Do*****co
Highest Bidder
$7,500
Sold
sold
Click image to enlarge
- Estimate
- $8,000 / $12,000
Description
22" (56 cm.) Each has solid domed porcelain shoulderhead with slender oval face and elongated throat, painted brilliant blue large eyes, red and black upper eye liner, single stroke brows, accented nostrils, closed mouth with rich lips, unusual curl-arranged theatrical style hemp wig, firmly-stuffed cloth body, wooden arms. Condition: generally excellent. Marks: (blue stamped mark according to notes). Comments: Germany, attributed to KPM, the dolls were acquired from the celebrated Estelle Johnston collection who wrote an article about the dolls in Doll Reader, 1988, and received blue ribbon and President's Choice ribbon at 1987 UFDC convention. Value Points: rarely found models, the matched pair wear extraordinary theatrical costumes including grand feathered coiffes over their stylized wigs.
Stuart's Take
An extraordinary pair of theatrical dolls. But let's not forget that each is a very early porcelain KPM. That, blended with a fine lineage from esteemed collector, Estelle Johnston to the Rosalie Whyel Museum, makes them so much more special. Even a President's Award at the 1987 Convention which, I can assure you, was a tough year! Estelle offered these to Rosalie long before Theriault's would sell her own collection, expressing that she felt them so incredibly important as to belonging in a museum.