I have quite a few antique dolls from the ABG factory. They are china and bisque shoulder heads, many with molded hair, all beautifully made, probably all made before 1900. You say in your books that ABG produced character heads in the 1920s. Could you be more specific about these later dolls?
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Q: I won this stunning 21-inch composition Margaret O’Brien doll by Madame Alexander at an auction. The original owner had purchased the doll new in the original box with the clover wrist tag that said Margaret O’Brien. For some reason, the previous owner discarded the box and the wrist tag but kept the doll in a glass cabinet. Her son had put the doll up for auction. She is flawless, and the dress is tagged Margaret O’Brien. I also have a Margaret O’Brien Madame Alexander doll in hard plastic, and I was wondering when the change from composition to hard plastic occurred?
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Q: My grandmother left this little doll. We would like to know something about it. I was told to look on the back of the head for information. It is incised with a “K” and “R” on each side of a six-pointed star, the letters “S&H,” and the number 23. Can you tell me anything about her? Does she have any value?
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Q: A longtime friend of mine recently went through the dolls that her mother left her some time ago. My friend is basically a Madame Alexander collector. She found and gave me this Shirley Temple doll that is dressed in what I presume is the sailor suit from Shirley’s movie Captain January. The doll is about 12 inches tall. She is all vinyl, with rooted hair and sleep eyes, and has her original box as well. I was aware of this fashion being all white and have never seen it in blue, but this one is tagged and obviously is original. What can you tell me?
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Q: I have fallen in love with Bye-Lo Babies and plan to buy one as my first antique doll purchase. Can you tell me what specifics I should look for? I don’t want to make any mistakes.
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I could not resist buying this reproduction bubble-cut Barbie wearing this amazing outfit that I remember my older sister having. As I recall it was one of the expensive outfits. Perhaps you have more information about this lovely doll and fashion?
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My grandmother had a large doll collection with many antiques. She left me this doll. She told me about it, but I have forgotten over the years as I didn’t write it down. Could you give me some information about it? I am passing it down to my daughter and want to include its history.
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Q: I bought this adorable set of matching Madame Alexander 8-inch hard-plastic dolls mint in box at an auction recently. I thought they were older dolls at the time, because they had the bent-knee feature, which I hadn’t seen on the 8-inch dolls in decades. I paid $150 for them and was surprised when I got home to notice the year on the tag was 1999! Did I make a bad mistake?
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