Meet Josephine

I haven't posted much recently so there are several dolls still waiting to be introduced. This girl is jumping the queue -- a birthday present to myself that is too special to wait.  She is a 1966 np with the developmental eye style whose brows have silvered. She makes my heart flutter. I have decided to call her Josephine, Jo for short.

Apologies for the lack of posts the past year or so, but work, kids, and pets are keeping me busy. I don't have much free time, let alone free time when there is good light for taking pictures. These are rushed photographs with overcast skies, but I was too excited to wait to share. More/better pictures will come eventually (please don't hold your breath waiting though), including hopefully some with Jessica.

Meet Madden

Here is another of Boo's babies who has been shown on the blog but not formally introduced, a sexed boy from the 70's. Madden was won in the Childrens' Fund Auction at the 2012 Sasha festival. Boo was a bit miffed to discover that while he was all in pink, he was actually male. I offered to sell him and buy a genderless blonde baby, but she was too attached to part with him. His subtle genitals aren't visible when dressed, so she decided to view him as a girl. S/he was dubbed "Puppy" to go with Kitty. I suggested Madden, which is an Irish name meaning "little dog" - technically a male name, but sometimes used for females as well. Perfect! 

Meet Emma Katherine

Everyone who has read my blog since the early days knows that the first Sasha dolls I ever saw (and loved) belonged to my childhood friends - sisters who owned a blonde and a brunette. I found a 1971 brunette that matched my memories and named her Esme. I already had a 1970 blonde named Enid, and while they were great friends, not quite the pair I remembered from childhood. Petite Enid with her full center part was just a bit off the mark. She has since traveled off to a new home, and I now have a 1971 blonde I call Emma Katherine.

Emma is a much better match to my memories. Her bangs are a bit wonky, but I think they can be sorted out and made at least a bit more even. The end pieces on the far right here come from behind the first row of hair, and searching through the pieces on the other side I see some short strands mixed in. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to coax them back where they belong.

I love her dark blue eyes, and even the pale color of her lips that this era often fades too. I think that she and Esme Elizabeth are going to be fantastic sisters.

Meet Erik

As promised in my last post ...
Erik is my most-recent Sasha doll, arriving here from England two weeks ago. He is a (sexed) Baby Woolly, which were only made in 1970. He is wearing his full original outfit as well as his gold wrist tag. He'd been described as "in gently played with condition with plenty of sand falling from his joints", and I was surprised by just how much sand when I took these pictures. I don't think his clothes have ever been changed.

So much to love about this sweet little guy, and his hair has a similar shape to baby Elin. While her eyes are greening slightly and her lips have whitened, his face paint is nice and vibrant.

They make a nice pair, but I'll save showing them together for my next post. Gotta spread out the pictures from last weekend's photo session, since who knows when I'll find time (and cooperative weather - today is rainy and dark) to take more.

1968 Blonde Quartet

While I was taking pictures of my fringe girls for the last post, I decided to take a few pictures of ALL my 1968 blondes. Here is Audrey with Allegra and Alison. She also has a wide cord dress, but hers is quite faded.

Audrey's bangs are several rows deep, starting higher up on her head than those of the fringe girls.

And lastly, a picture with my waif Adeline. She seems to have a wider face than the other three. Another wide dress, but not corduroy; this one was made by me last summer from the Migros pattern.

1968 Fringe Girls

I have two 1968 blondes with a single fringe - one is wispy while the other is more even. Both have gorgeous blue eyes. I thought it would be fun to photograph them side by side for comparison.

They are wearing their wide corduroy dresses, Allegra in blue and Alison in brown.

Alison will be coming to the festival with me. This may be out last hurrah together, as I'm contemplating selling her. Never easy to part with a Sasha, but my collection is still a bit unwieldy.

Meet Allegra

The eBay situation with Annabel left me feeling unhappy, but I cheered up when I found a 1968 blonde fringe girl for sale on Shelly's site. Since her descriptions are always accurate, I knew I wouldn't be disappointed again. Allegra is just as described, and oh so much nicer than Annabel. And she's a blue cord, like most of my other early English blondes.

The weather wasn't great for picture taking today and I didn't have time to mess with lighting, but I managed to find a spot of light coming through a south-facing window. It was so bright that I was having problems with shadows, but I like how this picture turned out.

Luckily I also wound up with a decent shot of Allegra's spectacular pale blue eyes. If you're curious, she's standing in front of Boo's doll armoire.

Meet Juliette

I can't believe it's almost time for the 2011 Sasha Festival. My how time flies! Even more unbelievable is that I still haven't formally introduced the doll that I bought at last year's festival. I gave a couple of sneak peeks here and here, but haven't made the time since then to take photos and write up a blog post.

Nancy Miller of Let's Play Dolls wrote this description of her: "Early rare no-philtrum girl, 1966, beautifully hand painted and extremely rare dark navy eyes with dark liner and white eye shadow, pretty pink lips, near flawless complexion, beautiful blonde hair has just a hint of dryness, but this is not obvious, no missing hair plugs, complete original blue cord dress outfit, panty elastic has stretched, clothes are otherwise excellent, navy leather Mary Jane shoes are absolutely mint except for a bit of paint missing from one snap, I don’t remember if I added the vintage hair ribbon or if it is original, doll has been re-strung to the correct tension, original striped elastic is tucked inside, doll is in excellent to near mint condition. She was reluctantly taken from my personal collection; she is gorgeous!"

She is indeed gorgeous. And her eyes are absolutely amazing! She is the Jewel of my collection - often referred to as Jules as a nickname for Juliette. Not the best light for photography today, but it will suffice.

Meet Annabel

Since my last few posts have been about dolls that I don't own anymore, I decided to introduce another doll that is no longer part of my collection. She was purchased in a very negative eBay experience, but enough time has passed that it's not particularly upsetting now. Plus I learned two valuable lessons: early blondes can have major hair problems, and avoid sellers who appear mentally unstable. Since my 1968 blondes all have names starting with A, I thought it would be fitting to call her Annabel.

This poor girl's hair was very stiff and matted, and started falling out and/or breaking off before I was able to shampoo it. My assumption is that the hair was damaged by some sort of hair styling product which was used on it years ago (hence the stiffness). Her eyes were lovely, but it's my opinion that a fringe girl has lost most of her cachet if she's balding. I had to get Customer Support involved, but fortunately I was able to return the doll for a full refund.

These pictures were taken after her hair had been wet, so it looks quite smooth and silky here. But if you look closely it's broken off in places, especially a big chunk of her bangs.

You can see lots of shorter hairs from this angle, and also a ding on her hand.

Her face is quite lovely, though also quite grubby.

The cost was too high (both financially and emotionally) for me to regard her as a waif and fix her up. Alas, I can't save every doll. She was sold again on eBay for a lower price, so hopefully someone else did/will save her.

Meet Princess Sasha

Like many Sasha collectors, I longed to own a rare Sasha Princess from 1986. She was intended to be a limited edition of 3500, but fewer than 400 were made before the factory in England closed. She has such a sweet look in all the pictures I've seen, with her distinctive blonde wig and brown eyes. I was thrilled when I found one for a reasonable price, complete with her box and certificate. When she arrived, I was surprised by how little attention I gave her. She and I just didn't connect -- a first for me with regard to Sashas. I finally concluded that it was her wig I didn't like (yes, that beautiful wig). I love wigged dolls in pictures, but apparently not so much in person. After months of contemplation I decided to sell her on for another collector to enjoy, but not before taking a few pictures.

Her outfit is elegant yet understated, and I love how all the pieces pull together. The pale pink and navy blue contrast nicely, and the hooded cloak and jeweled neck ribbon are perfect accessories for a princess.

I still think Sasha Princess looks sweet in pictures, but I also think I made the right decision for me when I sent her off to a new home.

Meet Gemma

When I stumbled upon my first "no philtrum" on eBay, I figured she would be the only one I owned. But then a blonde np was listed for sale on Shelly's website. And lingered. And had her price reduced. And ... I decided she should come live in NC. I almost named her Caitlyn (for some reason she reminds me of my sister's childhood friend), but decided she should be called Gemma instead.

I grabbed a few minutes here and there this afternoon to take pictures, so my photo session spread over several hours. The light angle changed quite a bit over this time period, taking her from icy to glowing.

As you can see from this close-up, her lips are quite rubbed but her eyes are fabulous.

I'll try to remember to take comparison photos of Gemma with some of my other 1960's Blue Cords. It might not be for a while though, as I have a new job and even less free time for blogging right now.

Blonde No Navel Trio

Here are my three blonde no-navels, all wearing Check Repro Smocks from Ruths Dolls. Wow!

Lucinda is in fuchsia, Lynde is in mustard, and Liesel is in blue.

The two 1969 girls, with their heavier eye paint:

The blue-eyed sisters (thank you Ellen!):

Meet Lynde

Hard to believe it's been three weeks since my last post. My summer days are anything but lazy, and there just isn't time to get everything done. I took pictures of Lynde a week ago but wasn't satisfied with how they looked, even after editing. I finally found some time to try again today, this time outdoors, and am much happier with the results.

Lynde is my third blonde Gotz no-navel, though they are all slightly different. She is from 1969, and has blue eyes like her younger sister Liesel (both came from the same collector). Their friend Lucinda is also from 1969 but she has brown eyes.

Boo is watching over my shoulder, waiting for me to be off the computer. She says that I should say Lynde is "beautiful". She's right, though I think all of my Sashas are beautiful.

Look for comparison photos of Lynde, Liesel, and Lucinda in my next post.

Blonde No Navel Duo

I've introduced two blonde no-navels so far, and thought it might be fun to show them together for comparison. Liesel is a blue-eyed blonde from 1970 and Lucinda is a brown-eyed blonde from 1969.


It's lovely spring weather here, so they've changed into jumpers designed and made by Peggy Trauger. I won the embroidered "flying kite" jumper at the 2009 Sasha Festival, while the painted "watering flowers" jumper came from the collection of Audrey Femmer.

Meet Liesel

It was late afternoon by the time I got around to taking pictures today. Fortunately there was enough light left, as I really wanted to introduce another doll this weekend. Liesel is my fifth Gotz no-navel, purchased from another collector who shares a fondness for these unique girls.


She is blonde like Lucinda, but with very different eyes. Lucinda has brown eyes in the 1969 style (with heavier brows), while Liesel has blue eyes in the 1970 style. She is wearing her original blue cord dress, which matches her eyes nicely.


While she doesn't really have a full center part, her hair styles nicely into braids. I love how innocent she looks.

Meet Adeline (after)

I finally sent Adeline to Pat's Sasha spa in Florida, and she returned home in December (this is one of the posts I was planning before Christmas but didn't get around to creating). The lighting was bad for her "before" pictures, but even discounting that she looks so much better now. Pat cleaned her inside and out, restrung her, washed and dried her hair, and re-rooted some hair plugs.


She had 11 hair plugs fixed -- there were just nubs here at her hairline.


Her original stringing was thin white in the arms and striped in the legs, so I'm pretty sure she dates from 1968. Knowing that, she would have been dressed as Jeans (which I would call brown corduroy overalls), Brown Cord, or Blue Cord. As planned, I dressed her in a 1960's blue cord outfit with replacement socks. From a distance, she looks almost like new ...


... except that she was the victim of a young hairdresser at some point, so her hair is somewhat uneven. It's slightly shorter on her left side at the front, and has a shorter layer on her right side at the back. It's a bit dry at the ends, but has lovely shade variations.


Up close she has a graze on her nose and her lip color is pretty much gone, but just look at those beautiful blue eyes!


I was planning on keeping Adeline as part of my collection, but have decided to offer her for sale at my bonanzle booth instead (I have plenty of late-60's blondes already, and am saving for a special doll I've found). I should have her listed there sometime this week.

More Audrey

I introduced Audrey in December, on an overcast day that wasn't conducive to picture taking. Those indoor shots really don't do her justice, so I decided to try again. When I had my blue cord girls outside for pictures on Sunday, I took a bunch of Audrey alone in several different poses. Enjoy!