England

Early British dolls are extremely expensive and very difficult to date. Their clothing is often sewn to the body preventing us from looking closely for possible clues to the doll's age.  Making reproduction Queen Anne dolls and reproduction pegged wooden dolls (in the Grodner Tal style) has been a very popular hobby in Britian and the US in the 20th century so there are a lot of these reproduction wooden dolls around! Some repros are dated and signed by the artists but most are not. England's most famous modern wooden reproduction doll artists are Peter Horne and Eric Horne from Devon, England.

According to the 1st volume of the Coleman's "The Collector's Encyclopedia of Dolls" William Higgs 1733 London made jointed wooden dolls turned on a lathe. Faces were painted by his apprentice and dressed by his wife. The Colemans credit this information to the book "English Dolls" by Alice Early.

"Queen Anne" Dolls - although all of these dolls are generally called "Queen Anne", they are actually given different names for each time period. They are distinguished between each other by the general style of the eyes, body, arms, and legs. In addition to the true antiques, there are many modern craftsmen in Britain and the US who enjoy making Queen Anne reproduction dolls. Some of these reproduction dolls are signed and dated by the crafters but unfortunately many modern Queen Anne style dolls are not signed due to the modesty or ignorance of the doll maker rather than an attempt to defraud collectors by offering fakes since there is typically no attempt to distress the wood to make it look old.

The basic form of a Queen Anne Torso.

QA torso photo thanks to Regina A. Steele

Looking at the torso of this Queen Anne we can see that the body was roughly turned on a lathe to give it the basic symmetrical shape. Then the hip area was flattened and grooves were cut.  The "chicken beak looking nose" looks as if was applied to the face as a little wedge of wood, and then shaped. The facial features were shallowly carved, and optional glass eyes were embedded. Then the whole thing was covered with gesso to seal the wood and painted.  They ave wooden tongue and groove joints, with wooden pegs at the knees and the hips. The lower legs are thin with roughly shaped feet without toes. The "fork fingered" lower arms were attached with cloth or leather, and the legs were carved and attached with pegs. Two more nude photos of Queen Anne dolls are in the book "THE ULTIMATE DOLL BOOK" by Caroline Goodfellow pages 12 and 13. One has a very unusual torso and hip, but a very Queen Anne looking head.

William and Mary Wood Dolls- ca. 1690.

William and Mary photo by Sotheby's

They have carved faces, rouged cheeks, and painted eyes detailed with small thin lines for eyelashes and brows. These had linen upper arms. The carved wood hands look like a slightly curved salad serving fork. Many hands are covered with kid leather gloves.  This example of William and Mary Wood Doll was part of the fabulous Dina Vierny Collection, which was recently auctioned by Sotheby's. Notice her full human hair coiffure.

Queen Anne Peg Wooden Dolls- ca early 1700s

photo by  Sotheby's

These dolls have carved faces with inset dark glass eyes and occasionally painted eyes. The eyelash and brows were detailed with dots. The large black spots on the faces emulate "beauty spots" which were fake moles that women applied to their skin - the height of fashion at the times. They had cloth upper arms too.  This particular doll has eyebrows that combine the thin line and dots, so it can be considered an early QA or an unusual WM glass eye doll c.1695.

click to see doll full length Queen Anne dressed in Blue c. 1740 photos thanks to Warren Snider

QA doll in her wooden box (coffin?)

Warren Snider described his doll as: This magnificent, museum quality Queen Anne doll dates circa 1740. She is completely original and has no restoration. The head and torso are made from one block of wood, lathe turned and carved. She has black glass eyes, dotted eyebrows and lashes and her original human hair wig. Her fork hands are finely carved and feature painted fingernails and lines. Her clothing is completely original including her undergarments, gloves, red leather slippers and fabulous hat. She is 20 1/2" tall and comes with a great, old wooden box (coffin???).

"Lydia Peglow" circa 1760 photo thanks to Julie Mills

Julie Mills describes her very special Queen Anne, "Here is my Queen Anne as found. She is dated circa 1760. Note square body (later were pointed) She appears to have been redressed or was a baby. If you use her photo She is 'Lydia Peglow' - her name" The arms on Queen Anne dolls were typically very crudely carved with fork-like, fragile, open fingers. The arms on Lydia Peglow may be very old replacement lower arms or the original hands were crudely carved to look like closed hands after the original open fingers broke off. full length in underclothes - you can see some body details full length dressed

Queen Anne with braided hair photos thanks to Anne Higgins

Anne Higgins described this doll as follows: She has pupiless dark eyes and human hair wig that is braided and would around in fancy style. (Detail photos) show her quaint little body - her head almost looks too big for the body although it's all in one piece with torso. Her legs are one piece jointed at hip area. The arms are crudely carved wooden at the end of burlap pieces that are attached at shoulders with a nail on each side. I think her clothing is more recent as some of the underwear has machine stitching. Her outer dress is made of cotton and silk - very old and in quite good shape. She has a little embroidered silk "stomacher" in the front. The clothes look like finely made and well designed replacements. Note the square shape of the torso bottom and that the legs are attached with wire. I would have expected a wooden dowel. Using wire like this is a much later method of attaching doll parts. Wire is hard on wooden parts and clothing especially where the wire is bent into a loop that can easily catch and tear fine fabrics. More photos: back of head  |  full length undressed full length dressed  |  full length dressed back view hip showing wire bent into a loop  |  legs

Georgian Period Wood Dolls - mid to late 1700s.

Queen Anne dolls were exported all over the world. Many fine examples were sent to the American colonies. QA dolls dressed by early American Indians in authentic native dress are very interesting and rare.
 

Cree dressed English QA dolls photo thanks to Rosalie Whyel Museum of Doll Art

Cree dressed English Queen Anne dolls English wooden dolls dressed by American Cree Indians. The Indian costumes are authentic and extremely detailed with a lot of quill work. According to one theory, the Indians were asked to dress some English "Queen Anne" dolls as a gifts, and/or to impress an important visiting European. I don't know the date of these dolls yet. I have to get some information about their body construction.

Early 1800s I need some more information about the style of doll being made during this period.

Notable Queen Anne Reproductions:
 

UFDC National Souvenir "Charity" #1396 photo by Jean Lotz

This is a souvenir doll named "Charity" from the Philadelphia UFDC National Convention in 1995. She was designed by Fred T. Laughon and produced by the United States Historical Society. Fred had become very well known in the doll collecting world both for his kind hearted nature and his love for Queen Anne style dolls. He made a lot of QA repro dolls during his extremely long work life. Fred retired very late in his 80's. This particular doll is marked on the back: ["Charity" / UFDC INC / PHILA 1995 / # 1396 / USHS] There was also a male "companion doll" sold separately at this convention. These particular Queen Anne style reproduction souvenir dolls are notable primarily because they were produced not only to recognize the Philadelphia heritage but to celebrate doll collectors' love for this particular type of doll.

Wales
 

close up of Welsh doll  Photograph courtesy of Theriault's Annapolis, MD

Circa 1830 German "tuck comb" doll dressed in authentic Welsh costume The German doll making industry offered some serious competition to the more expensive English dolls. description from Theriault's catalog: Circa 1830 German "tuck comb" doll dressed in authentic Welsh costume : This doll is dressed to represent the remote hamlet of Bala in Wales. She wears a wool dress, lace scarf and a fur top hat. 15" carved wooden head and torso with carved bosom, and slender waist.  Her facial features are well carved and painted: pointy chin, obvious nose, subtle cheeks, blue eyes, black eyeliner, single stroke brows, closed mouth, blushed cheeks, and shaded hair painting.

Santa's workshop Photograph courtesy of Theriault's Annapolis, MD

Eric Williamson - (Mid-WALES) I found this carved wood Santa workshop photo in a Theriault's auction catalog. It stated that this AUTOMATA was created in 1983. It is carved of limewood and has intricate animation. When the gear is turned, Santa planes the wood forward and back.  The marks "(407 83@)" incised on the base might indicate this was the 407th toy in an edition or made in 1983 (unlikely with the amount of work involved in creating this toy). Or the numbering refers to the 407th toy that Eric recorded in his books and it was made in 1983. I would like more information on Eric's work and if he is still making dolls.