Doe and Hope

Description

The mid nineteenth century American polychrome painted doll with pressed hide shoulder head with moulded black hair and collared blouse, remains of paint finish, stuffed body and pink spotted cotton dress.

The condition of the doll is hugely evocative of her life thus far and as such she has knocks, chips and losses to the painted finish making her very decorative with the tip of the nose predictably lacking. The costume is seemingly original and remains in good overall condition and there are no damages to note aside from some fritting and small tears to the shoulder regions. There is an old paper label pinned to the inner dress reading ‘darrow rawhide head doll made c.1866’.

Created by American doll maker Franklin Elyah Darrow of Bristol, Connecticut, Darrow rawhide dolls were made of leftovers from Darrows whip and leather goods business. The leather for the dolls' heads was pressed in mold, but the dolls were glued together, not sewed. He obtained his patent May 1, 1866. Leather dolls are interesting and well worth collecting, especially the rare Darrow rawhide varieties.

A very decorative example of a sought after doll.