No. 33

Kammer & Reinhardt / Simon & Halbig 76

German Antique Bisque Doll (original)

Details

Maker

Kammer & Reinhardt, head by Simon & Halbig

Mark

S & H / K (star) R / 76

Period

c. 1900

Height

73 cm

Features

Blue sleep eyes, open mouth, pierced ears, jointed composition body

About this doll

A large antique doll of 73 cm in a red dress with a lace belt and a white fur hat trimmed with flowers. The head was made by Simon & Halbig and the doll completed by Kammer & Reinhardt; she has blue sleep eyes, an open mouth, pierced ears and a jointed composition body.

The number 76 on the back of the neck is not a mold number but a size mark: on Kammer & Reinhardt dolls a number between 25 and 99 on the neck gives the doll's height in centimeters. Her measured height is 73 cm.

Background

Kammer & Reinhardt, founded in Waltershausen in 1886, took its heads from Simon & Halbig from 1902, which is why dolls of this period carry both marks, 'S & H' and 'K (star) R'. This doll is a typical 'dolly face' from before the character-doll era, with big round eyes, a slightly open mouth and rosy cheeks.

Sleep eyes close when the doll is laid down and open when she is stood up: the glass eyes are fixed to a metal rocker inside the head with a weight that moves them. They were widely used on German dolls from the late nineteenth century, and antique examples often still keep the original wax on the eyelids. The composition body is made of a material of sawdust, glue and similar ingredients, with ball joints strung together by elastic, and was produced in sizes from 15 to 100 cm.

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