Very Rare American Cloth Black-Complexioned Woman Doll by Ethel Grey Sanders with Patent Pending Label

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26" (66 cm.) Pressed sculpted cloth depicting an older woman with defined age wrinkles, painted black complexion, painted brown eyes, tinted brows, broad nose, closed mouth, modeled pierced ears, brown wooly hair in tiny twisted braids, cloth torso, oil-painted stitch-jointed cloth arms and legs with black painted finish, painted finger and toe nails. Condition: generally excellent, some wear on paint of hands. Marks: made by Ethel Grey Sanders Dec 1 1925 Name "Maum Pea" Patent Pending (ink script cloth label on torso). Comments: circa 1925, made by Ethel Grey Sanders of Walterboro, South Carolina (1883-1953), who lived there in the family home her entire life. The patent pending label lends credence to the artist's continuing quest to find a market for her dolls, as #352 and #353 indicate dates of 1921, while this patent pending date is four years later. Value Points: remarkable dolls, previously undocumented and researched, were pivotal works in the Whyel Museum, this example with patent pending label is wearing original costume of patterned cotton gown, white apron, bandanna, socks and shoes.