No. 03

Simon & Halbig / Kammer & Reinhardt

German Antique Bisque Doll

Details

Maker

Kammer & Reinhardt (head by Simon & Halbig)

Type

German antique (original or reproduction to be confirmed)

About this doll

A doll in layered gold and grey lace with a gold satin sash. Her long blonde curls, blue eyes and slightly open mouth are typical of the German 'dolly face' of the late nineteenth century, the sweet, idealized child face of the period.

The collection record names two companies, Simon & Halbig and Kammer & Reinhardt. The two names belong together: from 1902 the bisque heads for Kammer & Reinhardt dolls were made by Simon & Halbig.

Background

Kammer & Reinhardt was founded in 1886 in Waltershausen, Thuringia, by the sculptor Ernst Kammer and the businessman Franz Reinhardt. The firm won prizes at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904. In 1902 it acquired the Heinrich Handwerck factory, which brought it together with Simon & Halbig as its head supplier; dolls of this period are marked with both 'K (star) R' and 'Simon & Halbig'. In 1909 the firm registered the trademark 'Charakterpuppe' (character doll) and launched mold 100, the 'Kaiser Baby', modeled on a real child, a turning point in doll history.

Simon & Halbig was founded in 1869 in Grafenhain by Wilhelm Simon and Carl Halbig and began making doll heads in 1875. Renowned for fine sculpting, subtle coloring and high-quality bisque, it supplied heads not only to Kammer & Reinhardt, Handwerck, Bergmann and Dressel in Germany but also to Jumeau and SFBJ in France. It was bought by Kammer & Reinhardt in 1920.

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