Tanya

Name:  Tanya

Made by and When: Bette Ball exclusively for Goebel, 1989

Material: Porcelain head, arms, and legs; stuffed, white-cloth body; synthetic hair, glue, acrylic eyes

Marks:  Stamped on the nape of the neck: Carol Anne Dolls / Designed by Bette Ball / Limited Edition 784/1000 / © Goebel, Inc. 1989. A cloth body tag reads, Carol Anne Dolls / (C) GOEBEL, INC. 1989.

Height: 17 inches

Hair, Eyes, Mouth: Short brown curly wig accented with a fabric ribbon that matches the dress fabric, brown stationary eyes with faintly painted upper and lower eyelashes, closed mouth

Clothes: Floral-print dress in pink and mauve tones has a white collar with eyelet trim and eyelet-trimmed sleeves, a full slip, white pantaloons, off-white mesh stockings, and off-white Mary-Jane-style shoes.

Other: Tanya, an example of a mass-produced higher-end porcelain doll made during the 1980s-1990s, has a music box inside the body that plays “Love Makes the World Go Round.”  Click or tap the play arrow to listen to a portion of the song next.

A certificate of authenticity and a hang tag were included. The artist’s information is on the left inside of the hang tag. Information about the doll is on the right inside of the hang tag.

Tanya was a 1990s QVC shopping network offering where Bette Ball made several appearances on the network’s doll shows.

It is unknown if Ball sculpted her dolls or used molds sculpted by others. This doll’s head sculpt is very similar to the early 1900s Armand Marseille mold 341.

Gallery

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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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