Love of an old rag doll

IT’S ALL ABOUT

Baby boomer females will relate more to an old rag doll than their grandkids or possibly even their own children. For many of us from the 50’s the rag doll was the soft comfortable secure part of our toddler and younger years.

They were fairly inexpensive and quite frankly we didn’t have much else from which to choose because Barbie hadn’t been invented as of yet!

At age 18 months my Godmother bought my first rag doll which unbeknownst at that time would begin a lifelong collection of Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls.

That little “Rarry-Ann” went everywhere I went, hand in hand or probably dragging on the floor… and still my original

baby follows me around to this day for

over 60 years.

During the past 20 years my travels

and projects took me all over the United States from coast to coast. What do

you do on the road by yourself over the

weekend stuck off in some small noname town but attend auctions and seek

out local flea markets? If you aren’t a rummage looker, antiquer, or eclectic flea marketer you just may be out of luck. I was always on

the look out for unusual items, like flute playing angels or vintage Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls.

During a two-month project in Las Vegas (about 1995) I got to know most everyone in town that had anything to do with the auction business. One particular couple became personal friends and promised to keep me in mind should they run into something special. Several months later, my friend and owner of the auction business called and said she was getting a Raggedy Ann doll shipped into her location. She wasn’t exactly sure what to expect but knew it was potentially something that would pique my interest as it was coming with appraisal documentation. Curiously I inquired what she thought it would bring at auction. Although she wasn’t sure because Raggedy Ann’s weren’t her expertise, she thought maybe a grand at the high end! I told her that whatever the last bid was, I would bid $50 over the highest bid because that “Rarry” was going into MY collection. At the end of the auction she called to inform me that my bid had taken the precious doll for a mere $1,500 and of course, 50 dollars! Oh, my goodness, I gasped as I tried to catch my breath! Had I just paid that much for a doll; was I totally crazy?

About ten days later my package arrived and to my astonishment there was not only a Raggedy Ann but her little raggedy brother, Andy as well. At this point, I forgot to tell you …Raggedy Ann was invented in 1915 by the Johnny Gruelle family and Raggedy Andy came along several years thereafter. Mr. Gruelle not only made rag dolls but wrote a myriad of books on these characters. The dolls in his books always had a strong sweet kind heart that said “I love you”. They were caring adventurous and loving to the other characters they encountered along their paths. And truth be told, Mr. Gruelle manufactured his rag dolls with hearts on their chests. In fact, the original dolls were actually made with an “I love you” candy heart sewn into their chests.

These particular two sibling rag dolls were in excellent shape and appeared to be extremely old. They didn’t resemble anything in my collection at that time. In fact, I had never seen ones that old! As promised, the certified appraisal letter was also enclosed in the bottom of the package. And, from the appraisal prices, I hadn’t made a bad deal at all! Onto the shelf they went with all the other dolls and from time to time I would stroll through the

Raggedy Ann room and stop and

wonder what attic those babies had been hiding in for so many years.

About 10 years ago on a rainy Sunday afternoon, and with the internet so convenient, I Googled information on Raggedy Ann and Andy. An article surfaced that had been written by Worth, the son of Johnny Gruelle. Prior to his passing at the age of 89, Worth had written that when he was around six years old, his dad would send him downstairs to the drug store to buy a large bag of candy hearts. His job would be to open the bag and sort out the hearts that had “I Love You” stamped on them. He said, as he watched, the family made the first 100 dolls with a candy heart sewn into their chests to obtain the original rag doll patent.

Worth went on to say that when a child would sleep with one of the Raggedy dolls, they would suck on the candy heart (more than likely with a thumb in their mouth too) as a comfort factor and eventually the dolls would have a brown stain on their chests from spit! His article also said that in all his years in the Raggedy Ann business, which was 80 some odd years, he had never run into one of those old dolls with an original candy heart or the brown stained spit marks on the chest. This was news to me as I had never heard the story of the real candy hearts. I left my office and went to retrieve both my old dolls. As I flipped up Raggedy Ann’s dress, there it was…the brown stain from a century old suckling child. Not only was that wonderfully NASTY stain looking at me in the face, but I could actually feel the almost whole remains of a candy heart that had been sewn into her chest.

Even though there is a certified appraisal letter, my “Raggedy” is an extremely rare example of sheer luck and being in the right place at the right time, with friends looking out for you! Ladies go to your old attic chest and check out your old dolls. Could you be so lucky?

My 100+ year old rag dolls, Raggedy Ann and Andy are priceless treasures in my life. Could it possibly be that I own one of the original 100 dolls from the patented lot? Could it be the only one in existence??