No. 30

C.M. Bergmann / Simon & Halbig

German Antique Bisque Doll (original)

Details

Maker

C.M. Bergmann (Waltershausen, Germany), head by Simon & Halbig

Mark

No. 13 (apparently a size number)

Period

1900-1915

Height

75 cm

Type

Original antique

About this doll

A large antique doll of 75 cm in an ivory dress and lace bonnet, carrying a parasol. The owner brought her back in person from Texas: she traveled more than fifteen hours by air, folded at the knees inside a trunk.

Her hands, feet and body carry the marks of a hundred years, but her face is undamaged and as refined and sweet as ever, and the dress, bonnet and parasol are well preserved. She is a treasured doll that won the owner's heart at first sight.

Background

Charles M. Bergmann spent his youth in America, returned to Germany in 1877 and in 1888 started a doll factory in Waltershausen, Thuringia, with just two employees. He received patents for ball-jointed dolls in 1900 and 1901, opened a second factory at Friedrichroda around 1909, and by 1914 employed 150 people.

Bergmann made the composition jointed bodies himself and bought heads from Simon & Halbig, Armand Marseille and others, which is why the back of the neck reads 'C.M. Bergmann Simon & Halbig'. Sizes ranged from 33 to 86 cm, and in the United States the dolls were sold through Louis Wolf & Co. under names such as 'Cinderella Baby'. The company closed in 1931.

For questions about this doll, please send us a message on Instagram.