Thumbelina

Name: Thumbelina

Made by and When: Mattel/Ashton-Drake Galleries, 2003

Material: Vinyl head, arms, legs; brown cloth pellet-filled body; metal and resin knob

Marks: (Head) LR0679; (body tag) ©2003 Mattel; the doll’s name is printed in red letters on a white ribbon attached to the romper.

Height: 20 inches

Hair, Eyes, Mouth: Curly short black rooted hair (the white barrettes were added by the curator), brown-painted eyes, open-closed mouth with coral lips and tongue area.

Clothes: White short-sleeved cotton blouse with a lace-trimmed Peter Pan collar and lace-trimmed sleeves, light blue knit romper with suspenders trimmed in white knit at the knees, white nylon lace-trimmed ankle socks accented with light blue ribbons

Other: Thumbelina features a resin knob on the back that activates gentle head movement when wound. Originally made by Ideal Toy Corporation in the 1960s, Mattel holds the trademark for the 2003 reproduced doll and trade clothing, which were used under license by Ashton-Drake Galleries. A certificate of authenticity accompanied each doll and features a black and white image of the reproduced doll. Created in smaller numbers than their white counterpart, original 1960s black Thumbelina dolls by Ideal are very rare.

See a headshot of an original 1960s black Thumbelina here.

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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