Very Important Wax Portrait Model of Bye-Lo with Putnam Family Provenance

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18" (46 cm.) l. 14" head circ. Sculpted wax socket head, blue glass inset eyes, tinted hair, brows and lips of closed mouth, original cloth body. Condition: generally excellent, an attached note indicates the "doll was once painted over in pink...the painted surface was not successful and quickly flaked so she never did another". Comments: Grace Story Putnam, the original sculpted wax model of Bye-Lo, circa 1920, is wearing original costume and presented in quilted rose satin baby blanket. Value Points: very important historical doll, the artist's original hand-sculpted and cast model of the pivotal doll in the American doll industry. Accompanying the doll are various letters from Grace Story Putnam's son and daughter, written in the 1960s (themselves then aged) documenting this doll as the original cast sculpture. The family had lent the model to the Bowers Doll Museum in Santa Ana for many years until financial demands caused them to sell the doll to collector Mrs. Walter Braund of Santa Barbara. Fascinating letters and documents are included with this important doll.