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Christmas Favorites Happy Thanksgiving!   How time flies; it seems like just yesterday it was July, and we were excited over Love, Shirley Temple.  This weekend, another auction takes place by Theriault's that features Shirley memorabilia of all kinds of things.  I particularly love her charm bracelets; look for posts on them and the vinyl Shirleys being auctioned. I hope you take out your pilgrim statues, wax candle dolls, dried apple heads and corn husk dolls to celebrate this uniquely American holiday.  On my Doll Museum blog, I featured photos of French dolls, in honor of those who died and were hurt last Friday in Paris.  More French doll posts to follow on About, with one vintage post below.  Happy Collecting! Ellen Tsagaris Doll Collecting Expert Christmas Favorites   Christmas this year provides many choices for doll collectors.  The Holidays are here, and with them come many new choices for collectors and doll/toy lovers everywhere! READ NOW Being a CEO of the Doll House could Land you a Corner Office!   Collecting dolls teaches management and other marketable skills. Just think of the creativity, passion, social media skills, historical knowledge, organization and multitasking involved in caring for a doll collection! READ NOW Review: The Pueblo Storyteller   Thanksgiving is almost here, and I always like to review and study the Native American Dolls in my collection.  Just last Tuesday, we talked about it in my diversity class for law enforcement.  Storyteller's are special dolls, true art figures, memorialized in this wonderful book. READ NOW Collections of Things I Don't Collect   This is a fun time or year to take stock of our various, doll-related collecting passions! READ NOW Antique French Fashion Dolls   There are several good articles in this indexed category from our About.com doll collecting site that feature French dolls.  Enjoy surfing the links! READ NOW

Antique Doll Collector Magazine: An Interview with Alf Ertsland and Svein Hellberg

Antique Doll Collector Magazine: An Interview with Alf Ertsland and Svein Hellberg: When did you start collecting? I can’t remember exactly when we start talking about antique dolls.  We had, however, a common interes...

Free Newsletter, and also, Check out Living Dead Dolls

Newsletter for Week of November 9th Halloween flew away on a kitchen witch's broom, and Thanksgiving with pilgrim and turkey dolls awaits.  Christmas is just around the corner.  I saw doll "sightings" on "Laverne and Shirley" which featured Madame Alexanders and on "Bonanza" where Raggedy Ann and a porcelain doll starred. This week, an update on a favorite website, Ghost of the Doll which has information on dolls and toys from the 70s to 90s, and a history of Chinese Opera dolls.  Also read about how to use dolls to teach. Ellen Tsagaris Doll Collecting Expert

There is nothing Spooky about this Great Site about dolls 1980-2000.   Ghost of the Doll is fun and easy to navigate, and is a veritable web museum of the toys from this era. READ NOW

"It Ain't Over" till the Dolls Sing!   Unusual Chinese Opera Dolls are just the tip of the iceberg when collecting dolls from China. READ NOW

Keep One Eye on Monster High!   Iris Clops is a fashionably stylish monster of a completely different stripe from the Cyclops of old myth. READ NOW

Dolls go to School   Teaching courses on dolls; resources and ideas. READ NOW

Happy Halloween!!

Newsletter for Halloween Week 2015! Boo to all Bebes! There seems to be no end to dolls in the news this week.  Blythe-Con recently wrapped up, and Antique Doll Collector Magazine featured many doll shows and auctions in its listings, published in the November 2015 issue.  McDonald's is offering "The Minions" on its Halloween Pails, a tradition, and will release Peanuts Happy Meal Toys. New dolls are everywhere; Iris Clops joins Monster High,while American Girl will retire Grace. Madame Alexander has introduced Pixie Doodles, 9 inch Fairies with dresses you can color with Crayloa crayons.  Another Shirley Temple Auction is approaching, hence an update of our tribute to her. Here, also, are another installment of "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" and dolls, as well as the selected bibliography for doll scholars. Finally, here is an update of a profile of our talented and generous friend, paper doll artist Stephanie Hammonds. Next week, more posts on dolls in TV drama, on interesting others in collecting dolls, and much more! Ellen Tsagaris Doll Collecting Expert An Update to an Elegy for a Beloved Star; For Shirley   Another auction of Shirley Temple Memorabilia is coming up November 22nd; here is an updated tribute to the star. READ NOW Puritan Poppets, Cornhusk Dolls, and Magic   Here are the references for the posts on Witch of Blackbird Pond; many are books with references to dolls, toys, and games. READ NOW A Paper Doll Artists who is a Renaissance Woman and is Keene!   Paper doll artist, writer, teacher, doll collector, tekkie, Renaissance Woman; here is an update on our friend, Stephanie Hammonds, showcasing her work on Katy Keene. READ NOW The Witch of Blackbird Pond and Dolls; IV   Our study of dolls, toys, and games in an award winning children's novel set in 17th c. New England continues.

October 20th Newsletter; The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Very Uncanny; Nutcracker Maker Files Bankruptcy Truly, frost was on the pumpkin this week. We covered our plants Friday night, including a pumpkin vine I grew from seed. Leaves are falling, and I've pressed one red leaf in my copy of James Patterson's "Kill Alex Cross." Falling leaves mean the West Central Illinois Doll Club's annual field trip to Gigi's Dolls and Sherry's Teddy Bear. Sadly, Steinbach recently announced that after 200 years, they would file bankruptcy.  We will truly miss the beloved maker who made the figures that inspired Hoffman, and later Freud.  This year, Lestat by Crees and Coe came home with me. Last week's trip through the Spoon River Scenic drive yielded even more treasures. Theriault's Matter of Circumstance Auction takes place Monday. If there were ever a better time to be a doll collector, please let me know!! Ellen Tsagaris Doll Collecting Expert

Very Uncanny   Dolls that are too realistic often attract attention from the scientific, medical, and psychological communities. READ NOW

A Renowned Scholar Publishes Postive Doll Book   Review of an early doll book by G. Stanley Hall, student of William James and first person to receive a PhD in psychology in America. READ NOW

Dolls and Disobedience   Dolls in "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" and Puritan Culture. Children in 17th century American lived lives dictated by discipline and restraint, not whimsy and imagination. READ NOW

Patti Playpal; still Playing Patticake after all these Years!   We are taking another look at a beloved doll of the late 50s and early 60s.  Thanks to our reader Terri Lee for recommending this post. READ NOW

Dolls in Sitcoms: Bebes in TV Land   Read about how dolls infiltrate their way into your favorite past and current sitcoms. READ

Call me Erzebet

If you read The Letters of Erzebet Bathory, you know that she spent a lot of time reviewing accounts, managing estate paper work for 27 estates, paying bills, ordering food and grain.  On a much smaller but equally stressful scale, I find myself developing migraines, keeping track of not just my bills and taxes, but everyone else's family accounts, too.  Like Barbara Pym's excellent women, E and I are cumbered with much serving.  Happy Halloween to us all, and my one respite was watching The Great Pumpkin and the Toy Story Halloween special.

I've been watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" since I was 6, and we only had a BW TV, and Admiral, which I still have in a place of honor.  The Peanuts Gang reminds me of my childhood, and of home, of lying on the rug in front of the TV clutching a stuffed animal or my doll, Candy, and and anticipating the cool air of Halloween night, when my Dad walked around with me and m friends trick or treating, and when my mom would buy carmel apples and make my costumes. There was a hint of smoke from bonfires, and neighbors who could still make us popcorn balls and brownies, and a little box with penneys for Unicef.

Holidays felt special; there was the fragrance of spice in the air, and it was still safe to walk, before the urban legends of razor blades in apples.

If I could go back in time just one day, to be six again, to be with my mother and dad, to watch the Great Pumpkin with Halloween Cards from  my grandma and grandpa sitting on the table .. . . that would be the ultimate pleasure.

Free Newsletter from Collectdolls.about.com

Autumn is here! Doll Events Abound This past couple of weeks alone, there was  a Pullip Convention, two Theriault's Rendezvous auctions with another this Monday, many art fairs, and new dolls like Disney Descendant's, more Halloween and Fall dolls, including Annalee at Marshall's, Holiday Barbies 2015, and new promotions from Madame Alexander, Tonner, and American Girl. Think about scarecrows and dried apple faced dolls as you doll shop for new additions.  What was your best yard sale find of this past season?  Let me know for a series of new posts.  Happy collecting! Ellen Tsagaris Doll Collecting Expert

A 300+ Year Old Doll House Still with its Family Ann Sharp's Baby House may be my all time favorite doll house, except for mine, of course! Read about Ann's house, and the micromini room it inspired. READ NOW

An Eclectic Collection; It Really is a Small, Doll World My friend Caroline is an artist, weaver, and doll collector.  She has one of the most eclectic collections I have ever seen, and she is very generous with them, too.  Next week, I'll share a gallery of her dolls. READ NOW

Bright, Shiny Objects and Doll Bling Idols and dolls of many type existed in ancient America, as toys, art, precious gold/silver objects, and religious statues. Here is an update, just in time for fall and September, still doll collecting month. READ NOW

Dolls by Marian Hu Designs and Seymour Mann A reader inspire me to create this post, about two very popular lines of collectible dolls of the 90s and novelist Erica Jong's parents!