Dear Helaine and Joe: Please tell me what you can about my doll. It has a composition body and an open mouth. On the back of her head is stamped "Handwerck 5 Germany." I would appreciate anything you could tell me. — R.B.C., Denver, Colo.
Dear R.B.C.: There were two German doll manufacturers who marked their dolls with the word "Handwerck" — but only one that used the word not coupled with another name. Both Max Handwerck and Heinrich Handwerck were located in the town of Waltershausen, Thuringia, Germany, but only the dolls made by the latter company bear the mark "Handwerck Germany" with a number between them (that is usually the mold designation).
Heinrich Handwerck went into business in 1855, but since 1885 the bisque heads used on their creations have been made by the famous Simon & Halbig Company of Grafenhain, Thuringia, Germany, which was founded in 1869. Many of the heads found on Heinrich Handwerck dolls actually bear the "Simon Halbig" name impressed into the porcelain, but this particular example does not.
R.B.C.'s doll is a child doll and has a "socket head," which means that the head and neck fit into a separate shoulder plate and this allows the head to move in a fairly realistic fashion. Many other dolls are "shoulder head," meaning that the head, neck and shoulders are made in one piece.
Dolls such as this one could have either set or sleep eyes (e.g., eyes that close when the doll is placed in a horizontal position), and from the photograph, we believe that this doll has set eyes because she is shown reclining with her eyes still open.
However, if we are incorrect in our assumption and the doll has sleep eyes, the value is not affected one way or the other.
Underneath the frilly white dress and pink sash, this doll has a ball-jointed composition body that also may be marked with the Heinrich Handwerck mark — and R.B.C. might look to see if it is actually there. In any event, this doll also has pierced ears, which is as it should be, and in them are what may be the original pink earrings.
Valuing this doll with any certainty is difficult because R.B.C. failed to tell us how large it is and, as a general rule, the larger the doll, the higher the value. Stretched out on the bed in the photographs, she appears to be quite large, and a 25-inch-long example is worth approximately $1,000 at retail. But if she is 30 inches long, the value goes up to about $1,500. And if she is 33 inches in length the price zooms to almost $2,000. Prices continue to escalate up to about $4,000 for the 42-inch dolls.
It should be emphasized that these prices are only for dolls that are in perfect condition. Hairline cracks on a doll's porcelain head can be very hard to detect, but their presence can reduce the value of a doll such as this one by more than half.
Helaine Fendelman is feature editor at Country Living magazine and Joe Rosson writes about antiques at The Knoxville News Sentinel in Tennessee. Questions can by mailed to them at P.O. Box 12208, Knoxville, TN 37912-0208.