Welcome to My Red Cape. Long ago in another time my husband Jack and I lived in a little old red house. It was the stuff of dreams to us for the few years that we were there. I live there still a number of hours every day in imagination, with old dolls and paintings and fabrics and feather trees. I draw inspiration and happiness from the memories of that space in time and share some of it here with friends who remember how to step with Alice through the looking glass and take delight in whimsies and antiquities. ~Edyth O’Neill

Sunday, March 15, 2015

A Boy Doll Named Benjamin James Pendergast


 I am thrilled with my little boy doll!  He is adorable to me though many collectors would not touch such a far from perfect thing.   He is so unspoiled and such a dear little toy and has the note pinned to his clothing giving the name of the doll and the name of the little boy he belonged to: Eugene S. Patton, with a date 1877.  Precious, wear and all. Honest and untouched.  He is an example of a doll in as found condition that I treasure, (in contrast to the rough Greiner head shown in a different post). To know a bit of his history adds even more interest.  He was bought at an estate sale in Maine by the dealer I purchased him from. If any reader knows more of what may be his family history please contact me.

 
The doll is made of wax over a papier mache base, but most of his wax is gone now, and on his cheeks the painted finish under the wax is worn.   And with all of that he has a serious crack down the side of his head.  Condition is so important in doll collecting.  For me on this item, the clothing and the general presentation offset that.
His black glass eyes have a sparkle of life.  He stands 21 inches tall. He wears a boy's black velvet skirted suit over a shirt, petticoat and pantalets. 








Welcome Benjamin to my doll family!   E



 
 


 

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