The Dakin Astronaut Dolls are vinyl Barbie and Ken clones. The copyright date of 1987 on the box means they were probably introduced in 1988. NASA may have wanted to project a positive image of the Space Shuttle Program following the January 1986 Challenger disaster, in which the orbiter disintegrated shortly after takeoff, killing the entire crew. The next Shuttle missions were deployed in the fall of 1988.
The female Astronaut has a ball-jointed neck, and jointed shoulders, hips and knees. She has high heel feet under her astro-boots. She has painted blue eyes and rooted platinum blonde hair in a bubble cut. She is unmarked, except for a blank rectangle shape on her back.
The male Astronaut is 11.5″ tall (29 cm) and jointed at the neck, shoulders and hips. His arms and legs are flexible, but his knees and elbows aren’t jointed. He has painted brown eyes and black hair, with long sideburns and an engaging smile. He is marked MADE IN CHINA on his back.
The back of the box gives a little bit of history about astronauts. The Astronauts are packaged with a white plastic X-shaped stand, similar to but shorter than the ones that came with mod-era Barbies.
Many vinyl glamour dolls of the late 1950s and early 1960s are marked 14R on the back of their heads, sometimes with other marks as well. These dolls have a wide variety of hair colors, hair styles and body types.
This example is 19″ tall and marked 14R-1 on the back of her head, and PAT. PENDING in an oval on the right side of her blow-molded torso. This is the first time I have ever seen a side marking on a glamour doll. Her torso is very straight, with a small bust and hips. In addition to the usual neck/shoulder/hip joints, she has jointed wrists as well. Her dark blonde hair is very short and may have been trimmed.
Wearing a vintage mommy-made dress, all ready for display!
Vogue’s Ginny was the most popular doll of the 1950s. This 8″ hard plastic cutie was affordable for most families, and she had an amazing array of extra outfits for all occasions. This booklet was produced in 1955 and features the straight leg walker version of Ginny. In addition to her fabulous wardrobe, check out all the wonderful accessories that were available as well.
Kinder Crowd and Gym Kits fashions.Merry Moppets and Tiny Miss fashions.Fun Time and Bridal Trousseau fashions.And Away We Go and Bon-Bons fashions.Ginny’s Gym, Fitted Bridal Chest, furniture and other accessories.Wardrobe trunks and cases and budget fashions.Coats and accessories.
The House of Nisbet, better to known to collectors by the name of founder Peggy Nisbet, made dolls in England beginning in 1952. Many of their dolls depict the British royal family and historical characters from the UK and the US. Most Nisbet dolls are made from hard plastic but the company occasionally used other materials. The firm was sold to Dakin in 1988 and then to Diane Jones International, who produced some reproductions in Wales. The last Nisbet dolls were made in 1999.
Royal family dolls including Prince Charles and Princess Diana.Kings and Queens of England, Archbishop of Canterbury and Pope John Paul II dolls.Royalty and nobility dolls.King Henry VIII and his wives, William Shakespear, Anwar Sadat, Margaret Thatcher and Peggy Nisbet dolls.Dolls in uniform, Scottish dolls, Winston Churchill and his mother.Pearly Queen, Santa Claus, St. Nicholas, Father Christmas and French historical dolls.Historical eras and British Isles dolls.American historical dolls, movie star and clown dolls.Ronald and Nancy Reagan, American Presidents, John Bull and Uncle Sam dolls.My Little Girl vinyl dolls – Parties and Romance.My Little Girl vinyl dolls – Parasols and Sunshine.My Little Girl vinyl dolls – Wedding Days.My Princess vinyl doll – HRH The Princess of Wales (Princess Diana).
Arranbee Doll Co. was founded in 1919 in New York City. In the early years of the company, they imported bisque head dolls from Armand Marseille and Simon & Halbig in Germany. They also sold all-bisque dolls and composition mama dolls, as well as doll hospital supplies including wigs, parts, and shoes. In 1925, they opened their own factory in New York manufacturing composition dolls. They kept up with changes in the industry, switching to hard plastic in the ’40s and vinyl in the ’50s. The company made many of its own dolls, but also purchased dolls from other manufacturers to dress and market under their own name. While not being ground-breakingly original, Arranbee dolls are noted for their beauty and high quality, both in the dolls and their clothing. Company founder and president William Rothstein died unexpectedly in 1957; his family continued the firm for a short while, then sold it to the Vogue Doll Co. Vogue continued the Arranbee name and some of the lines until 1961. Fortunately for collectors, many Arranbee dolls are marked with R&B or their names. Here are some of their more notable dolls:
Dream Baby or My Dream Baby was the first of Arranbee’s dolls to have a name. There is a closed-mouth version (A.M. mold number 341) and an open-mouth version (mold number 351) with bisque heads. Some dolls have stuffed cloth bodies with compo or rubber hands, while others have full jointed compo bodies. After the company started making their own composition dolls, they continued using the Dream Baby name. There is a wide variety of compo Dream Babies, including dolls with painted eyes or sleep eyes, molded hair or mohair wigs, in a range of sizes. Dream Baby continued into the ’50s in a hard plastic version.
Composition Dream Baby with molded hair and sleep eyes. See also full image and marking.
Nancy was first made in composition starting in 1931. A few different head molds were used for this molded hair Patsy-type doll (complete with bent right arm) who ranged from 11″ to 14″ in height. Nancy was also made in a line of 16″ to 20″ chubbier toddler dolls with sleep eyes and mohair wigs.
Composition Nancy doll with molded hair and painted eyes.Composition Nancy doll with sleep eyes and mohair wig. She has crazing and damage to her face. See also full view, shoes and box label.
Debu’teen was introduced in 1938. She represents a young teenage girl, with a slim body and a wistful expression, and was made in sizes from 13″ to 22″. Larger dolls have a compo socket head on a shoulder plate, with cloth torso and compo limbs, while the smaller dolls are all composition. She was sold in a wide variety of well-made outfits including school clothes, dressy clothes, sporting outfits and military uniforms. The Sporting Women series of dolls by Vogue greatly resemble Debu’teen, and were probably made by Arranbee for Vogue in an unmarked version.
17.5″ Debu’teen doll has a composition head, shoulder plate and limbs on a cloth torso. See also her beautiful outfit and her body.
Around the World and Storybook dolls from the late ’30s and early ’40s are 9″ all-composition characters with molded hair and painted eyes. The same doll was used for both boy and girl characters, such as Snow White, Pirate, Dutch Boy and Girl, etc.
Nannette is a composition and cloth mama doll with swing legs. She was sold from 1937 until 1943, when the spelling of her name was changed to Nanette. She was sold until about 1947, when the company switched production to hard plastic dolls. The hard plastic version of Nanette is a little girl doll, virtually indistinguishable from Nancy Lee. In the fifties, Nanette was made with a vinyl head and hard plastic body. The last version of Nanette was an 18″ all vinyl high-heeled glamour doll.
Nancy Lee is a true little girl doll. She did not have the chubbiness of the Nancy and Nannette toddlers, but she was not quite as slim as Debu’teen. The compo version, who made her debut in 1943, generally has smoky eye shadow. The hard plastic version was sold from the late ’40s into the late ’50s.
Composition Nancy Lee doll in her original skating outfit. Photo by Withington Auction, Inc.14″ hard plastic Nancy Lee in her original taffeta gown with wrist tag. Photo by Withington Auction, Inc.
12″ Little Angel and 10″ Littlest Angel are toddler fashion dolls. Many extra outfits were available for them. Little Angel was not as popular as her smaller sibling, and was discontinued in 1955. Littlest Angel was later made with jointed knees, and starting in 1956 had a vinyl head with rooted hair. Littlest Angel was one of the dolls that Vogue continued to sell under the R&B name after they bought the company.
Hard plastic Littlest Angel doll. Photo by Nancy McKee.
Coty Girl is a 10″ vinyl glamour doll made to compete with Ideal’s Little Miss Revlon. She had many extra outfits and was advertised extensively. This doll is very difficult to identify because she is marked only with a P in a circle, as were many other small glamour dolls of the era. The 18″ Coty Girl is the same doll as the high-heeled Nanette. See this site for more info on Coty Girl dolls.
18″ Coty Girl doll.
Text and photos copyright 2006-2024 by Zendelle Bouchard unless otherwise noted.
In the 1950s and ’60s, Cameo began making Kewpie and some of their other characters in vinyl, but also licensed other companies to manufacture them. This makes identification difficult, unless the original packaging is present, as they may be marked with the Cameo name while actually made by other manufacturers. Cameo closed in 1969, but founder Joseph Kallus retained his copyrights and continued to license them to various other firms. The dolls pictured above include an 8-inch Kewpie marked Jesco, and two smaller dolls marked Cameo. Kewpies were made in many different sizes, from miniature to child size.
Kewpies finally got fashionable in the ’50s and ’60s. Kuddly Kewpie, like most of the vinyl versions, was sold in various outfits.
Kuddly Kewpie photos courtesy of eBay seller your-favorite-doll. The doll on the far right is 12 inches tall.
There were variations of the standard Kewpie dolls as well: Kewpie Gal has chin length molded hair; Ragsy Kewpie, which is a vinyl version of the original cloth doll, has a body molded in color and is jointed only at the neck.
Ragsy Kewpies made by AMSCO under license from Cameo.Photos courtesy of RubyLane seller Romancing the Doll.
Another sweet Kewpie by AMSCO. Photo courtesy of RubyLane seller Romancing the Doll.
Most vinyl Kewpies were flange jointed, but the unusual doll pictured below is strung together with elastic cord.
For much more information on Kewpies and their history, visit this page. Sadly, the Kewpie trademark is no longer owned by a doll manufacturer, but by a Japanese mayonnaise company.
