a bisque head - a matt (unshiny) porcelain, with closing blue glass eyes and a mohair wig. Its body is made from leather, with bisque arms and composition legs.
Porcelain Head Doll
This doll's head was made in Germany by the maker Armand Marseille. His porcelain factory began making bisque doll's heads from c.1890, and became one of Europe's biggest producers.
Bisque is a matt ...
Porcelain Head Doll
Toys become even more interesting when we know something about their history. This doll belonged to Winifred Woodcock, who was born in 1934. It was a Christmas present in 1938, when she was 4 years old. ...
Porcelain Head Doll
This bisque head doll, with her trunk of clothes, was given to Irene Hey for Christmas 1922. It was one of the best presents she ever had:
"This precious doll came to me on Christmas Day in 1922. I ...
Pot Head Doll
This doll was made in Staffordshire during World War I (1914 - 1918).
Imported German dolls were not available during the war, and some English porcelain factories made doll heads to fill the gap left ...
Puppet
Wooden articulated 'Jolly Boy' puppet.