Meet Sofie

Sofie didn't originally appeal to me, probably because of her outfit (from the tools, I think she's supposed to be a carpenter). But I found her for a good price and decided I could always change her clothes. She was produced in 2000, and came to me in mint condition - only removed from her tube to have pictures taken. When Sophie arrived and I saw her pretty face, I was glad that I decided to add her to my collection.


Next it was time for some pretty clothes to replace the coveralls. I purchased a pink and white Sasha dress made by Gotz in 2001 (still in its packaging), some white Mary Jane shoes, and a pair of lace-trimmed socks. With a wide ribbon in her hair, she's a changed girl.


Her hair is very straight and sleek, and she looks so much better to me now. More childlike.

Meet Calla

Calla came to us still tied into her box, thus I know she is a Sasha Honey Blonde Party (116S) from 1985. We promptly removed her, took off her hair net, changed her into some casual clothes, and put her hair in pigtails. Despite her mint-in-box condition, she was purchased to be a playmate for Chloe and Cindy. We now have two dress-up dolls with long wavy hair, but once I discovered the honey blondes I had to have one. I put her back into her original outfit to take these pictures.


She has pale blue, almost grey eyes, and her hair color almost matches her skin.

Meet Cindy

Cindy is another eBay purchase, and once again I'm assuming she came from the 80's. She was naked when I bought her, so I do not know exactly which version of Sasha she is. My guess is a Sasha Brunette Red Pinafore (111s), but I may be wrong. She has thick hair, with a bit of curl at the bottom. Here is her eBay "mugshot", which convinced me of her potential:


And here she is with her hair brushed, wearing a new outfit from Dayzees, and a coordinating ribbon as a headband.

Meet Chloe

As I stated here, I was originally looking for a Sasha doll for my daughter to play with. I found Chloe (nee Cora) on eBay. When I saw her curls I knew she was the perfect choice. Boo often wishes she had straight hair, and I was concerned that a Sasha with long straight locks would reinforce that as the ideal of beauty. A doll with hair that matched hers might convince Boo that curls were beautiful too. Chloe came to us wearing a blue gingham Sasha dress (with added lace), matching panties, and her original brown sandals and wrist tag. I do not know her year of production, but I'm assuming sometime in the 80's.


Chloe is a lighter-skinned Cora with very pink lips and dark brown eyes - an attractive combination.


UPDATE: Since my original post, I've learned a bit more about the lighter-skinned Coras. They were produced wearing a flowered dress with brown sandals (118) from 1980-1984, and a corduroy dress with black lace shoes (119) from 1985-1986. Given that my Cora was still wearing her brown sandals, I believe she is a Cora Flower Dress (118).

Meet Maria

After buying a brunette and a redhead, my third doll purchased is a blonde named Maria. She was produced in 1995 and 1996; my Maria is from 1995, the first year of the new production. Her picture adorns the tube that all the Later Gotz dolls came in. She wears blue corduroy farm pants, a white blouse, and white sandals. Her hair came tied back in a ponytail with long tapered bangs (or fringe as the English say), and she has brown eyes with eyelashes.

Meet Ruth

Ruth was purchased shortly after Anna, but arrived here first since she didn't have as far to travel. She was produced in 1999 in a limited edition of 400. My Ruth is #190, and labeled as such on her torso and accompanying certificate. All her tags are still attached in this picture, which makes her cute "traveling clothes" hard to see. Both of these pictures were taken by her seller.


She has lovely red hair, green eyes, and the most adorable freckles.

Meet Anna

Anna is the first doll that I purchased for my collection (and the most expensive so far). She was produced in 1998, and is the only Later Gotz doll with a side part. Boo and I both think her hair looks a bit like mine - perhaps that's why I found her so appealing. Here she is in the UK, before crossing the ocean to her new home.


Here's a closeup I took of her face, so you can see her beautiful blue eyes.

A Brief History

This information is quoted from the website www.sasha-dolls.com:

Sasha Morgenthaler (1893-1975) was a Swiss artist who started out making small animals and dolls for her children. She also designed shop mannequins and made exclusive one-of-a-kind original dolls in her studio in Zurich starting in the 1940s with a small team of helpers. However, she realised that these dolls, whilst they were very beautiful, were works of art and as such were costly and unaffordable for most parents. So when in 1964/5 she was approached by Gotz of Germany to make Sasha dolls in their factory, she granted them a licence to produce Sasha dolls. This first Gotz mass-production of Sashas lasted from 1965-70 and for the first three years the dolls were all painted by hand. In 1966 the Trendon company from the UK were given the licence to produce the Sasha dolls in their factory at Stockport, near Manchester. Like the Sashas made by Gotz, the Trendon Sasha dolls for the first year were mostly hand-painted and for the next few years there was much hand-finishing of the faces - especially the eye painting. Trendon sold the factory and ceased production of Sasha dolls in 1986. Gotz then made a second production of Sasha dolls from 1995-2001 when they again ceased production. The dolls are no longer made and there are no plans at present to produce them again. Although they are no longer being made, Sasha dolls are very collectible and popular all over the world, from the rare studio dolls made by Sasha herself to those made in all three factory productions.

This picture is from the booklet that came with the Gotz dolls in 2000:


My "playing" dolls are Trendon (English) dolls from the 1980's. My "displaying" dolls are Gotz (German) dolls from the second production (1995-2001). While the earlier dolls were all called Sasha, Gregor, Cora, or Caleb, the Gotz dolls from the second production (AKA "Later Gotz" dolls) were given unique names. As time allows, I will post pictures and information about each of my dolls. For now, you can check out the Sasha Links on the left to see LOTS of other Sasha doll and clothing sites.

The Three Amigos

We now have names for our three dress-up dolls: Calla, Chloe, and Cindy.


The dark skinned dolls were called Cora, which seems old-fashioned. I started calling her Chloe instead -- still "C", still short, but more up-to-date -- and Boo had no objections. Then our other dolls arrived. I suggested Nina for the Sasha Brunette, but Boo nixed that. Her choice was Cindy since "it's a princess name" (as in Cinderella). My original thought for the Sasha Honey Blonde was Heather, which Boo didn't like either. Once the other two had "C" names, I turned to an online baby name site, where I discovered that Chloe and Cindy are both of Greek origin. I looked for "C" names of Greek origin with five letters, and found Calla. Turns out that's a princess name too, since it means Beauty (as in Sleeping Beauty). That satisfied Boo, and me too.

An Introduction

I longed for a Sasha doll growing up, and saw them in high-end toy stores several times as a young adult. When I decided to purchase a dress-up doll for my daughter, I was dismayed to discover they stopped making them in 2001. Fortunately, you can still find Sasha dolls for sale on the internet. We now have three beautiful girls to play with, and a pile of clothing and shoes as well. We're still working on names to match their unique personalities. Here's Boo watching TV with "the girls" this afternoon:


Of course, this is only half the story. These are only the dolls that I allow Boo to play with; I have also begun collecting Sasha dolls for myself. Brace yourself for more posts about my latest obsession in the future.