My favorite Cissette

This Cissette was not as much a project doll as some of the others in my collection. I didn't have to restyle her hair, and she didn't have any unsightly damage. On the contrary, her hair, face paint, and dress were virtually perfect from the day I won her on eBay.

One of the reasons this doll is my favorite is because of her dress. I like the cotton dress in light blue floral stripe, with its cute little rhinestone accents and light blue ribbon sash, better than any other Cissette dress I've seen. So even though the dress was the only thing she wore when I bought her, my goal was to eventually complete her.

And I have managed to do so. I was able to find a pair of original Cissette stockings from a local dealer at a doll show here in Denver. Through eBay, I found a seller who was able to supply me with a number of Cissette panties and slips — and of course, the best pair went on this doll. By getting her Cissette strappy sandals one at a time, I was able to get them for about $15 total — a real steal when it comes to these tiny, hard-to-find shoes.

Although the original owner of the doll said that the dress was original, it seems that might not be exactly true. The lovely ladies in the "JustCissette" Yahoo! group I belong to tell me that this is a boxed dress from 1961, which was sold in a number of different fabrics, and usually without a hat. Since my doll has the triple-stitched wig that dates her to 1957 or 1958, she actually predates the dress by several years.

Supposedly, all this information is contained in a Cissette reference book by Marjorie Merod. I will definitely have to look into adding it to my collection of doll reference books!

How to date vintage Madame Alexander Cissette dolls

I've blogged recently about a couple of my Madame Alexander Cissette dolls: my white ballerina, and a redhead with a fancy hairdo that I partially restored. I also mentioned the triple-stitched wig part a couple of times, which dates a Cissette doll to 1957 or 1958.

In this post, I want to explain the rest of the ways to date a vintage Cissette doll. When I say "vintage," I mean dolls that were made between 1957 (when the doll was first introduced) and 1963. Cissette's mold was also used for the Portrette dolls, which were made between 1968 and 1973.

Madame Alexander still uses the mold in her modern dolls, but the plastic is pretty different than what was used in the 1950s and 1960s. A doll collector who is familiar with both vintage and modern Cissettes should be able to tell the difference pretty easily: The plastic is lighter and cheaper, and the face paint tends to be more gaudy.

Cissette dolls all have high-heeled feet and jointed knees, except for the Sleeping Beauty doll of 1959 — she has flat feet and no knee joints.

The most sought-after Cissette dolls are the 1957 and 1958 dolls. If a Cissette has the standard hairdo (like my ballerina), you can date her by the stitching down the part in her wig: In 1957 and 1958, they used triple-stitched parts, and in 1959 they switched to a simple zigzag stitch. Cissette dolls with fancier hairdos and a triple-stitched part were made between 1961 and 1962.

Fingernail paint can also date a Cissette doll, as it was only used between 1962 and 1963.

Finally, a Cissette doll's eyelids can also date a doll. Between 1957 and 1963, Cissette had either beige or pale pink eyelids; only Jacqueline and Margot had blue eyeshadow, and both of those dolls have very distinctive hairdos. (For an example, see the pictures of my Margot.) Portrettes, which aren't as desireable, also had blue eyeshadow.

All of the above information on dating Cissette dolls comes from Linda Crowsey's 2008 Madame Alexander price guide.

eBay versus Craigslist

I saw an article today about the war between eBay and Craigslist. For those of you who don't know, eBay is the most popular online bidding site, and an excellent place to buy and sell dolls — if you don't mind putting up with eBay's high fees (for sellers) and general disinclination to get involved in disputes.

Craigslist, on the other hand, is a network of community websites (one for each major city in the United States) where local sellers can post ads for free. Although I haven't found many good vintage dolls listed for sale on Denver's Craigslist, I've heard of people getting great deals on Craigslist in other locations.

Of course, Craigslist technically threatens eBay's very existance, because it's a free way to sell things online. (My mom now sells almost exclusively on Craigslist. It takes a little longer, but she doesn't pay any listing fees.)

A few years ago, eBay bought a little over a quarter of Craigslist's stock from a former employee, and now they're apparently trying to bring Craigslist down completely: They are suing on the grounds that Craigslist is "trying to dilute its stake to reduce its potential influence over the company's board," but it sounds like eBay is actually trying to strong-arm Craigslist's owners into selling the company to them.

Regardless of whether I continue to shop on eBay or not, I hope that they don't succeed in acquiring Craigslist. One of the great things about Craigslist is how unconcerned they are with maximizing profits — and since profits seems to be all eBay cares about, they're bound to destroy the anti-establishment spirit of Craigslist!

Arranbee Nanette: My lucky find

Having an eye for orphans — and knowing where to look to find them — can really help you to find some good deals in vintage dolls.

For example, I used to search the hard plastic category on eBay pretty regularly. One day I found a 14-inch hard plastic doll in a dress I didn't know, with really wild blond hair and no shoes or socks. I was pretty sure she was an Arranbee (also written as R&B) Nanette or Nancy Lee, but I didn't know anything else about her. I bid on her — and won her for about $25.

As often happens with these kinds of dolls, once I have them in my hands I can see more clearly what needs to be done in order to restore them to their original beauty. This doll was indeed an Arranbee Nanette or Nancy Lee (can't tell which without the hang tag), and I had a feeling her clothing was original: a blue and white dress with a matching blue organdy apron, and white cotton panties fastened in back with a little safety pin.

Amazingly, considering her obviously played-with condition, she didn't need to be restrung — but she and her clothing were both rather dirty. I cleaned her body with a good doll cleaner, and was delighted to discover beautiful pink blush on her cheeks and knees!

Next, I soaked her dress and apron in cold water with a scoop of Biz in it (a detergent that will not remove the sizing, or factory stiffness, from vintage doll clothing), rinsed the clothing thoroughly, and arranged it on an upside-down bowl to try (so that the skirt would dry full).

To my surprise, when the dress and apron dried, I found both had retained the original sizing, making the organdy nice and crisp (instead of limp and fragile). I had recently bought another 14-inch hard plastic doll who was wearing a pair of navy blue oilcloth side-snap shoes that didn't belong to her, so I put them on Nanette with a pair of vintage rayon socks.

Her outfit now clean and complete, all I still needed to do was fix her rat's nest of a wig. I discovered a stitched center part that went all the way down the back of her head, indicating that she was supposed to have pigtail braids. I carefully detangled her hair as much as possible (being careful not to pull any of it out of the wig), and was able to work it into two braids. I did this without wetting the hair down or conditioning it, so while it is still a little tangled and frizzy, it still has some of the waves from the original factory set.

I later was able to confirm that my Arranbee doll's outfit is original. She may be missing a straw hat, and I need to find vintage blue ribbons to tie on the end of her braids — but otherwise, she is a wonderful example of an early Arranbee hard plastic doll, and a remarkable deal for only $25!

Perfect Polly Pigtails

Recently I blogged about my Polly Pigtails — a project doll I fully restored, from restringing to carefully cleaning her clothing and body.

Although the story of my Polly Pigtails shows the enjoyment you can have (and the miracles you can work) when you know how to restring and repair dolls, there is probably also a lot to be said for buying dolls you don't have to work on.

Take, for example, this Polly Pigtails from Lia Sargent's catalogs. She has the same outfit as mine, except that she has the blue ribbons for accent (mine has a yellow waist ribbon to match her dress, and is missing her hair and hat ribbons).

The differences are pretty obvious: perfect hair, unstained dress, hat with no chips, vivid cheek color instead of mine's pale face, etc. This doll is a pristine example of one of Madame Alexander's most adorable dolls — and her perfect condition is reflected in the price ($1,750).

For some people, buying a single doll for nearly two grand might be an option, but it's not for me. That's why I appreciate my hundred-dollar Polly Pigtails, even if she isn't perfect. At least I have the pleasure of knowing that I "saved" her!

Possible correction on my Cissette ballerina

In my post on dating Elise ballerinas, I mentioned that I suspected Cissette ballerinas might have followed the same schedule. While the gold ballerina was definitely 1959 only for Cissette as well as Elise, it appears that the same might not be true for other colors of Cissette ballerinas.

Lia Sargent has two white Cissette ballerinas in her catalogs: a blond and a brunette. She lists both of them as #914 from 1957.

My white Cissette ballerina has the same hairstyle and earrings as Ms. Sargent's dolls, but her tutu and flowers are different. Still, this seems to indicate that the color of Cissette's tutu did not necessarily match Elise's every year.

Regardless, my Cissette is definitely from 1957 or 1958, as she has the triple-stitched wig.

Alice's horrific hair

Last time I blogged about my Alice in Wonderland project doll, which I was lucky enough to be able to complete.

Unfortunately, as you may have noticed, her hair is pretty horrific. (Not a surprise, since she came from the same collection as Snow White, and that doll's hair was quite played-with as well.)

I think what happened is that someone (probably some kid) tried to tighten her pigtails by pulling half one way and half the other, the way you tighten your ponytail when you're a kid. Unfortunately, this tightened one more than the other, and looks to have frizzed or teased the hair a little bit.

I did attempt once to restyle the hair without fixing the pigtails, which is why it is smooth in back. That's also why it's kind of stiff looking with an awkward (and incorrect) flip. Now that I've learned somewhat more about restyling dolls' hair, I'm obviously going to have to restyle Alice's hair again — and this time, I'm going to redo the entire thing, pigtails and all.

To see what Alice's hair should look like, check out the Alice in Wonderland in Lia Sargent's catalog. Her hair is amazing (as is everything else about her)! Hopefully I can copy the original style closely enough in my doll's hair!