1996 Hasbro Sindy Baseball Cap - Do What??

This weird item made and distributed by Hasbro in 1996 and marketed as SINDY BASEBALL CAP SOFT DOLL  - I have no idea what the point of it is at all.

I mean if a child wants to take Sindy with them where ever the go, they simply pick up their Sindy doll and carry it around with them, or like my Son did with his favourite toys, sneak them into Mum's pocket or bag whilst she's not looking and make her carry them!

So why when they could do that would they prefer to wear a shocking pink baseball cap with a soft bodied Sindy doll stuck to the front of it?

Ice Cream Floats .... Apparently!!

Now this is seriously cute!

By Fischel Toys I'm unsure of the date, but I suspect Early 1980s, possibly even late 1970s

Float-able Tub doll

she comes with a comb, sponge and ring....

The doll is non movable, with rooted nylon (I'm guessing) hair, but instead of legs, she has an ice cream cornet!

The sponge she comes with is coloured in blocks of brown, cream and pink, to resemble Neapolitan Ice cream and  can be used by her new owner in the bath.

It has a whole in the middle of it which the doll can sit inside and "float" on top of the water... surely this would sink?   ...  Sponges soak up water after all !!

              Her "inflatable" ring is also to keep her afloat in the water.

      The writing in the bottom right of the packaging reads:

  Manufactured in Hong Kong for K mart Corporation. Troy Michigan 48064

Ice Cream Sindy - A collaboration between HASBRO and CEPPIRRATTI, the Italian toy Company

"Ice cream Sindy" doll, made by Hasbro in late 80's - early 90's, when Hasbro had cooperated with Italian Toy Factory Ceppirratti, who are famous for the Italian exclusive variation of Sindy, called Tanya.

The Ebay Seller that had this doll listed states on the listing: "I've heard that this doll was never exported out of Europe!!

This one is called "Vanilla" apparently... I would have said Choc n nut from her outfit, but meh what do I know?  I can't read Greek.

Her head is marked: "CEPPIRRATTI".

Her back is marked: Hong Kong"

I suspect she was made for the Greek market, due to the packaging being  I suspect she was made for the Greek market, due to the packaging being written in Greek, which is odd when you think about it, an American company collaborates with an Italian one to make Dolls for Greece. written in Greek, which is odd when you think about it, an American company collaborates with an Italian one to make Dolls for Greece.

What I find very interesting about her is, she looks identical to my CEPPIRRATTI doll...only mine has green hair, this is her original colour... I had been unable to find out nothing about her, but I think today I might just have found the answer, which may also explain why her hair is green, if  she is an "Ice Cream flavour" or something similar to that!

Turns out I was right too... she's on this advert for Sindy Ice Cream Dolls:

 

Or watch on Youtube if you prefer, here's the link:  ICE CREAM SINDY (posted by adabd on youtube)

Another odd thing is, the video is of a French advert, so I'm guessing this range of Sindys was sold throughout Europe, not just in Greece as this one's packaging would imply, had I not seen the video!

Anyway, I feel like showing off now so.. Here's my girl...

I found her in a Charity Shop for 20p on 3rd September 2009,  I had no idea who she was, but I was so intrigued by her bright green hair that I couldn't resist her. 

I took the above photos of her and uploaded them to Flickr to ask my "dolly friends" for an I.D, I was sure they'd know who she was. It turned out that they didn't, out of the 15 people who commented on her only one came close, when he said she looked similar to "Tanya" (Italy's version of Sindy)!!

I started to suspect she was an Ice Cream Sindy when I found a listing on Ebay with the "Vanilla" girl's photos, and I knew for definite when I Googled the Ice Cream Sindy Dolls and found the above video on Youtube.

My original search for info was for CEPPIRRATTI  Dolls, and that really didn't bring up very much at all, so she remained a mystery...a lovely edition but a mystery nonetheless, until today that is - 3 years later, still better late than never!


13/03/2014         **** UPDATE ****

I guess these little ladies must be quite rare as a month or two ago I found another, well technically two more, but one is the green haired version, on Ebay, they don't seem to come up for auction very often and when they do I guess they get overlooked as being oddly coloured clone dolls and not actual Sindy Family Members, which to be honest is what I thought my green haired little lady was when I first found her, anyhoo, here's the latest two:

I was very pleased with these new additions as my green haired girl had certainly had her hair cut, whereas the new one definitely has not, in fact it's still in it's original style, her top also looks to be her original outfit; I'm unsure about the skirt though.

As for the orange haired one, well her hair remains uncut - yay! and it's such an awesome colour, this photo really doesn't do it justice, while the outfit is more than likely not her original one, it suits her very well so I'm happy with that too, not sure if I'll be collecting any more of these girls, still never say never, if one comes up that I don't have and really like knowing me I will!!

Anyhoo, that's it for now...

Take care