August Riedeler Mark

Q: I have a little dollhouse boy doll with movable arms and legs. He is marked with a heart with the letters "ARI" inside and "Konigsee Thur" in a banner across the bottom of the heart. The doll is made of rubber and is wearing his original outfit of pale blue shirt, black pants, red belt and bowtie. He is 4 1/2 inches tall. Who made this doll and how old is he?

A: The mark was used by August Riedeler, a manufacturer of porcelain and dolls in Konigsee, Thuringia, Germany, starting in 1864. Riedeler made porcelain, while his wife made toys. His son took over the factory in 1872 and began making porcelain dolls and doll heads. Riedeler built a factory in Garsitz in 1892. The company has made dolls of porcelain, cloth, celluloid, rubber and vinyl, and has also made some other toys. Dollhouse dolls were usually sold in sets. Sellers list them as made in the 1970s and '80s. A family of five dolls, with mother, father, boy, girl and baby, was advertised online for $65. Single dolls sell for $4 to $24, depending partly on the condition of the doll and its clothing.

Mystery Mark Comment

A reader wrote after he saw our Mystery Mark about the Acme doll (Feb. 6, 2013): “Acme Toy Mfg. Co. was owned by my father, Isaac Ricklin. He designed and made high quality character baby and mama dolls. He also made the Kiddiejoy dolls for Jacobs & Kessler Hirtz and baby dolls for George Borgfeldt Co. His distributor was Kaufman, Levenson & Co. Some of the dolls were Honey Baby, Patsy, and Tynie Baby-like. Acme Toy Mfg. Co. remained in business until the late 1950s.”

 

Heart Shape Mark

Q: I have an old doll with this mark on the back of the head. Can you tell me who made my doll?

A: The mark on your doll was used by Bahr & Proschild (Baehr & Proeschild), a company founded in Ohrdruf, Germany, in 1871 by George Bahr and August Proschild. The company made bisque, celluloid, and porcelain dolls as well as doll heads and doll parts for other companies. The initials “B & P” were used as a mark beginning in about 1895. The company’s mark was a heart with the initials inside from about 1900 to 1919. In 1918 Bahr & Proschild was bought by Bruno Schmidt, another German dollmaker. The next year, Bruno Schmidt changed the Bahr & Proschild mark to a heart with the initials outside–the mark on your doll. The mark continued to be used until about 1940. So your doll was made between 1919 and 1940.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Acme Doll

 

Q: I bought this baby doll at an antique shop in Maine last summer. It’s not in very good shape. The eyes work but the crier doesn’t. “Acme Toy Co.” is marked on the back of the doll’s neck. It has a cloth body, but I’m not sure of the material of the arms and legs. It’s about the size of a 1-year-old child. I have another doll just like this I have had since I was a child about 70 years ago, but its face isn’t in good shape. (I left mine in the rain, so I pretended it had the measles.) Can you tell me something about the maker?

 

A: The Acme Toy Co. was in business in New York City from 1908 until at least the 1930s. The company made composition doll heads, baby dolls, mama dolls, and doll parts for other manufacturers. The dolls have composition heads and limbs and stuffed cloth bodies. The doll, in excellent condition, would sell for about $100.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is Beha?

Berthold Helk of Neustadt, Germany, used this mark on cloth dolls and doll bodies. In German, “Beha” is phonetic for the initials “B” and “H.” The company was in business from 1918 to 1943.

Rising Sun Mark

This rising sun mark is often seen on dolls’ heads. It was registered by Heubach Bros. (Gebruder Heubach) of Lichte, Thuringia, Germany, in 1882. Two brothers, Christoph and Philipp Heubach, owned the factory and the mark. They made dolls’ heads, dolls, and figurines. The company was operated by the family until it went bankrupt in 1938.

Doll Head

An old doll with this mark may be a treasure. Kammer & Reinhardt of Waltershausen, Thuringia, Germany, used the mark from 1886 to 1930. The company designed doll heads made by Simon & Halbig and other companies. It is said to have been the first to design bisque doll heads with teeth and genuine hair eyelashes.