Description

Kestner 171 – brown dress

Antique German Kestner Bisque Doll Mold #171, 1880s With Open Mouth and Showing Teeth, Composition Body.

A Beautiful Antique Victorian doll circa from the 1880th. The doll is 29″ tall in good condition. A beautiful bisque head, brown sleepy eyes(see picture on the left eye), and an open mouth with four showing teeth. She has finely painted feathered eyebrows and painted lower eyelashes and mohair wig. Her head is marked: L 1/2. MADE IN GERMANY 171 . 15 1/2 . 171. She has a composition ball joint body with “Germany 6 “ stamped on back side. Her head does not hairline. Just a little glue residue from wig attachment. See pictures about her hands and legs. She’s wearing good quality clothing, undergarments have a few holes from age. Wonderful leather shoes and fancy victorian bonnet. Very good doll for collectibles. See pictures and additional pictures for the request.

Kestner JDK Dolls 1820-1938 German

King of Doll Makers – Johann Daniel Kestner (JDK) of Waltershausen, Thuringia, Germany began making papier mache and wood dolls and toys as early as 1816. Kestner eventually went on to employ nearly three-quarters of the inhabitants of the Waltershausen region which earned him the nickname “King Kestner”. 

 In 1858 J.D. Kestner passed away and his grandson Adolf eventually took over the running of the company, around 1860 Kestner produced wax over papier mache doll heads, by 1860 they acquired the Ohrdruf porcelain factory and began to produce the bisque dolls known by collectors today.  Kestner was one of the few German doll makers to produce the entire doll – head and body.