All Original

Many years of diligent collecting…

25+ years later, my collection has waxed and waned, and evolved to the point where I believe I have ‘had it all’.

First I collected Ideal Betsy Wetsy dolls and their beautiful dresses and bonnets. From there grew an interest in their own ‘genealogy’ — I observed that Betsy had a long line of ‘ancestors’, that is, predecessors in the Ideal Toy Co manufacturing line, that had similar features to Betsy… the ‘many faces’ of Plassie, Baby Beautiful, Princess Beatrix and others. And so, I collected them all — all sizes, all their clothing, blonds and brunettes — and even an extremely rare 11″ African American Betsy from 1950 that was all hard plastic with molded hair — just like it’s Caucasin counterpart (since then I have seen for sale, but did not purchase, one that was all vinyl and with black saran hair).

Next came my fascination with the 1950s American Character Tiny Tears baby doll. And Oh How I Loved Her! I collected no less than a 1000 of these little ones over the years in all sizes and condition — from ‘mint’ to the poorest ‘little orphans’ you can imagine — and I found some truly rare ones with platinum caracul wigs… one even had a ‘baby pink’ wig. I learned from them what clothes were original, and which ones were sold ‘aftermarket’ alongside them in the department store.

And, finally my TRUE LOVE was ‘born’ — Effanbee Dy-Dee truly ‘Stole My Heart’, along with every other Effanbee doll I have had the good fortune and privilege to pass through my portals and get to know and love.

Over time I will highlight some of these wonderful dolls and their clothing and accessories here.

Today’s photo shows my little Dy-Dee girls dressed all alike in their original slips, dresses, coats and matching hats. Each holds her original heart shaped ‘gold’ paper hang tag identifying her size by name. The dresses are made of white cotton lawn with ‘white-on-white’ embroidered Peter Pan style collars, with high waisted pleated skirts. Lovely tailored pink cotton twill coats with matching bonnets finish their look… all dressed up and ready to visit Grandma!