I have three large porcelain dolls with the William Tung signature on the back of the neck and have no idea what their names are. They also have a mark next to the signature such at 1/1 or 0/0. I'm curious what this means. They stand about 32 inches except for the one that is in a sitting position. They have cloth bodies and the porcelain cuts off at mid chest, wrists, and mid thigh. Does anyone know any information about these dolls?
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It seems you have been doing your research and you may be correct as these dolls have beautiful outfits and hairstyles that do not seem to match other William Tung dolls.
You can post your pictures and ask questions on this doll forum as they love to respond to doll collector's questions (as long as good pictures are furnished and size is given).
How much is a William Tung Dinah 32" porcelain doll 202 of 1,500 worth in like new shape in the original box?
it would be best to post this as a new question on our site. It is very unlikely that anyone will see your question to respond on this older post. I would include a few photos, especially of the markings on the back of the neck for the best advice.
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This is a neat post! I sold dolls for years in various retail settings and at the "hey day" of doll sales (in the 1980s mostly) there were rumors of "prototype" dolls that were kept in secure vaults and such...and some even destroyed if the maker did not get good consumer feedback from focus groups.
To me prototype dolls were always a unicorn or a rumor...something never found in the wild. Since you posted, I have been scouring all of my sources and it looks like some were given to people and got outside of the company...some on purpose and some "fell off the truck" so to speak.
Do you know any of the history of the dolls...where you got them, where the person you got them from got them? The history would help authenticate what you have...but the wonky numbering is consistent with a prototype/sample.
Now for value...that is something only the market can dictate because there are most likely NOT going to be any comparable items.
You could see what some of the other protypes sell for....I haven't found too many out there--I did see the one you saw on Worthpoint, but I no longer have a membership so I can't see the sold price.
You could contact a doll museum (I will post a list below) and see if they have any interest in owning/buying them from you:
www.thesprucecrafts.com/
The non-prototype Tung dolls are all over the place in value from $1.00 to the low three hundreds for some of the 42 inch dolls.
I would check the museums first to get their feedback.
The reserve auction will set you back a chunk of change (last one I did was 15.00 (it is based on the reserve amount). But if it does not sell, you are not obligated to take lower. It can help you gauge what the item is worth in the market.
I will tell you, shipping these will be a challenge, especially with the USPS new DIM (dimensional) mailing. Fragile dolls should be double boxed, not touching the sides of the inner box. The box is going to be big since the doll is big....so the shipping may scare off any potential buyers as it may be as much as the doll is worth to a collector.
Please post back how you proceed!! I am so excited to see a prototype in the wild!
I don't want to be a downer, but I do hope yours were come by honestly...I am not sure about statutes of limitations of they were the ones that made it out of the plant by less than honorable methods. I don't think the Tung company is still around..so maybe it is a moot point.
I am just always about safety first!!
These are mass-produced dolls. You can go to this page on eBay and see if you can identify yours. www.ebay.com/
I am starting to suspect they're prototypes, because the only other 32 inch William Tung doll I could find on eBay or anywhere else was this one. www.worthpoint.com/
Thanks for answering!
I found your post because I have two of these large William Tung dolls myself and would like to know something about them. One has the signature and 0/0 on the neck. The other has a name tag of "Amber." I bought these on eBay probably 15 years ago and neither was in an original box.
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