No. 05

Cuno & Otto Dressel

German Antique Bisque Doll

Details

Maker

Cuno & Otto Dressel (Sonneberg, Germany)

Type

German antique (original or reproduction to be confirmed)

Head by

To be confirmed (heads supplied by S&H, AM and others)

About this doll

A doll in a red dress whose bodice is closely gathered in smocking. She wears a black brimmed hat, has brown hair, and her open mouth shows her teeth.

Cuno & Otto Dressel did not fire bisque heads themselves; they bought heads from specialist porcelain factories such as Simon & Halbig and Armand Marseille and assembled the finished dolls. For that reason the heads of Dressel dolls often carry the supplier's mark as well.

Background

The Dressel family's toy business goes back to the eighteenth century. In 1757 the family acquired the 'Dressel-Hof' in Sonneberg, where a toy business was already in operation, and the firm is counted among the earliest representatives of the Thuringian toy industry. In 1873 the brothers Cuno (1829-1893) and Otto (1831-1907) took over and gave the company its present name; in 1875 it registered the 'Holz-Masse' trademark with its winged helmet.

Besides bisque, the firm made dolls in celluloid, composition, wax and wood, and used trade names such as 'Jutta' (1907) and 'Fifth Ave Dolls' (1903). It rebuilt after a major fire in 1914 and remained in business until around the Second World War.

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