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Grannykins / Grandma doll by Royal Doll Co. & Jolly Toys

Grannykins sold by Royal Doll Co. and Grandma sold by Jolly Toys are the same doll. They have the face and hair of an older woman, with a regular high heeled glamour doll body, and date to the late fifties/early sixties. Because dolls have been found with a variety of markings, it is not certain which company actually made them. A rare Grandpa doll was made as well.

Body Construction
The Grandma doll pictured is 19″ tall, all vinyl, jointed at the neck, shoulders and hips. She has salt-and-pepper hair pulled back in a bun, with curly bangs. She has gray-green sleep eyes with brush lashes, and pale pink lips and fingernails. Her ears are pierced. Other dolls were made with all white hair, or styled in a widow’s peak without the bangs. Some dolls are jointed at the waist.

Grannykins / Grandma doll by Royal Doll Co. & Jolly Toys

Markings
The doll pictured is marked 20-5-SG on her upper back, with nothing on her head. Some dolls are marked “A ROYAL DOLL” with a copyright symbol on the back of their heads. Other dolls are completely unmarked.

Clothing
This Grandma wears an evening gown with a black velvet bodice and black nylon skirt flocked with white stripes and glitter. She carries a black velvet stole lined in silver lame, accented with a rose. Underneath she wears a plain, stiff petticoat and nylon panty. She has nylons and plastic heels as well. Her jewelry consists of a pearl necklace and drop pearl earrings. The Granny dolls were either sold in long prairie style dresses, or more modern evening gowns like this one. Some Granny dolls were sold wearing glasses.

Grannykins / Grandma doll by Royal Doll Co. & Jolly Toys

Packaging
Granny dolls were sold in boxes with a large cello window in the front to display them.

See more Granny dolls at the Deluxe Doll House website.

This boy doll is very similar to Pullan’s Bobby and Little Mister Bad Boy, which were made in the early 1960s. His original outfit suggests he was made as a companion for a bride doll.

Vinyl boy doll marked F in a circle

Body Construction
He is all vinyl, 20″ tall, jointed at the neck, shoulders and hips. He has detailed molded hair, painted light brown, and blue/green sleep eyes with brush lashes. Here’s a closeup of his face.

Markings
His only marking is a letter F in a circle on his lower back. He is the first doll I have ever seen with this marking.

Clothing
He wears a one piece outfit of white cotton sleeveless shirt, black cotton pants with stitched front crease and braid trim accenting the side seams, and black satin cummerbund. The outfit closes in the back with small factory snaps. See a back view. He would have had a jacket to match the pants originally. The shoes and socks he is wearing are probably similar to his original ones.

This little girl doll by IMCO is very similar to the second version of Ideal’s Posie doll, who was made from 1955-56.

Vintage IMCO doll with jointed knees

Body Construction
She is 22″ tall with a stuffed vinyl head and hard plastic body. She is a pin-jointed, head turning walker, jointed at the neck, shoulders, hips and knees. She has curly, dark blonde rooted hair with bangs, and sleep eyes. Perhaps her most unusual feature is her soft vinyl molded eyelashes. She has holes in her belly for her crying mechanism.

Vintage IMCO doll with jointed knees

Clothing
The dress she wears is pink and white checked taffeta, with an embossed white cotton collar trimmed in cotton lace, accented with a black satin ribbon bow. It closes in the back with factory donut snaps. It is likely her original one.

Vintage IMCO doll with jointed knees

Markings
She is marked on the back of her head “IMCO” but has no other markings.

Vintage IMCO doll marking

Dollikin Ballerina doll by Uneeda

Body Construction
The Dollikin Ballerina is the same doll as the regular Dollikin, but she has a few specific traits. Her hair is usually black, and is styled into either a chignon with severe widow’s peak, or a short fluffy bubblecut. This doll did not generally have pierced ears. Her eye paint is exaggerated, with long black painted lashes at the outer corner of each eye, and black eyebrows. The less common blonde dolls have eyelashes and brows painted brown instead of black.

Markings
Markings are the same as Dollikin.

Clothing
The Dollikin Ballerina seems to have been available in a wide variety of costumes, generally in satin with lace or tulle. All came with cotton tights and soft vinyl slippers. The dressed doll pictured above wears a very stiff ivory-colored (may have been white at one time) costume with ivory, purple and green lace sleeves, with the same lace forming the skirt over a layer of tulle. Other costumes included a tutu edged with silver braid, with pink or lavender tulle skirt and sleeves covered with silver dots; and a red long sleeved dress which looks more like an ice skating or majorette outfit.

Packaging
The Ballerina doll was sold in different packaging from the regular Dollikin. The Ballerina’s box has her posed as if she is dancing, attached to a black and white backing card illustrated with her in various positions. The front of the box is curved and has a large plastic window to display her beautifully. You can see a photo of her on Valerie Myers’ website.

Scan from 1958 Niresk Industries catalog.

Uneeda’s 19 inch Dollikin is perhaps the most fascinating of the glamour dolls. (The ad above must be including the height of her hair.) Her ultra-posable body, featuring no less than 16 separate joints, makes for a realism, both in play and display, that no other fashion doll of the late fifties can match. A rare 15″ Dollikin was also sold in 1958. The name was also used for a posable Barbie-sized doll in the late sixties, and a 6″ multi-jointed doll in the early ’70s.

The 19″ doll was also available as Dollikin Ballerina, Miss Twist (in fringed flapper dress), or in a set with a baby doll as Mommy Dollikin and Her Lovable Baby.

Body Construction
Dollikin has a hard plastic, strung body and soft vinyl head with sleep eyes in various colors with brush lashes. She is jointed at neck, waist, hips, shoulders, wrists, elbows, knees, ankles and upper arms. Click here for a photo of a nude Dollikin showing her multiple joints. There were some molding changes with the doll throughout her period of manufacture. The size of the head was decreased toward the end of production, and at some point her hands became smaller and more dainty, and her eyes were made larger.

Dollikin‘s rooted hair, available in various shades, originally came styled in either a short or long wavy or curly bob with bangs, ponytail with bangs, or chignon with widow’s peak or spit curl. The later issue dolls had short straight hair parted in the center. Her hair is not very high quality, so that it is difficult to restore a doll with played-with hair to original condition. Generally, dolls with the spit curl style had pierced ears and pearl drop earrings, while dolls with the other hair styles had unpierced ears.

The Dollikin Ballerina, and also Miss Twist, generally had black hair and black eyebrows, as well as black eyelashes painted on the outer corner of each eye.

Markings
She is marked “UNEEDA/2S” on the back of her neck. The Dollikin head with these same markings was also used for dolls with regular glamour bodies that didn’t have all the extra joints.

Clothing
Dollikin’s clothing is not tagged, but may be identified by the factory snaps with white “donut” outer half and the words “SK LIKITS RAU” inscribed on the inner silver half. While other manufacturers used these snaps as well, it is a fairly good bet that if your doll is wearing an outfit with these snaps, it is original.

Outfits the dolls were sold in include the following:

Black velvet pants, white long sleeved shirt with lace trim down front and on cuffs, red necktie, black elastic-strap sandals
Blue, green and white plaid pants, white blouse, red felt vest with lapels to match pants, black elastic-strap sandals. See photo here. This outfit was also available in a variation with a predominantly red plaid.
Red, blue and green plaid pants, white long-sleeved blouse with matching plaid placket and cuffs.
“Lotus Blossom” outfit of white blouse and pants, long vest with oriental fan print, white shoes. See photo above. This outfit was copied by Valentine for their Mannikin doll – see that page for keys to telling them apart.

Packaging
Dollikin’s original box had a gold lid, which when opened, showed her displayed in a seated position facing left, with graphics all around her highlighting her poseability and play value. She was available later on in a blue box with a cellophane window. The doll was seated in the same position as in the first issue box, with drawings of outdoor scenes decorating the interior.

To see more Dollikin photos, visit Michele Collishaw’s site.

Vintage Doll Collector

Zendelle

Grannykins / Grandma dolls by Royal & Jolly

Circle F Bridegroom Doll (circa 1961)

IMCO Doll with Jointed Knees (circa 1956)

Dollikin Ballerina by Uneeda (1959-62?)

Dollikin by Uneeda (1957-62)