SPARKLE PLENTY by Ideal

Sparkle Plenty was made by the Ideal Toy Company in 1947.  Sparkle is the daughter of Gravel Gertie and Bob O. Plenty (BO Plenty, gotta love it).  These characters appeared in the Dick Tracy comic strip created by Chester Gould in 1931.  She was introduced to the world in LIFE magazine August 25, 1947, where Ideal ran a full page ad. Sparkle had been "born" in May of 1947 in the comic strip.  Her introduction to the comic strip tripled the fan mail in to the comic strip.  The manager of Gimbel's Department Store felt that a character this popular would make a great doll and would need little promotion.  He took his idea to Ideal and 48 days later, production began on Sparkle Plenty.

 The doll is made of "magic skin" a latex material developed in 1940, that was stuffed with cotton inside the body of the doll and felt soft to the touch and was supposed to be washable.  Sparkle Plenty is easily identifiable from her long LONG blonde yarn hair.  She was made in a 14 inch size baby doll wearing a cotton saque or a dress with a white collar.  She came in two different boxes, the most desirable with the comic covering and the other a plain generic print style box.  According to the Life Magazine, "at a stiff  $ 5.98 apiece,10,000 sold in the first five days. Sales in the next two weeks zoomed to 22,000. At this rate more Baby Sparkle Plentys will be sold in the last five months of this year than all other types of doll put together."

You would think that would mean that there would be lots of these dolls around. Sadly, that's not the case.  Sparkle's great new body was not very durable.  Most of them were damaged from heat, water, or other forces and have rotted away.  When you do find her, you find a blackened body, often cracked and/or missing fingers or other parts.  Usually you just find a head.  I've had several heads over the years but rarely a body and recently I got my first Sparkle Plenty in the box.  She has darkened but she's in excellent condition for a Sparkle!

Sparkle was made until 1951.  She came in two sizes, in different outfits, and had her own cradle, paper dolls, even a soap carved in the shape of a Sparkle Plenty doll. 

TRIKI MIKI "As Seen On TV" in 1971

Another estate sale find that fascinated me.  I thought this was just a renamed tiny Dollikin.  Nope.  Little Miss Dollikin is the same size, with the same body, but she is a redhead and the hair is straight and center parted, and shorter than Triki Miki.  Like the Little Miss Dollikin, Triki Miki  is a 6.5 inch tall strung doll with 10 articulated joints.  There's a great website that talks about Triki Miki, http://ddahlia.tripod.com/miki.html, a fascinating article with photos.  The  girl shown here I bought at the estate sale of the same person who owned the Anna Moore doll I wrote about yesterday.  I have listed this girl on eBay:  Evidently she was advertised heavily on television in 1971.  She was sold only at Woolworth's and Woolco.  The common version is a blonde, but this brunette version is considered hard to find. Also there's http://www.toppertowers.com/apts/riverview/scarletrob/tmlmd.htm that discusses more of her clothing. She did have a wardrobe and she was intended to compete with Dawn and Rockflowers.  She also had cases made for her in different colors.  If you have Dawn things you can't identify, the clothing website I've listed might be of use to you.

It appears that there's a more rare version that is a center part brunette. And she came in an exceptionally rare African American version.   
. 

Anna Moore Doll from 1976

This is the kind of thing I love about what I do.  I love to learn about something new, like this doll.  I went to an estate sale of a vintage doll collector last week. I thought this doll was Sindy, from England.  But when I got her home and started to list her for sale, I found that she has a head mark of 036001X.  That's not a Sindy head marking.  It's close, but that isn't it.  So I googled her head mark and found that belongs to a doll called Anna Moore, made by Pedigree, like Sindy. She's about 9 inches tall, platinum blonde hair styled in a flip.  She has a multitude of joints, similar to how Dinamite, by Mego was made.   Then I found some information on her from a website, 
http://www.modelhorsegallery.info/p/p-companies/mhcs_pedigree.html, and learned that my doll was actually wearing her original outfit.  The outfit is marked Mego, which confused me originally.  But Mego made the bodies of these dolls and the head was made by Pedigree, the folks who brought us Sindy.  This doll was based on Anne Moore, an Olympic Equestrian team member from Great Britain in 1972.  She won a silver medal in the individual mixed jumping event.  In 1976, Pedigree created a Happytime set with Anna Moore and her horse, Psalm.   Anna was sold wearing a yellow shirt, tan jodhpurs,  black short boots and a black riding hat.  That's what this doll is wearing, sadly I don't have her horse.  She's not the most attractive doll, but apparently the doll had lots of horse related accessories available for purchase. So now that I've learned what I can about her, I'll be selling her :-) 

Often I'll buy a doll, like this one, not really knowing much about her, but just liking the doll.  Then I learn about her as I write her up to sell.    

To join or not to join (doll groups that is :-)

You know, I've never been much of a joiner.  As Groucho Marx said "I refuse to join any group that would have someone like me as a member."  I never went through rush in college, I wouldn't join the Lawyers Association for Women (why did women need a separate but equal bar?). Well, over the years I've mellowed some, and I believe that doll groups are a good thing.  These days there are a couple of different types and variations within those.  There are the ones like we had in "the old days" and there are now cyber-groups.  There are specialized groups, like Barbie clubs, and there are general doll groups that discuss everything, old, new, play line, collector line, vintage, antique.  There are advantages and disadvantages to each one.

I prefer the ones where you learn something.  As a vintage doll collector I like to learn about vintage dolls.  And I am happy to learn a little about almost anything, even dolls that I'd never consider collecting.  I have recently been trying to figure out the manufacturer of a compo doll for a lady.  It's a little what I would call a "Patsy type" compo that seems to have a mark on its head but it isn't clear enough for me to see too well.  It has the one bent right arm that Patsys have.But it doesn't have molded hair, it was wigged at one time.    I'll keep looking on line and in books to see what I can find.I learned about Patsys and Patsy types when I bought a collection years ago from someone who had an Arranbee Nancy and I had to research it to sell it.   (They have neat little clothes too, sigh....always about clothes with me)

Anyway, in a general doll group you may learn something like that from someone who has a doll they bring in.  But if you belong to a specific doll group, such as a Barbie group, then you'll never see that doll, but you may learn more details about Barbie than you even knew existed (like there's a pair of pants shown in one of the Barbie clothing guide books that was never made by Mattel, or how there were no red haired number 1's,2's 3's or 4's so if you hear of one of those, it's been rerooted or the owner doesn't have a clue.) 


Now that the internet has become a staple in every household, you can join a club without leaving your chair.  I belong to a number of online groups, I even started one on yahoo (Vintage Alexander Cissy Doll Collectors) a couple of years back.  Those groups have the benefit of having all sorts of online features that you don't really get in an "old fashioned" doll club, like having an area that you can use as a reference site.  Our Cissy group has the best online reference I've ever seen, better than any book. Members can share photos of their collections, and of their family too for that matter.  We can visit via type.  But the disadvantage is that we rarely get to actually SEE each other live and in person.  Our Cissy group is going to try to remedy that with a little get together in NYC to see the Alexander Heritage Museum this summer.  So it isn't insurmountable.  But we have almost 90 members, a small group by on line standards, and one of those folks lives as far away as New Zealand, so the chances are slim that all our members can get there.  Nevertheless, on line groups are wonderful things.  

So I recommend that you join a group, or two or ten.  If there are some "live" ones in your area, check them out.  See what it takes to become a member.  Go to meetings, more than one.  See if they like you and if you like them.  If you do, then you make a commitment to support them, and attend meetings and functions.  On line groups can be much the same way.  There are many many on line groups.  Yahoo has hundreds.  The largest ones are not necessarily the best or a good fit with you.  Sometimes the smaller groups are more suited to you.  You have to see what you think you like best.  Some are very structured, even online, and some are very  flexible.  Again, I like the ones where I learn something.  I'm happy with social groups, but I like to learn something too.  So I try to be involved with groups that are about the study of the doll, dollology, but have fun too. 

And in those groups you find like minded individuals who don't think you need to be put away somewhere until you come to your senses and get over this doll nonsense. 

What "should" I collect

You collect what you are drawn to, what inspires you or influences you or makes you happy.  I have a rule to never ever buy a doll because I think I can make money on it, unless I'm willing to live with it if it doesn't sell.  If you buy what you like, you'll still be happy if the collectibles market takes a nosedive, and it has been known to do that.  Every time I've ever bought something solely because I thought I could turn it for a profit, I got burned.  I've sworn off antique dolls.  They don't interest me, I don't understand them, and I don't want to learn about them.  I've been known to sell them on consignment, but I won't buy one to resell because I don't know what I'm doing and I always get burned.  I love fashion dolls.  I love the fashions for fashion dolls even more.  So generally that is what I buy for myself, and what I buy for resale. 

 I have a fairly specialized area of interest and consequently area of knowledge.  I know Vintage Cissy and her fashions from 1955-1962, and Barbie from 1959-1967 (and her other "family members") and the licensed products from that time period.  I know Vogue Jill from the 50's, and her clothing as I do collect her, and some about Chatty Cathy, Revlons, American Character Toni, Sweet Sue Sophisticate, and other fashion dolls of the period.   This is the era that interests me the most, and Barbie and Cissy from that era are really what I care most about in fashion dolls.  Over the years, I've picked up a little on some of the composition dolls, particularly Shirley Temple from the 30's, but Tennessee is not a good place to try to keep a compo collection.  Too much humidity, and too great a fluctuation in temperature.  It's hard on the compo.  But because the 30's Shirleys have such cool clothing, I have been known to buy them.  I love to fool with the clothes.  It all comes back to the wardrobe,  doesn't it? :-)

Strangely enough, there are some other weird things I like that I buy for myself  and to resell. I love Liddle Kiddles, so if I find them, I buy them.  I love to fool with them, I love their little accessories,  and if they don't sell, it's ok, I like to have them around.  I love 40's and 50's dollhouse furniture, up through Petite Princess in the 1960's.  I like to learn about it, I enjoy finding pieces I need as well as pieces I don't need. I have a few Keystone dollhouses from the late 40's and a metal house from the 50's.  If I find a lot of furniture at a sale, I'll buy it, pick out what I need for my houses and sell the rest.  I'm still on the lookout for the very very cool Petite Princess 6 room house.  I have the store display but this was a house, made like a 3 story townhouse, and I've never had it.    

So buy what you like, and it may retain its value, it may not, it may go up in value and make your children some money :-)  but whatever it does, if you buy what you like, you'll always be happy with it.

Buying Vintage Dolls

Usually one doesn't make a conscious decision to collect vintage dolls.  You buy a doll because it's pretty, or you had it as a child (and now you can  have it again :-) or for some reason known only to you it appeals to you.  And then you buy another, and that makes you a collector.  The next thing you know you have a half a dozen.  At some point you may make a conscious decision to continue buying vintage dolls, and I'd encourage that thought pattern.  I'm in the business of selling them as well as collecting them myself.  But you may want to decide on what kind of dolls, and narrow your focus in that manner, or what quality or condition of dolls, and narrow your focus in that manner. 

I collect a variety of vintage fashion dolls from the 1950's and early 1960's.  I cannot afford to buy the best of the best, the rarest of the rare.  That's ok.  I have a LARGE collection of dolls and particularly clothing that is nice, and in some cases rare, but probably not the best and not the nicest.  But I know that.  I know what I have and what it is worth because I learned.  Over the course of many years I learned about quality, and rarity.  I learned what makes a doll valuable, and what makes her harder to find, particularly within those that I concentrate on.  I encourage anyone who buys vintage dolls to do the same.  It breaks my heart to see someone show me a doll that was bought sometimes from a reputable dealer, sometimes from an unknown dealer, that was advertised to be a rare doll all original, one owner, kept in a mayonnaise jar on the back porch of Funk and Wagnall's and only driven to church on Sunday, and I look at it and see that the doll is from 1955, the outfit is from 1959 and the shoes and hat are from KMart last week.  I cannot tell a person that unless I'm asked point blank, because I don't want to hurt his or her feelings.  When your friend says how do you like this dress, you don't say did you buy that at the markdown rack at Goodwill because it sure looks like you did.  Now if the buyer KNEW that the doll was a put together and bought it, that's fine and I understand that, but paying for original and buying something put together is something totally different.  So I think back to a commercial that used to be shown on television in Nashville in the 1960's, about a local jewelry store owned by Harold Shires:  If you don't know diamonds, know your jeweler, and if Harold says it's so, it's so.  Yes, if you don't know vintage dolls, be sure you find someone that you know you can trust.  Not because they say they've been judging dolls or selling dolls or collecting dolls, but because you decide for yourself that this is an ethical person who is interested in me and in my well being, and not just in selling me a doll.  So you should know your dealer.  But even more importantly, learn about what you are collecting.  Learn about vintage dolls for yourself so that you don't have to trust your dealer.  You can trust yourself, and then you won't have to rely on someone else.  

My goodness, I think I've done it.  I believe I've created a blog.  I started thinking about this a few days ago, thinking I might just start an on line posting about dolls, so that when I learn something new, I can share it.  And if there's someone who needs to know that little piece of information, it'll be out there in cyberspace.  So here we are.