From our African Collection: A Tall Mossi Doll from Burkina Faso, from the mid 20th century. Owned by Mossi girls and women, small figures like these that we call "dolls" could function both as a toy for a young girl or as an object to promote the fertility of a woman.

A man and woman black cloth dolls with composition heads. They were not made by the same person but they were sold to me as a pair and they are great together. She is 24" and very heavy. He is 27 " and is tall and lean with cool clothes. I think they are both from the 1930's. Both have early and probably have original outfits also the sun fading on the woman skirt looks like she had a different apron. They are in very good condition. A terrific pair of black dolls.

A Finely carved lacquered teak wood puppet head. The head was covered with dark orange color and then lacquered with golden lacquer. Finely carved with nice details. This head was part of a puppet representing nature spirit. A Very Nice Collector piece. The piece is in Good condition, Good remains of polychrome lacquer covered with gold color...

Most Alabama Doll collectors are quite familiar with the fabled story of the inventors rise to success and subsequent business troubles which ended the doll maker's career sooner than we have liked, but we are fortunate to offer a survivor from that in the form of this baby girl doll. It comes with a skirt, blouse, and bloomers, and display stand. The doll is about 19" tall. It has some damage seen in the photos: 1...

Isn't he just great! He has on original clothes, maybe the jacket was added, and in a crazy way his flowery print combo suits him. Under his jacket, both his pants and his corduroy vest are sewn on. He is cotton stuffed and very soft and floppy, so leaning against another doll or sitting in a chair helps display him. He is in very condition with just a bit of a ragged hem on the bottom of one pant leg. Framing his face he has a blond fur strip representing hair...

What was the mother thinking when she sewed the face of this big wonderful rag stuffed doll. I think she had the cloth in her lap and stitched away on the face with it sideways on her lap. It does look a little straighter when she is sideways. Well you can't have her displayed on her side so her face is what it is, sweet and a little outrageous. The stitching is lovely and the colors are soft, her smile is engaging. She has never had hair. Her body is curvy with smaller waist and quite wide hips...

This is a homemade Raggedy Andy in his original. He is in good shape but his clothes have some holes and rips, and stains but nothing that is falling off. He has some stains that comes with his job. He is 16" tall but is a small doll, his head measures just a little over 3" across. His pants are a sturdy blue felt, and his cotton striped pinky/orange shirt a few tears on one sleeve. He is a little wonderful creature. C. 1920

A very nice and unique bottle doll with her head built around a cork so the top lifts off easily and the bottle can be used to store whatever. I have another bottle doll listed with the same idea and that one had a story with it. This is the story on the other bottle doll, (I bought the bottle doll from a picker and he was door knocking and it turns out a man had recently lost his wife and yes he did have things for sale and one item was a black bottle doll doorstop...

Little stockinette black doll with button eyes and embroidered nose and mouth. Her mouth is again the straight line across, (what I call a neutral statement), with white embroidered teeth. (I think if I made a cloth doll I would make the doll smiling but so many both black and white dolls have the straight line, I find it interesting.) She has on an old red and white cotton dress that fits nicely but I am sure is not original. She is cotton stuffed and not so firm that she can sit easily...

This bold stockinette black doll is very likely all original. She has a great face that is shaped by the pinched nose and a slightly pinched chin. I don't recall seeing a pinched chin like that before. She has astrakhan hair covered with matching scarves on her head and around her bodice. She has a petticoat and pantaloons and a soft red calico dress over them. Her apron has a pocket with a hanky of the same material as her head and shoulder scarfs. She is well endowed with a matronly body...

This doll is fashioned after a raggedy ann doll, is homemade with a hand stitched face. Her clothes are old and came on her. She has her shoes and stockings are part of her legs. She has yarn hair that is thinning a little. She is 18" and circa 1930.

Not only is she happy, she also is a good cook. She is almost as wide as she is tall, has original clothes, great yarn hair, (see picture), embroidered face that is very well done. She is cotton stuffed, sits well and she is nice to hold. She is 18" tall and is circa 1910-20

This little bottle doll has a dear sweet up turned face that radiates sunshine. She is as found with an outfit that looks like she acquired it as life went on, piece by piece; very endearing. She is on her original sand weighted bottle. She is 12" tall and is circa early 1900's.

Not many cloth dolls have bold embroidered faces but this little girls has a humdinger. Blue eyes with black outline and black lower lashes and then big bold eyebrows, a U nose and oval red mouth. She has blond soft floss hair that is a work of art. She is firmly stuffed with something crunchy. She is wearing a nicely embroidered slip and pantaloons and a brown and blue flannel skirt. She is 12" tall, all hand sewn and is circa 1910-1920

This great little doll is made with stockinette and stuffed with cotton. She has a wonderful face with big button eyes and big pinched nose and smiling face. She ha a mohair type of fabric that works really well for her salt and pepper hair. Her clothes are sewn on so I thing she is all original. It is endless the variety of doll and how the are made, the features they are given, it never ceases to amaze me. She is 13" tall and is circa 1920.

A wonderful plain and simple antique black doll doorstop. This one is smaller than most and is made with a weighted can rather than a bottle. She is 10" tall and is just the right size to sit on a shelf or be used as a bookend. I like it when the stocking shows nice wear on the bottom and this one really does. See photo. She is great folk art! Circa 1920

I don't find many baby dolls and I have two today. This one has one tooth and I suspect the other is coming soon. She has a round firm body and arms that had hands now one does and it is a furry fringe. She is all original and has on a onesy. 12" tall and is C. 1910

There are so many ways that women thought up on how to make a doll and give them the loveable look. This black cloth doll has that as well as a great folky look. She is stuffed with cotton and wool. She is bendable, the wool areas, and firm in the chest and head, the cotton areas. She has a simple face and it is framed by a crocheted bonnet with neck ruffle so I know it was made just for her. She has on a simple blue calico dress with a wool petticoat and bloomers underneath...

She can get better, she has a provenance that came with her, as follows.....

I don't have many left from the earliest days of buying in the 1970's but this is one of them. He is a happy little guy made with a stockinette sort of fabric...

This doll has attitude and I can see some little scrub kneed kid with this doll under his arm, thinking he can conquer the world. I would like to meet the woman that made this one! He is big and heavy, made with denim, in tan and regular blue jean material. Stuffed with rags and cotton he is a handful. 21" tall and c. 1900-1920 i

This is a very nice African American cloth man doll in suit and tie and homemade antique hat, (I added). This doll was in the collection of Lenon Holder Hoyte and was exhibited at Aunt Len's museum. This collection was sold a Sotheby's in December 16, 1994 and this doll was one of them. He is made with brown cotton and has astrakhan hair. His face is embroidered very nicely with silk floss. He is wearing a black and white check suit, a tan shirt that has discolored to yellow, and a red tie and a...

Here is a very cute stockinette doll with big button eyes, straight embroidered nose and a tiny little oval mouth. She has great heavy astrakhan hair that wraps around her head. She has a soft cotton stuffed body and long kind of lumpy legs. Her old red dress fits her really well and over the dress she has a great brown and red apron. Her condition is really good, she is 16" tall and is circa 1910-20

This lovely black cloth doll is all original. Her face is embroidered, her clothing is early bandanas that are very lovely, I think they may be hand blocked and printed. She has black horsehair peeking out from under her head wrap. In her right hand she is holding, a gathered at the top, purse She is most unusual and very beautiful. She is 17" tall and is circa 1910-20.

This little girl is going out in the world with her eyes wide open. Her eyes are buttons with 4 embroidered rings around the outside that gives her a big wide open eye look. She has the straight neutral mouth and white raised thread ending in two red dots for her nose. She is stuffed with cotton and soft enough that her continuous body/arms/legs, bend easily. Her dress is a cotton print in green and beige design with an apron over and pants under. She is a very nice quiet looking little doll. 1...

Bold folk art cloth doll with drawn ink face and button eyes. I love ears and she sure has them. Her body is all original, clothes are antique, she looks great in her bonnet. She is wearing socks with shoes and the shoes fit her perfectly. Sitting in a doll chair really sets her off. She is solid as a rock and is so appealing. Her condition is really good with a few stains here and there and around her eyes and mouth she has mends...see picture. It is hard to know what that is about and I don't ...

What a face, a skilled hand embroidered this great face and body. She is what she is, pretty amazing. The embroidered face with applied nose, stitched eyes with snaps for pupils, and an abundance of black yarn hair show the skill of the maker. She is firmly stuffed with cotton, fully jointed and intricate hands with separate fingers and thumbs. Her clothes were made for her and fit perfectly. She has no condition problems, probably she was made as a Sunday doll, carefully played with. She is 21"...

Isn't she just grand! She is 20" tall and her whole core is a good size log, that has the irregular bumps and flares of the wood that can be felt through the black stockinette covering. She is wearing a red calico print dress with a yellow calico apron. She has a kerchief tied over some animal fur for hair. Button eyes, little bit of a raised nose and a yarn sewn mouth. She is rock solid, very stable and is a great doorstop if your shelves are too full to put her on them. She is early to mid 19...

I don't see many pairs of dolls and boys dolls I don't think I have had another pair. The older Daryl looks like he is in control and rather sweet, younger Daryl has apparently gotten the short end of the stick. He is sad. They make a very nice pair and are all original with a few missing pieces. I think they both had belts. They have bold embroidered faces and have gray yarn hair. They are firmly stuffed with cotton, are jointed shoulders and hips, have stitched defined fingers with separate th...

Little button eyed, embroidered nose and mouth, black doll. She has great early finely woven string hair. her dress couldn't be any simpler, made of broadcloth and covered with a apron. She is cotton stuffed, little blunt arms and legs and is 12" tall. She is all original and from the 1920's. She is perfect is her funny little way.

I was very surprised to find a Poppet doll dressed as a Native American. I looked up what tribes were in Kentucky and it turns out there were three or four. Shawnee, Cherokee, Chippewa and Chickasaw. So it is not surprising even in the first quarter of 1900 to have an Indigenous Poppet doll. She has on a wool skirt and a fine multicolored top. She has wooden rounded at the end arms and wooden legs covered with a gray wool leggings that have embroidery up the sides and leather shoes. She has a gr...

I have owned this doll for 30 or more years and I never found the right clothes for him and I like his looks without clothes. When I took the pictures today of him I suddenly thought, maybe it is a her and not a him. I am not sure and I guess it doesn't matter, I still like the doll without clothes. Roben Campbell made me appreciate the doll bodies when she exhibited my black cloth dolls collection at our local Historical Society. For that exhibit she researched black cloth dolls and then made a...

Amish sister doll from Holmes County Ohio that are adorable, early, rag stuffed, identical clothes but one has blue and the other green. They are early for Amish dolls on the market, probably date to the 1890's-1910. They are packed with rags giving them a great hefty feel. Condition is not an issue, everything is without rips or tears, but they do have natural age related toning. They sit easily, enjoy company and would like to make new friends. They are out of a private collection. 13"tall, C....

This is a wonderful folk art bottle doll with a big straight smiling mouth, button eyes and one celluloid hanging earring. She is wearing a slip and over that a great black print apron that wraps under and around her head and ties in the back. It certainly is a thrown together look that appears to have been on her a long time. The apron so goes with her face. A one of a kind face for sure. She is on her original weighted glass bottle, is 14" tall and is circa 1920.

Music, and she will be happy. She is stockinette, has a wonderful embroidered face with oval mouth, teeth and two lines running above her eyes and down to outline a nose. I don't see it done that way often and it is very effective. Now the hairdo is something else. It maybe be a simple as two holes that happened and the easiest solution was to stuff in some material but it actually looks like it was made that way. The fabric is the same on both sides and it looks and feels like it goes all the ...

Isn't he the cutest! He stands 10" tall, has a velvet face, googly eyes and looks to be all original. He has velvet face and the same velvet for his hands and for the top of his boots. He stands when leaning against something and doesn't sit. His arms move easily but his legs are rigid. He is stuffed with something that is hard as a rock but I needle goes in easily so it isn't wood but it feels that hard. His body, arms and legs are mohair. He is in very good condition, life has been kind to him...