Antique dolls are not just any old dolls. Every doll hangs on the coat tails of it’s owner’s own history and shares a part of their life story. The ones that remain have traversed the decades and centuries to survive human poverty, disease, war, and death. They’ve also seen births, marriages, love and laughter. For many that made them (or even only parts of them, like their eyes or hair,) they were often a livelihood, and the principal means of putting food on the table and a roof over a family’s heads. For those that bought them, they had the power of indicating social status or financial prosperity, they were the catalysts of childhood fantasy or educational toys, teaching children how to speak, dress, sew and care for others. They are imbued with the embrace of infants who have gone long before. They are friends to those (young and old) who have nobody else to pour their hearts out to, or lavish their affection upon. I like to think that when we set eyes on a doll, it has seen far more love than hatred. Aren’t we privileged, dolly friends, to be a part of all that?💓

 

Text by:

Kat Davies from "Antique Doll Collectors Corner"