Mina by Leo Moss

Name: Mina

Made by and When: Leo Moss, 1903

Material: Papier-mâché shoulder head with composition arms and legs, and a brown cloth body

Marks: MINA (incised into the front of the shoulder plate), LEO MOSS / 1903 (incised into the back of the head)

Height: 22 inches

Hair, Eyes, Mouth: Molded, texturized hair; medium brown stationary glass eyes with a sculpted teardrop falling from the center of the lower eyelids; closed, downturned mouth

Clothes/Accessories: Redressed in an antique white christening gown and antique shoes, in some of the gallery pictures, Mina holds an antique pewter baby rattle.

Other: Leo Moss, a Black man and native of Macon, GA was a handyman by trade. Moss sculpted his doll heads of papier-mâché without the use of molds during the late 1800s through the early 1930s.  He purchased manufactured dolls, doll parts, and doll bodies from a New York toy supplier over which he applied his papier-mâché material. Many of his dolls are unmarked while others will bear a cloth label on their body with Moss’s initials (L.M.), the doll’s name, and the year made; or as in the case of Mina, the doll’s name might be incised into the body.

Formerly owned by doll collector, historian, and author, Myla Perkins, Mina was won in the March 2018 Theriault’s auction, “Tears for Mina.”  This one-of-a-kind doll is one of 12 Leo Moss dolls from Perkins’ collection that was included in the auction. Presented to the doll community at the 1973 United Federation of Doll Clubs Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, Mina, as Perkins writes on page 16 in Black Dolls 1820-1991 an Identification and Value Guide (Collector Books, 1993) “was the first Leo Moss doll to win a ribbon in a national competition. It won a 1^st place ribbon in the baby doll category… [and] went on to win another ribbon for 4^th best doll in the show. There were over 1800 dolls in competition.”

“I watched the auction and when Mina came to the table, I broke out in a sweat. She had this presence about her I will never forget.  Even online, her presence is so real and magical.”—Leasa “Tutu” Souza (Mina’s current owner)

Gallery (Photographs courtesy of Leasa “Tutu” Souza.)

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Videos

Mina is featured in the following video courtesy of Leasa “Tutu” Souza.

See Mina and other original Leo Moss dolls in the following 25-minute video narrated by Florence Theriault for the “Tears for Mina” auction of March 17-18, 2018.

Leo Moss Articles to Read

Read more about Leo Moss in detailed articles, here, here, and here. Additionally, read “The Healing Power of Dolls and Tears” by Leasa “Tutu” Souza in the November/December 2021 issue of Antique Doll Collector.

__________

Your comments are valued. Donations aid the initiative to preserve Black-doll history. 

If you subscribe to DeeBeeGee’s Virtual Black Doll Museum™ by email, be sure to click the post title in the email, which links to the website to view all text and associated media. Please “like” and share this installation with your social media doll contacts. To subscribe, add your email address to the subscribe or sign-up field in the footer or right sidebar.