Featured Help w/Dating Home Made Raggedy Ann Doll

hi everyone. i saw this in a thrift store that used to get great stuff. didn't buy it at first, but when i saw it a couple of days later i decided to give it a try. it has many characteristics i like. it's a home made version of Raggedy Ann. the outfit looks fairly new, but the doll looks like it might be old. almost all of the stitching appears to be done by hand. one arm and one leg have what appears to be a little machine stitch across at what might be called the elbow and knee. the other side has no stitching at all in that spot. the whites of the eyes are painted, but the buttons don't look terribly old to me. the hair is wool. i was thinking it might be from the twenties or thirties, but i know there are lots of patterns for making these. is this authentic old, or just a mussied up fake? any help will be appreciated...thanks

 

its got charm by the bucketload, and i would have bought as well (defo). Nothing fake about it if you ask me, but others will probably know more on the age etc

 

The eyes are usually the first to become loose and have to be replaced. If these aren't original, that could have happened, and some loving mother could have found two buttons of the right size in her sewing box. It is part of the doll's history.

 

Good point about the eyes above. You're right about the clothing. Hard to date without seeing and touching but the printed fabric is the type of small floral print that was used for 1960s/1970s granny dresses. Mini length looks right for that era too. What type of closure do the three pieces -- dress, apron and pantaloons, use? Zips? Snaps? Buttons? Ties?

Debora

 

If you haven't already read... This wikipedia.org article is informative. And I'd think yours was a Depression Era copy of a Volland doll. Here's one listed on eBay for comparison: Item # 1791150329. If I had to conjecture, I'd think the original owner spruced up her much beloved doll for a younger family member.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raggedy_Ann

Debora

 

If only dolls could talk! She doesn't have the striped socks for example so thinking an ode to Raggedy Ann as others have suggested. Is there any chance she was meant to be a black version of Raggedy Ann or has the fabric just darkened? The person who made this did a really nice job with the very charming face. The hair might be a clue to age unless hair was replaced.

She's got a ton of personality. Again, wish she could talk!

 

Face based, of course, on the original Gruelle illustration. Difference in scale of facial features may be due to the fact that maker was no longer able to do fine handwork.

Debora

 

there is an older snap. i forgot to upload a pic of it. it is handsewn on. otherwise, no closures.

 

let me say, also, i could be wrong about the button eyes. they appear to be wood, and as i've studied them more closely under a loupe, they appear to be lathe cut. i was researching wood buttons a little, and they could apparently easily be of the period. i just don't have that much experience with wooden buttons of the early twentieth century so i'm not sure. i need to do more research.

 

There is another option... and I hope this is not it. But should be considered, to cover all of the options.

There are many shops today that sell recently-made items that look "primitive" -- many cloth items from these shops are artificially stained with tea, etc. When you find them in the shop, the fact that they are modern is obvious, because everything there is. They are not meant to be fakes or to deceive, but just decorative. When you find them outside the shop, it can much harder to tell.

To me the staining on the cloth parts of this doll looks like it could have been artificially done. It's almost symmetrical in places, when comparing the arms and the legs. Not completely symmetrical, of course.

However, the fact that the dress and pinafore look much newer than the doll gives me hope that this might be actually an old doll.

 

And the fact that she's not wearing striped socks. I'd expect a recently made "primitive" to include this defining Raggedy Ann detail. Their lack leads me to think that the doll was created by someone of limited resources making use of the contents of a sewing and scrap basket.

Debora