Wooden Spoon Dolls and More - Past and Present

The Spoon Doll Image Courtesy of Deborah Darling's Tinchapel Textiles Blog.

As you're well aware I love dolls of all sorts, shapes, sizes, and made from just about anything including wood spoons.  I've made Santa's, Pilgrims, witches, bunnies, chickies, and snowmen from wooden spoons.

Wooden doll spoons have been around for quite some time and were a favorite plaything for many English and Colonial children. Today, wooden doll kits are sold by many museums, wooden doll spoons are a favorite craft for many children, and are growing in popularity amongst crafters.

Vintage sterling silver spoons are also gaining in popularity and are a favorite material for mixed media and altered art artists as well.

The Spoon Doll picture shown above is from Deborah Darling's Tinchapel Textiles blog.

She wrote about this doll in a blog post entitled "The Spoon Doll......beauty from simplicity....." and according to Deb the doll is from the Museum of Childhood.

While wooden spoon dolls have been around for hundreds of years pictures of them are not readily available. I've been searching the various museum websites and have yet to find an online image.

William F. Goodwin Patent Walking Doll - Circa 1870 and Other Autoperipatetikos Walking Dolls

Have you ever heard of the William F. Goodwin Patent Walking Doll - Circa 1870 or seen one of the video's of it walking?  I hadn't and was delighted to not only see pictures of these dolls, but to see a couple of video's. They are totally delightful dolls and I would love to see one.

The Early American Toy Stevens & Brown Goodwin Patent Walking Doll, shown in the video above,  is from the Antique Toys and Automata website.

If you'd like to see how the doll walks please click on the video above.

According to their description:  We are pleased to offer for your consideration a wonderful early American, circa 1872, clockwork toy called "The Improved Automatic Walking Doll" more commonly called the Goodwin's Patent Walking Doll .  

This beautiful toy was by manufactured by The Stevens and Brown Company in Connecticut and appears in their 1872 catalog on page four. The ad displays the wood carriage but the script introduces the "improved" tin carriage version.

The clockwork motor for this toy is hidden under the carriage seat and it drives the rear axle, propelling the toy forward in a circle. As the carriage moves forward, the doll follows and her metal jointed legs move up and down allowing her to walk along as if she is pushing the carriage. Her ankles also flex, making for a very realistic “walking” motion so be sure to watch the video above. A hard or polished surface will not allow the doll to walk, the pins on her feet must catch slightly to cause the mechanism to function (she walked best for us on concrete).

I found them to be totally charming so, of course, I had to find out more. Here's what I found:

The mechanical doll’s legs were patented by William Farr Goodwin Jan 22nd 1867 & Aug25th 1868.

The Stevens & Brown Clockwork Goodwin's Patent Walking Doll circa 1870 shown in the video below is from the Antique Toys and Automata website.

If you'd like to see how this doll walks please click on the video below.

Beautiful Peddler or Pedlar Dolls

Online Collections (The Strong) / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

In doing some of the research for my "Early American Wooden Dolls By Joel Ellis From 1873" post I ran across the Peddler Doll from 1851-1951 (Material - painted | carved | papier-mache | wood | molded) pictured above from the strong National Museum of Play and, once again fell in love.

I know, I know. I fall in love with every doll I see. Guilty as charged. But, she is just so charming - don't you think? Just look at her face.

So, of course, I had to find out if they had any more and what information they had on peddler dolls. Here's what I found out:

In the description of the peddler doll pictured above they stated: Most 19th-century makers of peddler dolls began with a mass-produced, small figure made of wood, papier mache, leather, or china and added the handmade red cloak, black bonnet, white lace cap, calico dress, and apron of the traditional "notion nannies." The fun of making the peddler doll was in crafting the dozens (sometimes hundreds) of tiny notions, buttons, fabrics, laces, ribbons, and pots and pans that the peddler offered for sale. Peddler dolls displayed their merchandise on large trays hung from a strap around their necks, in baskets on their arms, or in larger bins displayed at their feet and protected by a glass dome. The doll form seems to have been most popular from about 1820 to 1860.

Based on the above it seems like the fun in making the doll was all their miniature accessories.  I bet that was a lot of fun, but definitely time consuming.

Grodnertal Wooden Costume Dolls

Image Courtesy of Theriaults.com 

If you follow my Victorian Dolls, Victorian Traditions, The Victorian Era and Me Blog you know that I just LOVE the Victorian Era, love history, love to do research, and love fashion doll collections. Several years ago I ran across the Metropolitan Museum of Art website and fell in love with their collections, the ability to see everything they have in their collections, and the ability to set-up my own "My Met" space to bookmark items at the MET that I love.  So, I spent an afternoon "Moseying At The MET!" and wrote about it HERE.

Well, while researching the "Penny Wooden and Peg Wooden Dolls" I came across a series of beautiful Grodnertal Wooden Costume Dolls depicting the 11th - 16th century and just had to show them to you.  All of the dolls are from the Theriault's website.

I think they're all absolutely beautiful and love all their costumes.  As you would except they are all very pricey - especially the doll depicting the 16th century costume.

Early Grodnertal Tuck Comb Wooden Peddler Dolls and Other Grodnertal Peddler Dolls

Image Courtesy of Theriaults.com 

It seems like every time I'm doing research for one thing I find so many other things that pique my curiosity. Such was the case with my research on the "The Sweet Simplicity of Tuck Comb Wooden Dolls" I posted about earlier. I discovered the "Early Grodnertal Tuck Comb Wooden Peddler Dolls" and absolutely had to know more.

The "Early Grodnertal Wooden Doll As Doll And Notions Peddler Lady" doll shown above is from Theriaults.com website is a doll after my own heart. Not only do I absolutely love her large bonnet, but she's selling sewing notions and dolls. She has five tiny dolls on her table including two mini Grodnertal woodens. Perhaps that was me in another life?

According to her description :7" Condition: generally excellent,original finish perfectly preserved. Comments: Grodnertal doll,circa 1850,presented for the English market as a peddler lady offering sewing notions and dolls. On her table are arranged a myriad of tiny laces,ribbons and buttons, sewing tools such as tiny scissors, various papers with lettered names "Robert","Margaret" and "John", several tiny doll costumes, and five tiny dolls including two mini Grodnertal woodens. Realized Price: $4,100

According to The Ultimate Doll Book by Caroline Goodfellow peddler dolls were popular from 1820 - 1920.  They were a conversation piece in fashionable 19th century English drawing rooms and held a prominent place on the fireplace mantels. During this period there was a fascination with itinerant traders who travelled all over Europe, but peddler dolls were a "peculiarly English phenomenon." Most of the dolls were made in Germany and dressed in England with heads of wood, composition, apples and wax. The bodies were made of wood, composition, or stuffed cloth.

The Sweet Simplicity of Tuck Comb Wooden Dolls

Image Courtesy of Theriaults.com.

While I was doing research  on the "The History of Faceless Dolls" I read several articles about antique wooden dolls and fell in love with Penny Wooden Dolls so much so that I ended up writing a blog post entitled, "I'm In Love With Penny Wooden or Peg Wooden Dolls."

In researching the penny wooden dolls I learned about a special type of peg wooden doll called "tuck comb dolls."  The dolls are so named for their carved and painted hair combs.

According to Wikipedia.org, " Tuck comb dolls are a special style of peg wooden doll, named for their carved hair comb. The head and body is turned as one piece. The hair is usually painted with curled bangs and with a painted comb. Early tuck comb dolls had elongated, graceful proportions, nicely carved details, painted slippers, and sometimes with wood pendant earrings. Some dressed as merchants were called pedlar dolls."

Also, according to The Ultimate Doll Book by Caroline Goodfellow: The high comb, often painted yellow was a fashionable hair ornament and special feature of early 19th century wooden dolls.

I just love these dolls and find them irresistible. I love their adorable painted tuck combs and their clothing. So, of course, I wanted to see more pictures and find out more about these types of peg wooden dolls. Here's what I found and what drew me to each of the dolls:

Beautiful Early American Wooden Dolls By Joel Ellis From 1873

While I was doing research  on the "The History of Faceless Dolls" I read several articles about antique wooden dolls and fell in love with Penny Wooden Dolls so much so that I ended up writing a blog post entitled, "I'm In Love With Penny Wooden or Peg Wooden Dolls."

While doing that research I also ran across the wooden dolls created by Joel Ellis in 1873 which piqued my curiosity as he was from Vermont and only made his dolls for one year. Given I'm a die hard New Englander and curious as to why he only made them for one year I had to find out more.

Not only did I love his wooden dolls, what interested me was the workmanship on his dolls clothes, which was exceptional, unlike the cheap clothes on manufactured dolls today.

The doll pictured above is for sale on the Liveauctioneers.com website - 9: Rare 19th Century Wooden Head Doll, Joel Ellis.  According to their website this doll is attributed to Joel Ellis with metal hands, legs & feet and stands 15" tall.

According to their website, "Joel Ellis created a doll whose face is indeed a portrait of the traditional New England model of graceful simplicity – a quiet composed and simple beauty that now transports us to a long ago time. Yet we may forget the technological challenges and triumphs so benignly represented in this little rendition of humanity."

It turns out that Joel was an inventive genius who patented 13 different articles, one of which was for a wooden doll. He is credited as being the creator of the first commercial doll for America which he manufactured through his company, the Co-operative Manufacturing Company, on the premises of the Vermont Novelty Goods Company.

He filed his patent for a wooden doll of rock maple with mortise and tenon joints, and pewter or iron hands and feet on February 21, 1873 and it was granted on May 20, 1873.

According to the article from the Old and Sold Antiques Marketplace, "In 1873 Ellis took out a patent for a wooden doll of rock maple with mortise and tenon joints, and pewter or iron hands and feet. Heads were of blocks of wood taken from the end of the grain and rounded, except for one pointed side which allowed for the nose. Each block was put into a steel mold and shaped under hydraulic pressure. When it came out of the press, holes were drilled to fit a large tenon that had been made on the end of the body. The head, which was stationary, was glued to the body by means of this large tenon. The doll came in twelve, fifteen, and eighteen-inch heights. The most plentiful is the twelve inch, the least, the eighteen inch."