1965 Bewitched - Samantha Stephens doll by Ideal.

I'm sure you'll be amazed to discover that I've always been a fan of the 1960s TV Series Bewitched, what with this blog having the word kitsch in it's title and all!

There are just so many things to love about the show, Elizabeth Montgomery is beautiful, glamorous and sassy as Samantha Stephens, Agnes Moorhead is as amazing as ever in her role as the glamorous 1000+ something year old Endora and the ever funny Paul Lynde as Uncle Arthur and then there's all those sets, beautifully and  sumptuously decorated in all the latest mod cons the 1960s had to offer.

Add to that, Witches, Warlocks, and back-firing spells and for me you're onto a winner!

One thing I always wanted growing up, apart from being Tabitha Stephens, was a Samantha Stephens Witch doll. But I didn't think they existed so I was pretty surprised to discover recently that in fact they do!

They were produced a decade before I was born, and as I obviously grew up on re-runs, the Bewitched merchandise had already run it's course years before, not that there was much of it.

The Samantha Stephens doll was made by the Ideal Toy Company in 1965, with a baby version of Tabitha being released in 1966, both are now sadly quite rare.

Ebay.com

The Samantha Stephens doll as a 12" version of everybody's favourite Witch, dressed in a long red velvet cocktail style dress, covered in glittery sparkles, complete with red Witch's hat, shoes and straw broom. She had movable arms and bendable legs, 

A boxed doll will set you back between $499.99 and $625.99, nude dolls are much cheaper but you're still looking at around $56.00 for her.

The above image is taken from an auction which ends in 8 days, the seller is asking for $625.99, for the doll in a reproduction box, but generously offers the option of paying for her in 6 instalments of $105.00, if you are interested you can find the auction page here: 1965 IDEAL BEWITCHED SAMANTHA DOLL

Oh and before I go, Endora wants to say "Hi"!

☁ ☂ PEGGY IN RAINCOAT DOLL ☂ ☁

Here's another stunning Vintage doll I'd never heard of until I found a listing for her on Ebay a month or so back.

I would have bid on her but there was a huge bid war happening on her and I know I'd have no chance if I joined in, so I nabbed the listing photo so I could keep a record of her in case one day I see her again. 

At the end of the listing, I checked how much she went for and discovered she cost £51.00!

She was made in the 1960's as evidenced by the artwork on her box, is most likely a Sindy clone or a Tammy fore runner, this is her original packaging, her dress is pretty plain, but she has the bonus that she comes with a changeable head so she could be either a brunette or a blonde depending on how you feel and has a raincoat to wear as her name suggests, a head scarf with safety pin an umbrella and her Wellington boots... 

She is definitely another one for my wishlist even though at present I don't know anything else about her!

I'll update if and when I find out more, but for now here's a pretty picture:

Ok I'm so Gutted Post in Dolls More Dolls, Jun 3, '09 9:39 PM by Herbie for everyone

I came across someone's blog by accident just now... and a post under the title of Ugly Duckling 27th July 2007 had a pic' of this awesome doll (see first pic')... minus her hand...

There was a note on it saying please help with ID or if you want to adopt and email address... so I took a chance and mailed.

I started thinking yay when I received a reply and started reading... yes I still have her... yes she's still for sale - she's priced at $50 + shipping.... OK!

Then comes the scary part.... as I read on...

.... I've heavily customised her (oh NO... she was perfect as she was only needed a new hand and a Herbie to love her :-S)

Anyhoo... I clicked the link... and HORROR upon Horrors!!!

I'm confronted with pic' number 2 (dated 3 days later) *sob*

So my dear friends.... could you all be on the lookout for one like the first pic'?  And think of poor old upset Herbie if you do find one?

I didn't even know this doll existed but now I do I'm in love... :(

And feeling so disappointed that the only chance I might ever get to own one of these cuties is a been butchered beyond belief messed up poor old needs to be thrown away and never try to customise again....ARE YOU MAD???? doll

*sob*

Thanks buddies, Herbs x

P.S.... I think she may be a Kamar Doll... ???

And before you all have a go at me, yes I am fully aware that customisation is a matter of personal taste and one man's "Beauty" may be another Man's "Turd" but for me and my love of vintage toys, I found it depressing, very depressing and would have just kept hold of her and waited until I could find a suitable replacement hand, not ripped her apart and repainted her... oh well... eyes peeled anyway.

Hugs,

More Wishlist Toys or If only I had £350 to spend on a doll :(

1960's Pedigree Red Head Mitzi Doll - Sindy Friend

A few years ago I stumbled upon this doll online quite by accident, while trying to get an I.D for a Sindy I'd gotten in a bulk buy of dolls, and it was love at first sight!

 What I didn't realise when I began my search for her is that she is stupidly rare and as a result, everyone and their mother's are also searching for her... which also means if found , she has an even stupider price tag attached to her *sigh*

I'd happily settle for just the head, as I'm not a collector who has to have everything, I don't want her because she is rare, or will make me money later on, I just collect the things that appeal to me, so quite often I pass up on other "Sindy Family Members & Friends" in favour of a valueless clone doll that I think I can make something of, but this girl, I just want because I've fallen under her spell!!

Dream Date Outfit (complete with beret) - Original "out of box wear"

http://www.oursindymuseum.com/196768sindysnewfriends.htm

So what is it tat makes her so rare & sought after? In a nutshell, there were less made, why? I have no idea, as to me she as such a beautiful face and I think if I'd have been bought one as a child instead of a Sindy, I'd have been just as happy, if not happier!

I suspect the Blonde version of this doll is much rarer as in the last 5 years, I have only ever seen three Red Head Mitzi dolls  come up for sale on Ebay, but not a single Blonde one!

So what is the appeal? For me, it's mostly the awesome colour of her hair, it's not often you find dolls with hair so bright from that era, and then there's that face, it's so different to the other "teenage" dolls of the time,so beautifully sculpted and when dressed, she really does have an air of "chic" about her which is hard to define but very easy to see!

And so to her "story":

Mitzi arrived from France in 1968 another addition to the ever increasing Sindy Set.
Available with either blonde or striking flame red hair, Mitzi had massive blue eyes and was given a basic Sindy body, with no markings.  Being the same size as Sindy she could share Sindy's ever increasing stylish wardrobe.
.

When sold she came in a cardboard box with with an Eiffel Tower charm and a free Dream Date outfit (see above photo) Below is the Blonde version of Mitzi in her original Dream Date Outfit, posed beside her box.

If this image belongs to you, please let me know so I can credit you.

While she has the exact same face as the Flame Haired version, and is most likely much rarer, I just don't like her as much as the Redhead, that hair colour really seems to make something in Mitzi's face just ping out!

Finally though, one has come up on Ebay (pictures below), sadly well out of my price range, as although I am a "collector" and I would add her to my collection, I'm not THAT desperate to have her to complete my collection or whatever!

The photo above is a beautiful flame haired Mitzi which has recently come up on Ebay, I think she may have been given a slight haircut at some point, although the seller doesn't mention this and it could just be the way her hair is "styled", but it does look at little shorter than it should be when compared to the Mitzi in picture 1.

  The seller wants £350.00 for her (Buy It Now) and has refused two offers already, so I guess it's £350.00 or nothing, but that does beggar the question, why put open to offers on the listing? Anyhoo, if you have £350.00 and you want to buy her, here's the link:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Rare-1960s-Sindy-MITZI-Doll-Flame-Red-Hair-/170936236184?_trksid=p3284.m263&_trkparms=algo%3DSIC%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%252BIA%252BUA%252BFICS%252BUFI%26otn%3D21%26pmod%3D130792578473%26ps%3D54

*******       05/12/2012 -     *********        UPDATE ON EBAY LISTING                   *******

I was just reading back over this post, and I thought "Hmmm, I wonder if she sold?" so I followed the link and went to take a peek.

It turns out she didn't!  And it seems I am not the only person who wanted her but NOT for that price!

I have to say that given the financial climate at present, and it being so close to Christmas too, I am pretty surprised that the seller turned down 3 offers, but then again I of course have no way of knowing how much each of those offers were for! 

While I was cropping my screen shot, I noticed the Seller had relisted, so I went back and checked out that  listing...

Same thing, only one offer this time though, but I can't help thinking, that out of a total of 4 offers made, one of them must have come close to an acceptable price surely? And if not and if £350.00 is the only price the seller is willing to accept, then why not make the listing a Buy It Now or don't check the "Make me an Offer" box while listing!

This to me seems to sum up "The Curse of Mitzi" as I like to call it... She hardly ever comes up at auction, so when she does the Seller can pretty much set the price...any price, and more often than not, there is always someone with a shedful of cash who's more than happy to pay it.

The thing is most sellers are savvy to this and so they start the bidding much lower, and set a reserve, this makes loads of people sit up and think, "I can't believe that price, or that I can be the only one who's seem this listing.... Sod it, I'm going for it" and place a bid...

Then the fun really starts, as if a bidder has been the highest bidder on an auction that's ending soon, or even for a few days, they are more than likely to get into a bidding war, with the next person who bids, and the next etc, thereby pushing the price right up, as there is something very addictive about beating the person who has just tried to "gazump" you after you've been bidding on an item for several days and been the highest bidder for at least part of that time!

In this way, I have seen a Mitzi sell for over £500.00, who certainly wasn't in as good shape as this lovely lady!

Bid Wars are really what every seller wants on Ebay, otherwise every item would be down as a Buy It Now listing!

Setting a Reserve safeguards the seller in this situation, as if the item does not reach the amount they want at the end of the auction, it remains unsold. This also encourages bidders to save that seller and hope they re-list and in some cases to even bid more generously next time!

I've seen this time and time again with Mitzi, which is why I know I will sadly never own one, but I do have plans to make myself a Custom Girl as close to her as possible, and who knows, maybe one day I'll be in a Charity Shop and I won't believe my luck after rooting about in the toy bin and coming up with one!

Oh well, a girl can dream a?!!

Vintage Teenage Roddy Doll

I bought this little lady because I felt sorry for her, I was about to leave a Charity shop when I noticed her on top of a sideboard looking so forlorn, I asked the price and was told 50p!!

The clothes she is wearing where obviously made for her... she is also wearing a pair of tights which fit her perfectly, so I suspect they are part of her original "factory Outfit".

I'm pretty sure she was made in the late 1950's or Early 1960's and I know she's was made by Roddy - (a British Company) as she is marked on the back of her neck but sadly that's about all I know.

One day on Dolls More Dolls...

I saw this post from Evelyn...

I clicked the picture and fell in love!

Jules asked Evelyn if she'd put one into swap for her, but Evelyn said she was happy just to send her to someone who'd love her... It seems Jules regretted swinging the one she had as a child around by her legs until they fell off and I guess wanted to make amends by rescuing a poor unloved!

I liked the idea of a challenge too and after falling in love with the one on the left, asked if I could re-home one myself...Evelyn, kind soul that she is agreed and decided she'd keep the middle one as a project for herself too so yay they all had homes and now I just had to be patient and wait for a parcel to arrive to see which one I would get.

A few days later, my wait was over and yay! - Evelyn sent me the one I wanted!

Five days after Evelyn's "Poor Orphans" post, she was finished and ready to make her debut!

And here she is....as she was and just after she began her ordeal at the hands of sweet-little Herbie!

Just out of the packet and looking a bit unsure of her new surroundings! 

Pretty Face...Hopefully the marks are removable!

       It turned out they were easy to remove with nothing more than a bit of soap and water!

Weird Hairdo!

          I just had to take that down and wash it, it was so dusty and musty smelling :(

Aww...her legs poorly :( Never mind Herbie'll fix it up!

Her poor little leg had the stuffing held in with sticky tape :(  the fabric on her legs was so flimsy, that I really had to be careful not to rip it more while removing the tape...
Her dress and body was stained, her legs were dusty, as was her air and she had a musty smell from the aged stuffing too, poor thing... all in all I'd say she was a perfect candidate for a make-over!

And so to work:

After examining her I realised I wasn't gonna get away with a scrub and new hairdo,  but I like a challenge so I began to check her out fully and decide where I'm going with this restoration...seeing as she'd already lost a lot of sawdust (SAWDUST??) from her leg...I decided Jules' Idea of the restuff was just what she needs.... The plan was to salvage as much of the original as I could so it ended up being a case of see how it goes as we go along!!

Man...Just look at all that hair!!

 Her hair was stunning, it was such a shame I had to wash it and remove all those beautiful curls, but at least I found out how beautiful she looked with it flowing down around her body! There was no way around it however as her fringe was literally stuck up with dust and grime that it had to be cleaned...

Looks like a pretty little mermaid *grin*

She looked so pretty it was a shame I had to wash it, as I knew that most of the curl would drop out along with the water.

I removed her Original dress and placed it in vinegar for several hours to fix the dye in, before hand washing and drying it ready for her to put back on.

Oh The Inhumanity!!

:( I don't think she likes it here much :( and it's about to get worse...much worse!! 

The following three pictures show all the removal of the sawdust, wood shreds, wood chips, bark and paper that they used to stuff her with?!

I had to make sure I had ever last piece out before she could be re-stuffed with wadding , if I had left a single piece of stuffing inside the doll would eventually start to smell musty again... It too bloody ages too!

There's just so much and it smells funny too :( wonder what kind of tree that comes from ?

"Hey Wot You Doing to Me?"

 Poor thing looks so shocked...I almost have guilt!

"Now You Gone too Far!!"

But Sweetie You've gotta take it out before you can put nice new stuffing back in...

                                  oh dear I don't think she understands!!  

"Hey Let Go Of My Intestine"

*soothes* There, there little one it's for your own good!

*Herbie quickly removes hands in case she gets bitten* :(

"Oooo I'm loving my new body..thank you!"


"You're very welcome sweetie, it looks so much nicer than that tatty old one doesn't it? See Herbie just wants what's best for you so dry your eyes and stop thinking about how I took out your stuffing" *kiss* 

To cover the fabric on her torso, I chose a piece of vintage White towelette, covered in a tiny red rose pattern; that was made in the 1950s.

:( "My legs are different colours...hurry up with that needle will you?" 

When work began on Looby's legs... I noticed after sewing her leg up it becomes obvious, she would need some new fabric to the legs too....so I begin hunting for the perfect fabric (as close to the original red & white stripe as possible)...

I found some red striped Linen, that I thought would be a close enough match. When it arrived and I tried it against her leg fabric, the drastic colour difference between the original and replacement cloth was so apparent, As I chose Linen, it is a very strong replacement fabric as well, so no more leg rips for this little Looby!.

"You like my new bloomers?"

I found a pair of "bloomers" that I had taken off a Bisque Doll, before using it for Ooak, and tried them on Looby. They were a perfect fit!

"I have a new hairstyle too!"

After seeing how much hair she had and how lovely it looked down and crimped, I had to make leave it down :)

Most of the curl had gone due to my washing it, but I still think it looks better down...well that and the fact that I totally forgot how her original style was put together, I remember thinking it was a weird way to plait it, but that's all I can remember really. 

The Result for me, is one very pretty doll who still looks like her vintage original, but smells nicer and is softer too!!

My Kewpie Collection

My Kewpies...

I was given my first Kewpie when I was about 8 by a Great Aunt who is sadly no longer with us...The doll was pretty old when she gave it to me and I took one look into those big eyes and fell instantly in love!

Over the years, through moving home and the like, I have lost many of the dolls I collected during my Childhood...Sadly my Kewpie was one of them.

In recent years, I have managed to get hold of a few more and here they are:

9 Inch Vintage Kewpie (on left).
7 Inch Vintage Maori "Holiday Souvenir Doll" (Right).
 5 Inch Vintage Kewpie (in front.)

Meet Mr.Tinkles...

He's made of really soft plastic and has moving eyes, they just roll around by themselves whenever you move him!

I've seen a couple more of these recently so suspect the pink pants are original (unfortunately these are sun-faded at the back) when you drop them...boy do you get a surprise!! lol

Anyhoo, other than that I know nothing, no manufacturer's stamp that I've noticed so any info would be great guys! xx

                                                       Kewpies Descending...

                                                      9 Inch (Vintage) Kewpie.
                                                      8 Inch (Vintage) Kewpie.
                                                      6 Inch (Vintage) Kewpie.
                                                      5 Inch (Vintage) Kewpie.
                                                      2 Inch (Contemporary) Kewpie.

 Both the 5 inch Kewpie and the 2 Inch Contemporary Kewpie have moulded wings stamped onto their backs.

This little guy (Oddly, my largest Kewpie) is my favourite,
 along with Mr.Tinkles!

He looks  just like the one my Aunt Bessie gave to me.

He stands at 9 inches tall.

Maori Kewpie Doll (Vintage New Zealand  Souvenir  Doll)
Circa. 1960's.

I didn't even know you could get dark skinned Kewpie dolls, so when I saw this one I had to have her!!

She's 7 inches tall and as cute as a button!

Here's my "Big Baby" again, he just seems to have the perfect Kewpie Look,

 well  as far as I'm concerned anyway!

5 Inch Vintage "Baby" Adopted  by Simon.

I liked to think of this little guy as a baby Kewpie, but that couldn't stop me feeling bugged by the shape on his head, the fact that it looks to me like it is "squished" and causing him to look like he's got an invisible hand pushing his head down into his neck!

It made him have a kind of "fold" in the plastic of his face around the eye region, and as this just didn't fit in with my idea of a "Kewpie Ideal", I decided he needed to be rehomed to someone who would love him!

I ended up giving him up for adoption to Simon, (a Flickr Friend). They make a good match!

Out for a Stroll...
They just make the "Perfect Family"

I'm still on a quests to enlarge my Kewpie Family, so I guess this page will be a work in progress for some time!

Little Miss Dress up - 14th June 2009

Here's some pic's of my little girl trying out new looks while we waited for her reproduction clothes, panties, headband and tear to arrive from America!

*Sob*

I can't find the Little Miss Fairy Pic's to upload :( lol guess that means I'll just have to go play fairies in the garden again!

Wooot!

little miss elegant
I originally bought this dress for my old china doll but after seeing how cute Little Miss looked in it I just had to let her keep it!!

little miss elegant
She may be elegant but she's still a beggar at heart!

Little Miss Dutch Girl!

"Little Miss I'm Out Of Here!"

Little Miss Spooky!

Lilttle Miss I Hate This Dress!
"Take it off me NOW!!!!!"

*Wail*

Little Miss. Hoody

Little Miss Beggar!
All dressed up in her Repro clothes & Tear! wooot

lilacmermaid wrote on Jun 15, '09
                                                                                                                    
I loved this Herbs, you tell a good story in pics, i loved her first dress, wow, that is nice, but had to agree with miss on that 3rd dress, not her at all, so, is she princess to pauper, or pauper to princess, or is she whatever she is dressed in, lol, thanks for showing us this Herbs, Janet.x
carnice05 wrote on Jun 15, '09
these are brilliant, great captions.
kitschartherb wrote on Jun 15, '09
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
Lol Janet my Little Miss No Name has many personalities which is why she is just known as "Little Miss" and then the rest of her name depends on what she is wearing at the time!

I do tend to think of her as pauper to princess and back again lol but even when she was a princess she was still hitting the streets with her little hand out for change tsk old habits die hard I'm afraid!

When she's not on a photo shoot she wears her reproduction clothes!!

I have other pic's of her in different costumes but *sob* I can't find them (too many discs of photos here) lol

She's a great doll to photograph tho' those eyes of hers are just so adorable and give great expression and sometimes different meanings to the outfits lol Can you tell she's one of my fav's??

Thank you John!

I'm glad you both like the pic's of my little girl *swells with pride*

hugs,