Over the last two years, I have received numerous e-mails and phone calls from owners of dolls who wish to sell their collections. Sometimes the collections were purchased by the collectors themselves; sometimes the dolls were received as gifts over the course of many years; sometimes the collections were received as a result of estates of relatives or friends. There are many, many different reasons people want to sell their dolls. Sometimes the dolls are just sitting in boxes and the owner has no desire to keep them. Some are moving, and don't want to move them again. Some are unemployed as a result of the economic downturn and are selling off possessions to make ends meet. Some have been inherited and there is just no use for them.As much as I would like to help folks out, I normally pass and do not purchase the collections. Recently, though, I had a request that interested me. I have a fondness and for some reason a soft spot for Madame Alexander dolls. There is just something about them…..maybe it's the look in their eyes, their cute faces, or their clothing. As I was pondering whether or not to purchase the dolls, my website, http://www.kfcollectibles.com/, sold two items and I sold another item on Amazon.com (textbooks4education) on the exact same day. I took this as a sign to move forward with the purcha
se of the Madame Alexander dolls.Most of the dolls are the small 8" dolls from the International Dolls Foreign Friends Collection. I love to travel and so these dolls remind me of places I've been, people I've met, and places that I'd like to go. Let me tell you about one in particular. In this blog, I will talk about the doll from Sweden, in honor of my very good friend
and neighbor, who moved from Sweden just a couple of years ago. This little Madame Alexander Swedish doll is dressed in a red skirted dress. She wears a gold apron with black trim embroidered with red and pink flowers with green stems. On her head is a cap with white, red and yellow embroidered flowers and green stems. She wears a lace edged slip and pantyloons and has black socks and black shoes. Her blond hair and light blue sleep eyes finish the traditional look.
I originally planned to share one of the other dolls on this blog, but decided to point out a few facts about Sweden instead. Did you know?
- Astrid Lindgren, a female Swedish author, wrote one of our childhood favorites, Pippi Longstocking (Pippi Långstrump) in the 1940's. For more information, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrid_Lindgren.
- IKEA was expanded to the USA in the 1980's, but "The IKEA story begins in 1926 when founder Ingvar Kamprad is born in Småland in southern Sweden". For the IKEA store history, visit http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/about_ikea/the_ikea_way/history/index.html#.
- In 1855, safety matches were patented by Johan Edvard Lundstrom of Sweden. Lundstrom put red phosphorus on the sandpaper outside the box and the other ingredients on the match head, creating a match that could only be safely lit off the prepared, special striking surface. For the history of the match, go to http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blmatch.htm.
- And more currently, Swedish author Stieg Larsson brought us the Millennium Trilogy of crime novels that have swept the world in popularity. The Millennium Trilogy consists of The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo, The Girl Who Play with Fire, and the Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. For more on Steig Larsson, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stieg_Larsson.
When I bought the collection of Madame Alexander International Dolls, I didn't know that this little Swedish girl would lead me to this blog, but it was fun to write. I hope you enjoyed it, too.
