Campbell’s Kid Dolls

Q I have a Campbell’s Kid girl doll dressed as a chef in a pink dress with a white apron and hat. She is six inches tall and still in the unopened Campbell’s Soup can with a see-through side. How much is she worth today?

A The Campbell Soup Co. was founded by Joseph A. Campbell, a fruit merchant, and Abraham Anderson, an icebox manufacturer, in Camden, New Jersey, in 1869. Illustrator Grace Drayton created the chubby-faced Campbell’s Kids in 1904. The first dolls were made in 1910, by the E.I Horsman Co. The composition dolls were sold by mail order through Montgomery Ward and Sears as well as in local stores. In 1928, the licensing rights went to the American Character Doll Co. The dolls were dressed in chef’s clothing like in the advertisements. The Kids weren’t used in advertising much from the mid-1920s to the mid-1940s. But they were brought back in 1954 to celebrate their 50th birthday and new dolls were made. Your doll is from the 1998 ”Junior Series,” a commemorative set of four dolls, each packaged individually in a tin can with a removable sticker, so the can could be used as a bank. Asking prices online are up to $25 for one in original packaging, but with out the can they sell for about $5 to $8.