Armand Marseille Dream Baby Doll Open Mouth,Closing Eyes (German) (AM351)1920s

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Armand Marseille' Dream Baby' Doll 25.5" tall (life-sized) with Open Mouth, Little Teeth, Open and Close Eyes (German) (AM351)1920s in some Victorian clothes. This gorgeous Armand Marseilld "Dream Baby" Baby Doll AM351/7, who has an open mouth with two little white bottom teeth, and fully functioning open and close googly eyes, was given to me by my great grandmother who lived 1878 - 1872, her whole life in the heart of the Black Country, gave me this doll in about 1966. She had owned it since it was made. Some of the clothes on her, and she's always been called Margaret, are, I believe, genuine Victorian clothes of her era. I need to pass her onto someone else who will love her and care for her. The has an undamaged head which I believe is bisque. She has an open mouth with two little, white bottom teeth undamaged. She has open and close blue eyes which work perfectly. Her hands are probably leather. Her body, legs, feet, arms and hands are probably stuffed with straw, quite solidly and firmly. She wears a little Victorian sleeved cotton and lace half top with 2 x cloth covered rear button fastenings. Thin white socks (probably younger than Victorian, not sure) Little white and 'gold' button fastening, real children's shoes. Pink draws in brushed cotton type fabric. She then wears a pink underskirt with lace edging round the bottom in pink, with a drawstring neck. Then she has a nylon overdress on of two layers and frills, which was probably donated by someone in the late 30s or 40s. A little pink woolly knitted had which as a few holes and fastens with a button. She has a cream shawl, which my mum knitted for my brother who was born in 1953! There is a second spare white Victorian Bodice with lace and a tie neck. Armand Marseille was a popular doll manufacturer in the late 1880's and early 1900s. They created their famous doll molds, over a span of over 30 years. Although they are known for some fine character dolls and some lovely lady dolls, the great majority of their products were round-faced child dolls, babies, and toddlers. At the height of their production, they produced over 1,000 doll heads per day. While the German company did make all the doll heads, the bodies were brought from other manufacturers and added to the Marseille head molds. Armand Marseille dolls were produced from roughly 1885 until approximately 1930. About the Armand Marseille Doll Company Located in Koppelsdorf, in the Thuringia region of Germany, the Armand Marseille doll company was at the heart of the German doll making revolution in the 1890s. Started by Armand Marseille in 1865, as a toy company. They didn't make dolls until approximately 1885 and would continue until about 1930. Armand Marseille, Jr. was at the head of the company for the majority of the company's doll making years. Materials While almost all of the doll heads were made of bisque porcelain, which was made by the company, they would either sell the doll heads or purchase the bodies from other companies. Doll bodies were generally made of composition, a mixture of sawdust and glue, or stuffed kid leather with bisque arms. Basic Types of Armand Marseille Doll One of the most commonly made dolls were the 390 head mold on a composition body and the 370 (a shoulder head mold) on a stuffed kid body. Armand Marseille also made a large variety of baby dolls including the Dream Baby, toddler dolls, character dolls including Just Me and several rare models.Other well-known doll-faced child dolls include Floradora, Queen Louise, and Darling Dolly. They also made googly-eyed dolls which have a joint that allows their eyes to open and close. It can be hard to find a googly-eyed doll with functioning eyes because if the dolls are stored with their eyes open, it places a strain on the joint making them more likely to break. While these joints can be easy to repair, laying dolls down flat for storage so that their eyes close helps take stress off the joints and prevent damage. Marks on Armand Marseille Dolls Armand Marseille dolls are generally very clearly marked on the back of the bisque head, as an example: Armand Marseille/Germany/390 or something similar, where 390 is the mold number. Many of the dolls are marked with A M instead of Armand Marseille. Price Trends on Armand Marseille Dolls A great majority of the baby, toddler, and dolly-faced Armand Marseille dolls fall in the $200 to $500 price range, with the exceptions including very large dolls, googly-eyes, rare character dolls (which can cost several thousand dollars) and lady dolls.