Onsite
Highest Bidder
$80,000
Sold
sold
Click image to enlarge
- Estimate
- $22,000 / $28,000
Description
18" (46 cm.) All-cloth doll with stitched-on head with pressed, stiffened and oil-painted facial features, brown painted complexion, black painted pate under original wig cap of tightly curled woolen yarn on linen backing, painted outlined brown eyes, black brows, closed mouth with slightly upturned lips, brown sateen body over muslin stitch-jointed body, brown oil-painted lower arms and legs. Condition: very good, original finish with few rubs on face, some wig sparseness, brown sateen somewhat worn. Marks: Patented Nov. 4, 1873 (ink script label on back shoulderplate). Comments: Izannah Walker, 1873, the doll is wearing its original crisp cotton dress and cotton apron with stenciled design, undergarments, red woolen stockings, brown shoes. The doll was acquired from the Izannah Walker family by noted doll historian Maureen Popp, and it resided in the collection of Richard Wright until its acquisition by the Museum. Value Points; the extremely rare doll, in original costume, of which few are known to exist, was featured in an article by Donna Kaonis in September 1993 issue of Antique Doll World.
Stuart's Take
The stories a doll tells is where the 'gold" is in collecting. Especially on a piece never before seen. This being the only black Izannah Walker found thus far in the world is just the start. Add to it the journey from the original Walker family, to noted doll collector Maureen Popp, finally to the Whyel Museum, and you have a lineage and provenance that further enhances what may be for collectors of American cloth the "holy grail" of dolls.