John Thayer, an Antique Izannah Walker Boy Doll to be Auctioned by Withington's

UPDATE John Thayer sold for a hammer price of $62,000. A buyer's premium of 15 - 18% would be added, depending on the method of payment. 

Carol Corson's doll collection is beyond amazing. I had about 4 hours to really study the Izannah Walker dolls, so I focused on Izannah dolls. I did turn my head a time or two and saw so many other rare dolls:  Schoenhut dolls, Lancaster Rag dolls, a tiny Chase doll, and many types I don't know much about. The catalog will be a fun one to study in detail! 

Today's pictures are of the famous John Thayer, an Izannah Walker doll painted and dressed as a boy in a fabulous plaid original outfit. This doll is featured on the cover of Antique Doll Collector in an article written by Carol Corson for Antique Doll Collector's August 2011 issue. The article Carol wrote catalogued the Doll Collector's of America's Izannah Walker Doll Reunion to celebrate DCA's 75th reunion.  That issue is worth purchasing to view the wonderful variety of Izannah Walker dolls featured.  It is available in digital format here:  https://issuu.com/store/publishers/antique-doll-collector/issues/08-2011

In the article, Carol Corson offers this description of John Thayer:

"15” boy, named John Thayer after his last of three generations of his original family. He is in his sewn on original dress with matching trousers. His side-parted hair is brushed to the right. He has high painted black boots with red shields at the top and gray painted soles. Walker dolls have down tilted feet and even the ones in super original condition have worn toes which may be caused by being carried by one arm with its toes dragging on the floor. Private Collection."

He is an exquisite and rare example of Izannah's work, clearly depicting a boy, dressed in a fabulous original plaid attire. I have only seen two Izannah Walker boy dolls in person, and this is the only example I've seen with a side-parted hairstyle. The buyer of this doll at the October 20, 2022 auction will be very lucky indeed! 

An Izannah with a Mona Lisa Smile Sold at Withington's

It was fun to see the Izannah Walker doll at Withington's doll auction in person, in addition to a Maggie Bessie doll, a Wellington doll and a bevy of adorable Martha Chase dolls. Here are some additional images of the Izannah Walker doll from Withington's auction. All of the dolls looked better in person than in images. Something about modern cameras accentuates texture which was lesser in person. This doll had a beautiful Mona Lisa type smile. This doll also had some breaks in the arms which were ladder stitched, and some missing cloth in th lower legs and feet so that stuffing was exposed. 

After some spirited bidding it narrowed to two phone bidders slowly advancing to $15,800 hammer price. Add to that a premium of 14-17% depending on method of payment. She does have a wonderful face! 

Izannah Walker Doll SOLD

The doll pictured above was priced at $19,500 

The doll is now SOLD

R. John and Susan Wright have offered this beautiful antique Izannah Walker doll for sale (it is now sold).  This doll was formerly in the collection of Maureen Popp and was pictured in John Darcy Noble’s book “A Treasury of Beautiful Dolls”.  The Wright's have owned her for some 30 years.  The Wright's doll is very similar to the wonderful Ella doll, which can be seen here.  Ella has a provenance dating her to 1857.   The Wright's doll is very similar in body shape and construction of the head to Ella. 

Images of the body:

Dixie's NOTE:  Any purchase agreement or statement of condition or terms is strictly between the Wrights and the buyer.  Dixie Redmond and/or the Izannah Walker Chronicles are not part of the transaction in any way, and receives no compensation for featuring dolls on this blog. 

Addie, An Izannah Walker Doll

Ginger, a kind collector, emailed me to say how much she had enjoyed reading the Izannah Walker Chronicles.  Then she told me she owned an Izannah Walker doll.   To make a long story short, she was willing to share her pictures on this site so that others can enjoy Addie the way she has enjoyed seeing other Izannah Walker dolls.  I love collectors who are generous like that.  Thank you, Ginger! 

Dress made by Kathy Patterson, 

who also makes Izannah Walker reproduction dolls.

Black Izannah Walker Dolls

Izannah Walker's black dolls are not often seen.  One is pictured above in an article written by Donna Kaonis for the Sept/October 1993 issue of Antique Doll World.   The doll was in Richard Wright's collection at the time of the article. Antique Doll World is not a current publication.  If  you're interested in reading about antique dolls, Antique Doll Collector magazine offers great articles specifically on antique dolls.  Donna Kaonis, the writer of this article on Izannah dolls, is now editor-in-chief at Antique Doll Collector magazine.

 

 

Article found in Vintage Cloth Doll Making Yahoo Group.

The closest account of Izannah's dollmaking that we have from her time is from Philomena Hart's column in the Providence Bulletin, as quoted by Janet Pagter Johl, on pages 37 - 39 of her book Your Dolls and Mine:

"Mrs. N.M.R. (Mrs. Norman H. Robertson, grand-niece of Miss Walker) wrote me a fascinating account of a doll which she thinks is the predecessor of the Chase doll of Pawtucket. It was made in Central Falls by Miss Izannah Walker.(1817-1888) She was the aunt of my correspondent who says of her, "Always inventive, she had created a stockinette doll as early as 1848 when my mother was a little child in New London, Conn. Family tradition tells of her struggle to perfect her work and of the long wrestling with one problem, how to obtain a resistant surface to the stockinette heads, arms, and legs, without cracking or peeling. With this problem on her mind, Aunt Izannah suddenly sat up in bed one night to hear a voice say "use paste." It worked... Aunt Izannah always deplored the fact that she was not a man. However, she made dolls and doll furniture, tinkered with household gadgets, designed a parlor heater, "that beat Ben Franklins," raised canaries, dabbled in real estate, and was looked upon with admiration by male contemporaries because of her skill with carpenters' tools, so perhaps she was resigned."

Mrs. Singsen, an early collector whose Izannah Walker dolls were photographed in Janet Johl's book, contacted Izannah's grand-neice, Mrs. Norman H. Robertson for more information, and received the following reply :

"The Walker family came to Central Falls in Somerset Mass., and the first dolls were made for friends. One, owned by the family and now out west, is one of the very earliest and is practically life sized. Izannah Walker had three sisters, and as the business began to develop she put them to work painting the dolls faces. There were also darky dolls made, but these Mrs. Robertson said, had wool hair instead of painted on hair. From 1845, when the first doll is said to have been made,until she died in 1886, Izannah Walker carried on the business, not securing a patent until persuaded to do so by friends in 1873."

Izannah Walker black dolls differ from her Caucasian  dolls in that the hair was not painted, but was applied wool to the top of the head.  Who knows where this wonderful black doll is now?  Collections shift and change often.   Here is a closeup of the magazine page:

Black Izannah Walker Doll featured in Antique Doll World Sept/October 1993 issue.

Which brings me to my next gentle request.  It would be a joy to feature your original  antique Izannah Walker doll on the Izannah Walker Chronicles.   All copyright of pictures is retained by you.   You may offer pictures anonymously or publicly according to your comfort level.  Please contact me  using the button at the top of the page.

Thank you in advance for broadening 

the knowledge of original Izannah Walker dolls.  

Izannah's Elbows?

Izannah skillfully hid much of the connection points of her doll's jojints underneath the body covering. Those of us who are dollmakers are always wondering what's underneath that covering! Up until recently, I had always assumed that Izannah's dolls had no jointing at the elbows, and if there were joints, that's because the doll had been repaired. Jackie Hendricks asked Kathy Patterson in the previous post if her original doll is jointed at the elbows as she has made her Izannah reproduction doll's arms. The following three pictures are courtesy of Kathy Patterson, who sent pictures of her original doll's elbow joints below:

Picture courtesy Kathy Patterson

Picture courtesy Kathy Patterson

Picture courtesy Kathy Patterson

Of course we also don't know what has been done to some dolls which have been with us for well over 100, and sometimes 150 years. Below are elbow areas of dolls that I have taken or that I've been given permission to post. It's up to the reader to look carefully and decide is this how Izannah originally made the doll or has it been "helped".

If any of you collectors or museums have pictures of original joints, please share!

Mystery Dolls

Occasionally I get emails from people who have antique dolls that they think are Izannah Walker dolls. Sometimes they have a very nice antique doll, as was the case last year with someone who has what might be a Presbyterian doll. Recently I received an email from someone asking if they might have an Izannah Walker doll, but this doll has blue eyes. I asked for them to send pictures, which they did. After looking over the pictures she sent me, I think she has an Izannah Walker doll that has seen extensive repainting and some helping in other ways. But the doll retains enough of the Izannah hallmarks that I think she is an Izannah doll. Of course, seeing the doll in person would give information that pictures don't. But what do you think? If you have ideas, please email me. I asked permission of the owner to post the pictures here on the Chronicles.

The blue eyes are obviously a later addition...

What do you think? Email me or comment below.