Blue Monday: Dutch Treat

For this week's Blue Monday offering, I thought I'd post another sampling from my doll collection. The two Dutch dolls pictured here are by Vogue Dolls, and are even older than I am (no, I didn't believe it was possible, either), having been issued around 1942. They're about 8 inches tall, made of composition, with painted eyes, and mohair wigs glued over molded curls. As you can see, their outfits have definitely seen better days. There are products available to clean and restore old fabric, of course, but I've just never wanted to take the chance. I believe the little girl would originally have had more of a pointed "Dutch" cap on – the lacy one she's wearing is definitely old (probably older than the doll), but also probably a replacement.

These two dolls have always been special to me. For one thing, they're precursors of the Ginny Doll, which was a favorite doll of my childhood. And also, these are two of the last dolls I bought, back ten years or so ago, when I was still actively collecting. But I think I've always liked them especially because of the "Dutch doll" tag. When I was a child, my grandmother always used to call me a "little Dutch girl" and when I got old enough to look things up in encyclopedias, and found out all about the costumes with their wooden shoes and starched white caps, I fell in love with the idea. Of course, decades later I realized that my old German Granny was saying I was a "Deutsch" girl – a little fraulein – and nothing to do with Holland at all!

For more Blue Monday photos and stories, please visit Smiling Sally's blog.