12-inch Jointed Kestner Kewpie Doll
Seven-Piece Composition Body
Autographed by Rose O'Neill
I put these photos here so visitors could help me learn something about this Kewpie doll. And I have learned a lot, especially from board members of the International Rose O'Neill Club (IROC). One board member wrote,
"My grandfather was Rose O'Neill's older brother and I have been a Kewpie collector all my life. I am not lucky enough to have a Kestner jointed Kewpie in my collection. It appears from your pictures to be a true Kestner Kewpie. They were made with the bisque head and jointed composition body. Also, it looks like an original signature on the bottom of the foot. Rose O'Neill made personal appearances at stores selling Kewpies and autographed them on the foot. It is worth whatever someone is willing to pay. I think $3,000 would be a conservative figure. As they are quite rare, very few collectors have them. So I am not alone. Kewpish regards,
Janet O'Neill Sullivan."
This doll was among the first dolls manufactured for Rose O'Neill beginning in 1912-13, and with its "googly" glass eyes, is probably the rarest and most beautiful. It was made in Germany by the J.D. Kestner Doll factory--"The King of Dollmakers." Jan Foulke's 14th Blue Book, Dolls and Values, page 132, lists this 12-inch Kewpie with a value of $6,500, about ten times as valuable as any other Kewpie listed. Foulke describes the doll as, "Bisque head on chubby jointed composition toddler body, glass eyes." Warman's Dolls, A Value and Identification Guide, 1998, by R.Lane Herron, page 104, does not list a 12-inch Kestner Kewpie but describes an 11-inch Kestner Kewpie as, "Bisque head, watermelon mouth, inset large round blue glass googly eyes, blond painted/molded hair, BJ compo body (toddler), undressed. Made by J.D. Kestner, Germany. Mark: Ges gesche/Oneill JDK.....$6,500." [The 11-inch doll does not have jointed knees like the 12-inch doll, and the 12-inch doll has brown eyes]
My mother inherited this doll from her mother. We do not know where or when my grandmother got the doll, but my mother first saw it in the 1950s when cleaning my grandmother's house in San Diego. My grandmother was doing volunteer work at a thrift store at the time and may have gotten it there. Experts tell me the knit clothes that were on the doll when I got it in 2001, and that were on it for at least the previous 50 years, were not original, and that the doll may have come without clothes, as Herron suggests above. I removed the knit clothing (I had to cut it in two places) to find the markings on the back of the neck. As you can see on my photos page, Jan Foulke's book, Kestner, King of Dollmakers, includes a photo of an identical doll with an original Kestner cotton print dress. The tag on that dress is dated 1913, which is most likely when this doll was made.
The eyes are fixed; they were never designed to move. There are no wings of any kind, but there are clear dollmaker's markings incised on the back of the neck. I do not have the box this doll came in. The doll shows no signs of ever being repaired, but I had it restrung.
At http://www.ortakales.com/illustrators/ there is much information about Rose O'Neill's illustrations and dolls. In describing how the first Kewpie dolls were made, the site's author says, "Geo. Borgfeldt & Co. of New York was interested in producing a line of dolls and figurines in 1912. They were eventually granted control of all production rights to Kewpie dolls and figurines. A young artist, Joseph Kallus of Brooklyn, studying at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn was chosen to sculpt a line of Kewpie figurines, an event that was to change the course of his intended career. The dolls were economically produced in Germany by the J.D. Kestner Co. out of porcelain, briefly stopping production during World War I."
The End of the Story
When my father died in 2001 my mother was in serious need of additional cash to help her make the transition to living single. She carried this Kewpie out from her bedroom and asked me if I thought it might be worth anything. She mentioned that all the grandkids had played with it and my dad had suggested a few times that they throw it away, since the clothes were looking a bit tattered. But she thought it was cute so she held on to it..
I told her I had no idea what it was worth, but would check it out. A couple months later I reported back to her that the most expensive Kewpies on eBay were selling for over $500 -- which sounded to her like winning the lottery. But I also told her that none of the Kewpies on eBay looked anything like this one. After I talked to more people, found the prices in the doll value guides and had the doll restrung, we mailed it (overnight, insured) to the Hollister Auction Company to be sold at auction at the annual summer "Kewpiesta" in Branson, Missouri. The doll was bought by the highest bidder (by phone) for $6000 plus a 10 percent buyers fee. Our family hopes the new owner loves this Kewpie as much as my mother loved the surprise income.
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