Self Made Craft

Popularly known as one of the best manufacturers of bisque head dolls, Armand Marseille Company had been manufacturing from 1885 until 1950 in Thuringia, Germany. The brainchild of the company was Herman who was a son of an architect and was born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1856. His family immigrated to Germany after 1860. Herman then purchased the Mathias Lambert's toy company in 1884 and later on acquired Liebermann & Wegescher's porcelain factory in Koppelsdorf in the year 1885.

According to historical figures, the company had manufactured around 1,000 bisque doll heads per day from the year 1900's to the 1930's. They made baby, child, character, and lady dolls with either painted or glass eyes. The company also used other materials for the bodies such as composition and cloth bodies. However, the doll bodies they have used for their products were produced by other doll makers but were still of good quality.

For those who want to get a reference of the dolls produced by Armand Marseille, here are just some of the dolls that were popularly launched:

1) Floradora (1894) - The doll has a marking "Made in Germany/AM/Armand Marseille" with the mold number 370. The doll measured 19 to 20 inches tall, had a cloth body with a pair of glass eyes, and a slightly opened mouth.

2) Beauty, Jubilee, Queen Louise, Majestic, and Princess (1894) - These are just some of the names used for the dolls that had composition bodies with bisque shoulder head. The markings on the dolls were "AM/DEP/Made in Germany" with their mold numbers.

3) Baby Betty / Character Baby - The doll typically had the marking "Germany A.M. DGRM or DRMR with the mold number 231 beside it. The bisque head doll had glass eyes, painted eyelashes, wig, and bent and jointed baby limb body.

4) Baby Phyllis - This baby doll had a cloth body, bisque shoulder head, and the lower arms were partially composition. Other character baby dolls were named Ellar, Melitta, and Baby Gloria. These dolls would either have straight legs or bent baby limbs.

5) Googly eye (1920) - This bisque head doll with a pair of side glancing rounded eyes and it measured 12 inches tall. The doll mold numbers are 200, 210, 240, 241, 253, and 323.

6) Just Me (1925) - The doll had sleep eyes and painted eyelashes. It measured 7.5 to 13 inches tall and the mold numbers are 310 and 318. For the avid Vogue doll collectors, yes, these dolls were also sold by the Vogue Doll Company.

If you would like to get started in collecting dolls, or introduce a loved one to the tradition of doll collecting it might be a good idea to start with dolls that interest them and are of relatively low cost. Our Generation Dolls are great for younger girls while Monster High Dolls might be better aimed at pre-teen and teenage young ladies.