Identifying a Porcelain Doll?

Pghgirl40
Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 196 Feedbacks

July 28, 20180 found this helpful

She is quite lovely!

So trying to figure out who she is will be a challenge if she has no marks. But it isn't impossible. It will take a lot of work.

First...double check other places for markings...tags in the clothing, on the doll's butt, feet bottoms, under the hair, scalp, and the small of the back. If still nothing...then my suggestions are:

You can show her to everyone you know and put her on other doll websites as everyone has their own little niche and someone may recognize her immediately. This one is a little bit of a challenge because there have been millions of dolls made around the world...and finding the right person the first time out is a little like finding a needle in a haystack :(

The second easiest way to start is to go to Google images and type in her description, like the height, hair color, dress style etc. to piece together info. You don't mention the year she was given to you...that might not be the year she was made, but it would be helpful).

You can do this same type of search in eBay to learn more by reading posts.

To tell the quality of the doll...(like if she is older and maybe has more value), you can do things like figure out if the hair is human or synthetic by burning a strand:

This YouTube video talks about that. www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb4tCcnA6jo

You can try to see what she is stuffed with (always risky because you don't want to damage), but typically really old dolls were stuffed with things like sawdust or cotton (not modern synthetic materials)

You can try to figure out of the body is porcelain or bisque

en.wikipedia.org/.../Bisque_porcelain

A couple of my favorite sites are below that may be useful to you, although some seem to recently have broken links (GRR):

www.thesprucecrafts.com/identify-your-doll-773879

dollreference.com/

antiques.lovetoknow.com/Antique_Dolls_China_Head

There are also a list of doll museums that I have been considering putting my my bucket list to call to see if they help with identifications. If one is near you, maybe you could take her for a road trip:

www.thesprucecrafts.com/doll-museums-around-the-world-775042

If you are trying to find out who she is to sell, once you ID her, make note of that and I can (or someone on this site) can help you figure out her value!

Good luck!

Judy
Gold Post Medal for All Time! 677 Posts

July 28, 20180 found this helpful

Undress the doll completely. You may find markings on her.

cybergrannie
Gold Feedback Medal for All Time! 949 Feedbacks

July 29, 20180 found this helpful

Identifying an unmarked doll is usually an impossible task for doll "lay" people such as yourself, most members of ThriftyFun, and the general public. If a doll is identified it is generally just by a lucky "find" or someone has seen the doll on a previous occasion.

• Your doll is certainly beautiful and appears to be a vintage Victorian porcelain bride doll.
• Bride dolls are generally always popular but there are just so many available that value remains low and it is difficult to find a doll without a marking/brand. A brand name does not always mean the doll is more valuable, it just means someone may be able to locate a particular doll in an online search.
• Here are a couple of vintage Victorian porcelain bride dolls presently listed on eBay so you may be able to see the similarity:
• www.ebay.com/.../142422141241?hash=item2129056939...
• www.ebay.com/.../153028898751?hash=item23a13bafbf...
• I believe searching eBay for your doll is a "long stretch" but who knows, you may get lucky. Here is a good way to search (maybe recheck every 2 or 3 weeks).
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• www.ebay.com/.../i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313...
• You can also check the sold listings if you are interested in what someone may pay for similar dolls,
• www.ebay.com/.../i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=vintage+victorian...
• I believe you have more information than you realize. You say "you were named after her" so how did that come about? Did someone know her name or just gave her a name? Looks like your names may be Emmie or Megan? Anything about the name you can find out from family members?
• You also say it was a gift at your birth so what year was that? This is an important fact if you are trying to ID a doll you really need to know the approximate age. Is it possible your aunt had the doll for a while before she gave it to you?
• If possible, you may be able to find out more about your doll by asking your aunt and mother/family more questions.
• There are quite a few doll "forums" and many times there are really great doll knowledgeable people who answer questions and if you supply more information (like answers to above questions ) I feel sure someone will be able to tell you more about your doll.
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• You will have to submit pictures, size (inches tall), full porcelain or just partly, age/year (approximate okay), and any little thing you know or think you know about your doll.
• You will have to present this information to more than one site just to be sure you find out as much as possible. Here are some sites to get you started:
• www.tapatalk.com/.../
• www.instappraisal.com/.../appraisal
• If you an eBay member they have excellent doll sites on their community board sites.
• I believe in getting appraisals when I am trying to ID a doll (or almost anything) as to give an appraisal, they have to know something about the doll so you can many times gain a lot of knowledge from one of these sites.
• Here is a link to some "free" sites but you will probably have to submit information to more than one.
• www.whatsellsbest.com/.../dolls.html

Just for information:
Sadly - The market for collectibles dolls has collapsed since the mid 1990's and shows no signs of improvement. Currently comparable dolls now often sell for under $50.00.