This is the japanese parian, and the seller agreed to post my suggestion that is is a reproduction.
sorry, this picture was protected by ebay and this is the best I could do! This doll and the one below are both japanese reproductions. The blond has horrible amateurish painting and the blush is running wildly.
Lately there has been a rash of repro china dolls, made and sold as repro china dolls in the 60's and 70's being sold now as genuine CIVIL WAR ERA antiques. Here are a few on eBay now that are just plain hideously ugly.
260531416760
blond china head
this one has been put on an old body!
250555133040
black haired china
Seller claims it is early and old and all original!
330391138793
parian head
the parian seller is honest, she didn't know anything about the doll
When notified the honest ones post the truth, and the dishonest start saying bull-O-ney about how rare their doll is. They havent got a CLUE as to what they have, and if they do, then shame on them!!
These folks need to buy this book, or anyone who needs to know what is a real china.
Identifying German Chinas: 1840s-1930s (Hardcover - Jan 2004)
by Mary Gorham Krombholz (Author)
Here is another one, probably earlier, with very crisp modeling, but it is still a Japanese doll:
320470021761
blond china head, better quality
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This black haired china below is a genuine and all original German antique:
This doll above, in the private collection of a friend who is a serious and studious collector, has her original body, and is a very likely doll the Japanese were copying. She is circa 1860-70. Notice the similar hair style. But look at the differences in how the lips and eyes are painted. The Japanese dolls (shown above these 2 dolls and below) have huge thick lips. There seems to be some dolls that were owned by collectors in the 1970's that claimed to have owned these dolls in the 1930's, as there is a record from a doll collecting club. However, other club members at that time stated the dolls were from the 1960's. I myself recall when these dolls were sold by Sears or Montgomery wards catalogs.
Now look at this doll, on ebay, sold as a head only:
Sharon, another astute collector says: those red corner eye dots look too large. None of my dolls have such large corner eye dots. And look my friends, Sharon is right, they are overdone.
Edyth O'Neill, longtime dealer and collector and author says:
"This doll is absolutely Japanese, 20 th century. There was a blond one too. It comes in parian as well as china. That is to say unglazed and glazed, black hair and blond. There was at one time an article on ebay about china dolls showing this one and the other smaller common one wih the pierced ears, that also comes in all 4 finishes. I learned to identify them way back in the mid 1950's, so they predate that time. I hate to see would be new collectors decieved and turned off the hobby. "Edyth
And further, fellow collector Lee, who only collects china head dolls reports:
"Pam, the title is Heart's of Ohio Doll Club presents China Heads, compiled by Martha Cramer. It was published in 1971.
On pg.77 are shown two china heads, one blonde, one black-haired. They are very similar to the dolls being discussed. The caption: "these heads, too, we think are Japanese. We know that dolls of this size and hair s-t-y-l-e were being made quite recently in Japan. They were sold in the 1960's. The painting does not look old. However, the owner says she has had one of these heads since 1934." Lee
Update 01-16-10
A doll correctly identified on Ruby Lane, this doll is obviously from the same mold as the above blonde but this one has poorer painting, and is most likely a 70's version of the doll. Sellers often remove the body since it is more obvious as a reproduction. I want to contact this seller since she is honest, and find out if she has a document containing information to identify these dolls.
