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| Adapted image, taken from top of the box - from an ebay listing |
Emerald the Enchanting Witch was made in 1972 by Girl's World™ - a division of Milton Bradley Corporation, like Kenner Blythe, she was only produced for one year.
Most people recognise the company Milton Bradley as a creator of Board Games and sadly after their brief foray into the world of doll creation, this is what they decided to stick to and so they discontinued their line of Emerald the Enchanting Witch quite quickly after release.
This of course means that Emerald Witch Dolls are pretty hard to come by, more so as they now seem to be in great demand by collectors.
They do however come up for sale every so often on Ebay and other auction sites, but finding one in good condition or in one of her original outfits with her battery cover intact is rarer still and if you are lucky enough to find all those things in one doll, the chances are her eye mechanism no longer works, if however all these things do come together in one auction listing then, more than likely to get you involved in a long drawn up bidding war that will end up costing you quite a bit of cash when it's over, but these dolls are super cute and if you fall under her spell and have the cash, she's worth the wait or if you've got it the extra cash!
So, what's the appeal?
Apart from the fact she's a witch and witch dolls are cool, she stands approximately 6 inches tall and has a cute little pot belly. She has ankle length light green hair and light purple skin; but the coolest thing about her is her eyes...
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| "Endora" |
Her eye makeup is very of the time, style wise, and puts me in mind of Agnes Moorehead in Bewitched - ( hence my little girl being called "Endora"!) it's a bright shade of green with tiny flecks of gold glitter over the top.
But even cooler than that is her "
light up eyes" ... when you place a AA battery inside her back and shake her up and down for a while, her bright green eyes glow and flash - this looks even cooler in the dark, but as it is intermittent it's not easy to photograph - not that you can tell but the eyes were lighting up in the above photo.
... But I have found a video from
Wicked Doll on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYM-Y-HxwEg or watch it below:
In case you are wondering the light up feature works like this: the battery is placed in her back and covered, several bouts of shaking cause the circuit to connect and light up the clear bulb which is secured in the base of her neck. Due to the size, colour and transparency of her plastic eyes, the light shines through her eye sockets giving a light green glow as it does... The light is the kind that blinks on and off, so the glow does not come on and stay on, giving the impression the doll's eyes are blinking their green glow.
She also had a variety of outfits, a cauldron, plant spell, crystal ball, an adorable little cottage / carry case and a "dragon car" although that last item was most likely a prototype which never got made or if it did, it's rarer than hen's teeth.
These items were all sold separately - The doll herself came in the black pvc mini dress and witches hat outfit, when purchased.
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| Photo from Ebay.com |
This advert from 1972, shows the whole range of outfits and items which you could buy to create your own "witchy world" for your Emerald Doll:
I was lucky enough to find one for sale about a week ago from an American Seller on ebay, and as you can see from the listing photos below, she's in pretty good nick...
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| Ebay Listing Photo |
Here's what the seller had to say on the listing:
"For your consideration is an Emerald witch doll. She works, however, it takes a while for her little generator to make enough energy to light the bulb. She took me 12 mins of shaking her and stopping before she lit up. Please remember she is 40+ years old. Battery not included.
She is not perfect, as you can see from the pics there are some melt marks around the neck, her hair is frizzy and appears to have been cut. Her outfit is in great condition and complete."
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Ebay Listing Photo
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I was unsure from the listing if she came with the back plate to cover her battery casing, as I could not see it in any of the photos and it wasn't mentioned in the listing, I could have contacted the seller but as she looked to be in great condition and I've wanted one of these dolls for ages, I decided it didn't matter and that I'd bid on her regardless... So I did!
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| Ebay Listing Photo |
Even better than finding a listing for an Emerald Doll in good condition - I found one in good condition with one of her outfits - called
"Saucy Sprite" - which was complete and appeared to be in good condition as well.
After placing my bid, I really didn't think I had much chance of winning so I tried to forget about it and took myself off to bed, in the morning I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that I was the only bidder and that I had won her for the starting price of $35.00 - approx. £20.72, outfit and all!
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Ebay Listing Photo
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I have to say, "
Saucy Sprite" was never my favorite of her outfit options, but to my mind it's always a bonus when a doll comes with an original outfit, whatever one it is as it provides a great starting block to use when designing and making her some new togs.
That said, my problem with this outfit was the strange chef shaped hat and apron. The problem for me is... what does a crazy chef's outfit have to do with a sprite being saucy?
I wonder if this is another
"lost in translation" type things as in the U.K the word
"saucy" tends to conjure an image that's rather risque, which surely wouldn't be the intention of a toy maker, so I can only guess that
"saucy" in American - English is something similar to
"jaunty" in it's definition, or perhaps even
"quirky"as that word really suits this outfit!
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| Photo by Fitzcharming on Flickr. |
No matter - since placing it upon her, I've changed my mind, I think she looks adorable and the little hat is rather cute and makes her look quite eccentric when worn.
After a little over a week, she arrived - pretty fast as I normally expect to wait at least two for U.S. deliveries ... The seller hadn't dressed her for me so I got to play with her right away! (•‿•)
While I was doing my initial "
new doll" check over, I discovered that she did in fact come with her back plate intact and better than that it not only fits perfectly, without any looseness but it is also in perfect condition, with not even a scratch on it ! ^_^
And her crazy outfit was not only clean and smell free but it was also in such good condition that it is still crisp and has a "
fresh out of the packet" feel... I'd be surprised if it has been used very much at all.
As you can see from this photo of the "Saucy Sprite" outfit in it's original packaging, all that's missing from the one "
Endora" came with is the little pink coat hanger, which is fine by me as it was never going to get much use anyway!
Here's "
Endora" enjoying her first photoshoot in her new home. The glue bleed the seller mentioned is not visible when she has her clothes on, so at present I'm unsure if I will bother to try and remove it - I'm not sure how deep the lilac skin tone goes so it's possible, if these dolls were dyed after casting, that it could come off if scraped against, which is something I obviously don't want to risk.
She's pretty much perfect as is and having to go through a trial an error process for dye baths which may be too harsh for her vintage vinyl to take, is something I'd much rather avoid unless I have no choice.
Her eye mechanism is a little slow to start, but as it does and continues until the battery is removed (there is no on/off switch, so the only way to get it to work is to shake her and to turn it off you have to remove the battery), I don't mind at all, I'm very pleased to own her and would be if she had been in much worse condition than she is!
The staining on her body was easily removed with cotton wool and water, an beneath them, her skin tone is perfect and not at all damaged by the stain or the removal process.
The only issue she does have is that her hair on one side has been cut slightly, but it's not all that noticeable, and the condition of the rest of the hair is such that a reroot isn't required, so another bonus there!
While I was waiting for her to arrive, I had another nose about and discovered a listing for a naked non - working Emerald The Enchanting Witch Doll with a "melted battery back piece" and an asking price of $95.11 - approximately £56.11.
The only complete outfit I could find for sale was still in it's original cellophane, the seller wanted $134.99 - approximately £79.64.
The boxed one I used a photo of earlier in this post is still connected to the inner card, as she's never been removed and comes with an asking price of $250.00 - approximately £147.50.
I have, in recent months seen listings asking for more than three times this amount, so I guess in a way it's quite cheap, except that you'd have to face the dilemma of whether you should leave her inside or take her out and play with her, buying loose of course alleviates this question as the decision is already made for you and means you can play guilt free! (>'-')>
As for her little
"witches house" / carry case, that comes up every so often too, but always with a large price tag as it's very rare-there is one listed on Ebay.com at present for £500.00 ONO - The seller's paypal isn't working so it's cash on collection from NYC - if the price tag wasn't hairy enough, the location certainly rules me out!
Still, I have a plan to make my little girl her own "
Witchy Cottage", in fact I'd already got it planned out before she arrived, now I have her to measure up against, I've been finalising the design and am about to make a start... but more about that once I've got something tangible to show off!
Btw, if you'd like to check out the ebay listing for the house, I've placed the link under the picture, so just click the caption.
Well, that's it for now, thanks for reading!
Take care,
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