Vintage 1981 Effanbee Renior 15" Vinyl "Girl With A Watering Can" Doll

Greetings and Salutations Doll Friends!!

Well, it's been pretty well established that I have some serious love for Effanbee Dolls. Specifically vintage ones but generally only because I am much too cheap to buy the newer ones they make now. Which are to die for really, produced by Tonner from what I understand but that's another blog for another time...

I think I've mentioned we are in process of moving. We sold our house on Wednesday and so drove the approximately hour drive to the west to look at our short list of houses we want to buy. We put contract in on our favorite, so if you don't mind saying a prayer we get it, I'd appreciate it. It's the one that I can envision an amazing doll room in, so... I do ever so hope it works out. Trying to leave it to God though because I know He will take us just the right place. 

All that being said, on the freeway exit to that house is an antique mall. See? It's meant to be!! So since we happened to be right there in the area, after we'd decided on a house to offer on and had some lunch, I stopped in...

Oh. My. Stars!

Vintage. Doll. Heaven!!

I was so overwhelmed that I didn't think to take even one photo of the amazing booths I found that were chockablock full up with Madame Alexander and Effanbee Vintage Dolls all safely protected in their boxes as if they rode a time machine from thirty years ago. Love Love Love! I had such a hard time choosing just one. If we do get that house, I suspect that booth might be my undoing. I'll go and take you on a tour if we get the house... Otherwise, I don't want to go back because it'll be too painful a reminder of what could have been! Hahahaha! Seriously though, the booth had a whole rack of vintage dolly dresses and all manner of cool and it was just one booth of hundreds. I could spend hours there and I only had like fifteen minutes to spare that day! So...

I chose this sweet girl! I have decided to name her Renior. Because it fits, eh?

Isn't she pretty?!

It helps if you are familiar with the painting she is based on. She is "Girl with a Watering Can" from Renior's famous painting. I have to say I think they got her pretty spot on, right down to the flowers she's holding in her hand. 

As you also know, I am not one to leave 'vintage display only kind of dolls' in their original clothes and such... Dolls are meant to be played with or what's the point? So, I took her dress off for the very first time since 1981 to check her out. 

As per their usual, Effabee did a top notch job on her costume. Her little slip isn't even able to be seen when she has the blue dress over but there it is, anyway. It could be used as a little night gown or even summer dress all by itself. Bloomers too! I love bloomers!

Her hair brushed out really nice and pretty, it's rooted and very thick. 

See her costume components? So pretty and cute. The socks are adorable! They are a bit dirty from the shoes but that's normal even in modern dolls. 

****WARNING!! NUDE DOLL PHOTOS FOLLOWING*****

TURN BACK NOW if you you are bothered by them....

Don't say I didn't warn you...

Ok... Here they are... Gotta review a doll properly!

She has the same body type as my two other 15" Effabee Dolls by Jan Hagara. You can read more about them here: Laurel and here: Christina&Larry It's one of my favorite body mold types from Effanbee, very sturdy and well made with soft plastic and five points of articulation. 

Here is her back.

And her stamp on her back. She was born in 1981 when I was nine. I like to think of my current burgeoning collection as a fantasy collection I would've died for as a nine year old. Why not? So many people collected these dolls and tucked them away in closets as the treasure they are. I am so glad that they did.

That's it for now Doll Friends!

Till next time!

XXOO

Ertl 14" Girlhood Journeys 14" Doll: A Photo Review

Greetings and Salutations Doll Friends!

I have been ever so remiss in writing of late! Big happenings my real house have virtually stopped all happenings in the Doll House to make a long story short. In fact, the Doll House and all the dolls are packed away in boxes and are headed to storage. *gasp* I know! Not my favorite aspect of our current life situation but necessary. We are moving to a new part of the world soon and in order for that to happen, we have to sell our house. Unfortunately our realtor doesn't seem to think prospective buyers would appreciate the broad expanse of doll related items and dolls... Really?! What's the matter with people nowadays? *sigh* However, since we are bound to end up paying him rather large sums of money for his knowledge, I have attempted to yield to it. Trust, me, it's painful. 

One solace is to know I have roughly ten drafts here waiting to be finished... A plethora of photos awaiting the stories to flesh them out. This is the first of those postings. I went a little doll mad (more doll mad?) in July. I tend to overdo on extravagance during that month because it's a big celebration month in my life... Teehee. I an generally not one to indulge in the somewhat mainstream girlie indulgences like getting nails done or going to shopping mall to pay too much for clothes. Nope, this girl, when she gets fun money, she runs to eBay (or better yet, thrift shops) to look for a new dolly. Or rather, usually a vintage dolly. 

So, without further ado, I present one of said dolly. Or rather two, because I tend to buy in twos (or threes, or until I own entire collection once I have found one.... Oh, wait, did I say that out loud? I digress, again. See why I never get anything written!

Meet Shannon! She is an Ertyl Girlhood Journeys 14" Doll. I am not sure when they were produced but I think it was in the 1990's. Perhaps you know and can leave information in the comments. I ran across them when I was researching 14" dolls on eBay. I think I've mentioned how dangerous that sort of research can be. Teehee. You can get them for a song though, usually for under $20 including shipping and you can pay that much for a take out pizza nowadays! Dolls last much longer than pizza!

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Well I agree and am going go let the photos tell a lot of the story about this doll. Mostly because I am a bit short on time and want to get this posted. I am not sure if it will post, date wise, as the day I wrote draft or the day I post it but I am writing this on August 22nd and it will be the first post I've posted since early July. Egads! Did I mention we are moving...? Moving is so much work and I also have a job and kids and a husband and and and... So doll time has taken a hit! I'll get much better again after we get moved! 

Isn't she pretty?!

Her clothes are so well made! If you have HeartForHearts dolls who need clothes, the purchase price of one of these on eBay would be worth it for the dress because they can share clothes! 

Despite being vintage, she had never been removed from her clothes. They were sewn on.

She has a soft body but is stuffed with pellet like stuffings like a bean bag. Kind of different but it makes it easy for her to sit well.

Her back.

She sits well and with her legs forward which is always nice. (Many dolls nearly have to do the splits to sit down!) 

Here is her tag.

Compared to a HeartsForHearts doll, Lilly.

Trying each other's clothes. They work well but their feet are not same at all. Shannon's feet are much smaller than Lilly's.

An original add I found an image of on Google. As you can see, there were four dolls in the line. I imagine I'll pick up the other two at some point or another.... Just too cute not to have all of them. In fact, I have Kai on my wish list at this very moment... I am trying to be good though. My dear husband is very sweet but he just had to move quite a few boxes of dolls into storage and... Well... He has his limits. Not to mention we are trying to budget because we are moving. Digressed again... Sorry. Back to the dolls!

I also found Juliet on eBay. She was missing her shoes but was otherwise in perfect condition considering her age.

Here is mark on back of her neck.

And some clothes swapping ensued as soon as all the review photos were taking... Girls will be girls, dolls or not! 

Lilly wearing Juliets dress. 

Juliet wearing my vintage Effanbee dolls dress.

Here is said Effanbee doll (She is a Jan Hagara 15" doll who came named Laurel but has since been named Heather) in Shannon's dress. By way, I generally always rename my dolls... So Shannon is now Susannah and Juliet is now Patricia. I'd explain why but it wouldn't make much sense to you. Suffice to say I like to name my dolls after people but you don't know these people. Teehee.

That's it for now doll friends! Until next time! 

XXOO