I bought this doll at a garage sale for $1. The gentleman told me it had been his mother's and it was probably from the 1920s.
A few clicks of the computer were all it took. She is what was called a Boudoir Doll, or bed doll from the early 1920s. She is probably French. Later copies made in the U.S. didn't have as much makeup, especially eye makeup, as the early French dolls had. She is all original. The head is made of painted plaster; her body is cloth and stuffed with excelsior. Her lower arms and lower legs are a hard plastic with painted high heel shoes. Her dress is printed silk taffeta and her undergarments are a stiff gauze-like fabric. Some of her mohair hair is missing, but at nearly 100 years of age you can't expect her to be perfect.
I've named her Francine and I'm so glad I found her. Now I'm going back to that sale to tell the gentleman what I found out about his mother's darling of a doll.
