Fabulous French Dolls Page 2

His name might not sound familiar to you. One of the reasons could be that he did not join with the SFBJ. Henri Delcroix made dolls between 1865 and 1887 in Paris and among other cities in France. There are many marks attributed to Delcroix: “GD Paris”, “Paris HD”, and “Paris PAN”. Henri Delcroix registered the trademark “PAN” in 1887.

These dolls can be identified at a glance by their large round eyes. They are of the type that once you have passed by, you do a double take.

Francois Gauliter has been a mystery doll maker. It has been hard to find much information on him. He made bisque doll heads and limbs, as well as all-bisque dolls. On December 2, 1872 he took out a patent for the improvement of molds for making dolls’ heads. In 1884 his firm became Gaultier and Son and again in 1888 the name changed to Gaultier Brothers. In 1899 Gaultier Brothers become part of the SFBJ company but not part of the land or premises.

As far as collectors are concerned dolls with the markings F.G. are referred to as Gaultier’s. Heads marked F.G. are painted in a style of their own. F.G. heads and dolls are valuable to a collector because they are made of fine bisque and are well decorated.

There are three types of bodies on F.G. dolls – wood, wood and composition, and Gesland bodies. Bodies by Gesland are made of a padded metal armature covered with knit fabric.

Some small, later F.G. dolls are not as well painted and bisque is not the same quality. One detail that alerts us to the difference is low painting of nostril color, which makes the doll appear as if it has a bloody nose.

We now know that Aristide M. Halopeau is the maker of the doll incised with the block H and size number. Heads are extremely scarce, are exceptionally beautiful, and both heads and bodies are the highest quality. These dolls are a collector’s dream.

We have tracked down the sizes known to collector’s.
Size 0 = 16”
Size 1 = 18”
Size 2 = 20”
Size 3 = 22”
Size 4 = 24”
Size 5 = 27”
There may be larger sizes, but it is doubtful there is a size below 0.

Markings on the heads are located in the same place on each head and done with the same block letters. Sometimes the mark is lightly impressed, and other times it is impressed deeply. The size number comes first followed by the letter H.

The doll making company was in existence before 1890 because all the heads are pressed, not poured porcelain. After 1890 almost all doll-making companies poured porcelain into molds. The quality bisque, the fine paperweight eyes and the beautiful craftsmanship of wood bodies indicate these were at the height of doll-making era. Halopeau could not compete with the other French Firms and in 1889, his business collapsed. The company’s short existence explains the limited supply of H dolls that are in circulation today.

Identifying H-Dolls: The face of an H doll is rather square. Eyes are paperweight sometimes with threading. The H and the number are incised just under the rim of the head.

Illustration 12: The H-dolls are of the highest quality and the H1 is a fine example of Halopeau’s fabulous work. Her brows have a light brown shadow brow with lighter feathering on top. The charcoal lashes are finely painted, the eye cuts are black rimmed inside and her eyes are glass blue paperweight. The accented mouth is shaded and the perfect bisque is blushed low on the cheeks with a little on the chin. A light mauve shadows only the eyelids. This rare doll was made in the 1880’s.

Illustration 13: 22” 3H - She is perfection plus. Her dramatically large blue eyes will captivate any audience. Her lids are blushed with mauve and her finely painted eyelashes come from a black lined eye cuts. Her soft, two-toned eyebrows are very finely feathered and the mouth is well sculpted and painted. The lips are accented with a darker tone and a white space in between. Her chin and cheeks are blushed to perfection. This doll was sold at a Theriault’s auction on Jan. 6, 1990 for a record-breaking $100,000; at that time, the highest auction price ever paid for a doll in the United States.

Illustration 14: 24” 4H – Her eyebrows have a darker shadow brown and an overlay of fine, lighter brown brow strokes. The eye cuts are lined in black and charcoal gray eyelashes encircle the deep dark blue paperweight eyes. Her accented lips have a somewhat darker color between them. There is a light mauve shadow form the eyes to the eyebrows.

Illustration 15: 27” 5H - She is beauty personified! Her cheeks were blushed on the outside plumpness and there is only a little blush on her chin. Mauve was blushed above her deep blue paperweight eyes. The eye cuts are lined in black and encircled with black eyelashes. The mouth is molded with slightly parted lips and were finely painted and accented. The brows are a darker shadow brow overlaid with many lighter strokes.

Jullien
Jullien dolls, made in Paris from 1863 to 1904, are not plentiful. These dolls are nice to have to complete a French collection, but they do not have a face that you will love at first sight.

The Jullien body was made of hollow wood and advertised as being the most solid, lightest body for a doll. Dolls were well made with wood hands that had thin, separated fingers. All Jullien dolls are marked with the name Jullien on the neck, along with a size number. Some later ones had walking mechanisms, talking mechanisms, and sleep eyes.