Keshia

Name: Keshia

Made by and When: Judith Turner, 1989

Material: Porcelain head and hands; soft-sculptured, bean-weighted body

Marks:  A printed label inside the dress hem reads “Turner Dolls.”

Height: 18 inches

Hair, Eyes, Mouth: Short black curly wig, crying facial expression with closed eyes, applied upper eyelashes, tear-stained cheeks, an open mouth with a sculpted tongue, and two lower teeth

Clothes: Wears a white dress with red accents, white tights over a disposable diaper, and white cloth baby shoes.

Other: Made in a limited edition of 350, Keshia is #254. An example of limited-edition artist dolls made during the 1980s, this doll is unhappy! Keshia was purchased from Childhood Treasures, a doll shop in Royal Oak, Michigan from Barb Coker, “The Doll Lady,” who viewed the doll’s complexion as biracial.

Gallery (Photographs courtesy of Mildred Wilson)

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Published by DeeBeeGee

Doll collector, historian, co-founder of the first e-zine devoted to collecting black dolls; author of black-doll reference books, doll blogs, and doll magazine articles.

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