Morphy Auctions Presents Izannah Walker Doll

Morphy Auctions will be presenting this 18" Izannah Walker doll at auction on March 22nd.  

Read more about the auction click here.   

Read the full description of this Izannah Walker doll here.  

The auction estimate is $9,000 - $12,000.  

Izannah Walker Dolls at the New Bedford Whaling Museum

image by Debbie Barlow, courtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum
Click the image above to go to the full board of images
provided courtesey of Debbie Barlow and the Whaling Museum

Doll maker Debbie Barlow was able to take pictures of Izannah Walker Dolls at the New Bedford Whaling Museum courtesy of the museum. The museum has given Debbie permisison to share the images online for those who study Izannah Walker Dolls. They've been uploaded at this Pinterest board for your pleasure, courtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum and via Debbie Barlow's generosity. Debbie makes marvelous creations and her contact is dbstudio@shaw.ca 

More Images of the large Izannah Walker Doll

Today I drove to James D. Julia's auction house to take images of the large 27" Izannah Walker doll which will be auctioned on November 22nd.  I have personally documented over 15 Izannah Walker dolls to date with detailed photographs.   It was interesting seeing a very large Izannah Walker doll, as most of the dolls I've seen have been between 15 and 21 inches in length.  

courtesy James D. Julia, Inc.

The large sized dolls have a totally different feel.  All images are copyright Dixie Redmond 2013,  courtesy of James D. Julia, Inc. 

Description: 

An interesting story accompanies this doll. A gentleman from Rhode Island brought this doll to the Julia offices. He told us that his late wife rescued this doll from a trash heap in their neighborhood some 20 years ago. Extremely attractive hand painted cloth doll made in Central Falls, RI circa 1860 with one piece head and upper torso with all molded and painted features having wonderful detail to the ears and three dimensional molding to the eyes. She has short brown painted hair with four ringlet curls draping in front of the exposed ears, well molded eyelids and dark blue eyes with highlighted irises. The entire body is covered with stockinet and the hands and lower legs are also molded and painted cloth in a manner similar to the painting of the head. As is typical with these larger models she has the rarer bare feet with separately stitched toes. SIZE: 29" (73 cm). CONDITION: Some possible, very aged enhancement to lip coloring. Shoulder plate shows aged paint touch up to shoulder plate although black light inspection does not show these discrepancies. Further black light inspection reveals no touch up to facial features, head, or other body parts. Both ankles have been damaged at some point in the past and have been reinforced with old cloth.

courtesy James D. Julia, Inc.

Her body shape is very interesting, with a narrower waist than many Izannah dolls have.  It kind of reminds me of Queen Ann doll bodies in shape.  

image courtesy James D. Julia, Inc.copyright 2013 Dixie Redmond

image courtesy James D. Julia, Inc.copyright 2013 Dixie Redmond

image courtesy James D. Julia, Inc.copyright 2013 Dixie Redmond

James Julia to Auction 27" Izannah Walker Doll

image courtesy James D. Julia, Inc.

James Julia will be offering a

large 27" Izannah Walker doll 

at their November 22, 2013 auction.

On Monday I will be going to visit this doll in person.

Description:

An interesting story accompanies this doll. A gentleman from Rhode Island brought this doll to the Julia offices. He told us that his late wife rescued this doll from a trash heap in their neighborhood some 20 years ago. Extremely attractive hand painted cloth doll made in Central Falls, RI circa 1860 with one piece head and upper torso with all molded and painted features having wonderful detail to the ears and three dimensional molding to the eyes. She has short brown painted hair with four ringlet curls draping in front of the exposed ears, well molded eyelids and dark blue eyes with highlighted irises. The entire body is covered with stockinet and the hands and lower legs are also molded and painted cloth in a manner similar to the painting of the head. As is typical with these larger models she has the rarer bare feet with separately stitched toes. SIZE: 29" (73 cm). CONDITION: Some possible, very aged enhancement to lip coloring. Shoulder plate shows aged paint touch up to shoulder plate although black light inspection does not show these discrepancies. Further black light inspection reveals no touch up to facial features, head, or other body parts. Both ankles have been damaged at some point in the past and have been reinforced with old cloth.

image courtesy James D. Julia, Inc.

Izannah Walker Doll Listed on Ruby Lane

A lovely Izannah Walker Doll  has been listed  on Ruby Lane for $14,900.  You will want to visit this link to see the doll.  As we have seen recently on the Iannah Walker Chronicles, these dolls don't last long.  

http://www.rubylane.com/shop/annpruett-phillips

"Possibly Made By Izannah Walker" To Be SoldAnd a Definite Izannah Walker Doll Sold Yesterday

Yesterday I recived an auction alert from Skinner's for a doll which was listed as "possibly Izannah Walker".   The doll is pictured above.  Whether she is an Izannah Walker doll remains to be seen, but she is a very interesting folk art doll! 

UPDATE:   Here is the hammer price of the doll shown above at $4,800. 

My auction alert for this Izannah Walker doll which sold yesterday for the hammer price of $2,600 must have gone astray.  I love seeing Izannah dolls in this worn condition, as there are many clues about construction.  

While reading about a folk art cloth doll possibly made by Izannah Walker I happened upon this auction which happened yesterday.   The auction alert for this doll went astray in my inbox.  I love seeing dolls that have wear!   What clues they can give us about construction!  How loved they are!

Happy Birthday, Izannah!

If Izannah were alive today, I would give her a gift for her birthday. But what to give? A piece of land? She owned property, but no. That's a personal decision. A lifetime supply of stockinette? Nah, that's too business-like. But you know what I enjoy that Izannah didn't? The right to vote as a woman. So if I could wrap up suffrage in a custom artist-made box, that would be my gift to her. Because it is independent women like Izannah who worked to give women the rights we enjoy today - to own property, to vote, to have a voice in the shaping of our society.

Izannah Walker Doll "Ellie"

This lovely Izannah Walker doll, standing at 21" tall, 

can be found at Mary Ann Spinelli's site.  

Enjoy the images courtesy of Mary Ann.  

Tintype of Izannah Walker Doll

This charming tintype of a girl with her Izannah Walker doll was offered for sale at Kathy Schoemer American Antiques and is now sold. Note that the girl and the doll wear very similar dresses.

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

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. 

Something to Bragg About by Monica Bessette

Because the content in this post will be in Monica's upcoming book, I've removed this post.  I'm looking forward to reading her book!