Before you purchase a Vintage Annalee Doll you should ask the seller the following:

• Are there any Moth holes or nibbles? Check the creases and under the clothing. If there are any small holes you will see the white stuffing. Nibbles will look like small craters.

• Silverfish do the same damage as moths but they will make a path in the felt as they eat.

• Is there any Rips or Tears? Check for loose stitching or areas where the wire has poked out through the feet or hands.

Check the legs on the Deer and Giraffe because in most cases you can see the metal color through the felt that has weaken over the years. Be very careful bending the legs on the vintage animals you might poke the metal through the felt.

If the hands, mittens, feet or boots have any loose stitching I take tweezers and very careful pull the thread to tighten it - then pour some krazy glue on a piece of paper - take a wood toothpick and dab it in the glue - then touch the thread on the felt very careful! This will keep the stitching from coming loose again - trim the excess thread off.

• Is there any Fading or shelf dust? Check the creases and under the clothing. Compare the areas that have never been exposed to the areas that have been. Be sure to compare both the front and the back of the doll. Exposure to sun, cigarette smoke, and to dampness can often cause damage to the doll.

• Ask the seller to look for any glue on the hands or body. This might indicate the doll is missing an accessory. I found most of the Christmas Dolls were missing the burlap or green sack or a small Christmas present (cardboard box)

CLEANING

Dolls which have become dusty or lightly soiled may be cleaned simply, by using cloth which has been dampened with a product such as 409 or Fantastic.
Lightly apply pressure to the doll, and RUB GENTLY to remove the dirt. 

       Santa on Reindeer and Mrs. Santa were my fist purchases when  I lived in New Jersey

1976 18" Santa & Reindeer                1979 18" Mrs. Santa                     1981 16" Monk


RED Felt               All Reindeer through 1979 have RED Noses
BLACK Felt         1980's have BLACK Noses
BLACK Painted   nose on the reindeer indicates 1990's (brown felt antlers)
Wide Face Deer    Tan and Green Antlers are from the 1960's FIRST PRODUCTIONS    VERY RARE!


1988 18" Snowman                         1989 12" Drummer Boy                


1992 Angel on Moon (ebay)         1992 Santa on Moon (ebay)
                                                   
                                                     

1981  18" Gnome                          1979 30" Gnome



       1971 Fabric Wreath
   with original Red Ribbon!
   RARE!   Value $495.00

Identification of Annalee Mobilitee LABELS!

When Annalee first designed her dolls for sale in the mid-1950's. The early production of sales were miniscule and not subject to label identification which, in those days, were vague or non-existent!
The first professional labels-always RED LETTERING on WHITE-were attached to the dolls in the 1950s.

They were fabric and carried the company's name and the DATE of COPYRIGHT for the dolls head or body. They DID NOT identify the actual year of manufacture!  The SECOND DATE, if there is one on the label, indicates the year that the artwork, the head and or body were redesigned by Annalee!

I was not until 1986 that the manufacturing year was added!

Identification of early dolls must be done through early catalogs and Annalee  or Chips memory!

Because catalogs were not printed prior to 1975, you would have to rely on wholesale orders which lack detailed descriptions. There are few production records prior to 1964! and even at that time, the information was sketchy.
A doll listed as a 7" Angel might have carried a horn as an accessory in 1964, a sling shot in 1965 or a star in 1966.

In the late 1960s, labels were made of WHITE FABRIC with EMBROIDERED RED LETTERING.
It measured 1/2" x 7/8" and were sewn in the seam. In the early 1970s the company introduced a SATIN-LIKE RIBBON the same size that was glued in position.  Gluing only lasted for a brief time.

In 1976 the company switched to a FOLDED LABEL it measured  1/2" x 4" Tyvek labels  carried the company copyright information on one side and the doll's contents on the reverse side.

The contents were either   Cotton string  -  Cotton string and acetate  -  Cotton string and styrofoam         Cotton string & shredded polyurethane  -  Shredded polyurethane - Shredded polyurethane & polyester fiber.

Identification of Annalee Mobilitee FABRIC!

Fabric is on of the most dependable ways of identifying the year that an Annallee Doll was made. Starting in 1971 Annalee purchased fabric by the yard and are all shown in  bright clear colors in VOLUME I in the Annalee Collector’s Information Guide. Prior to 1971 Annalee use some pieces of fabric from her own dresses and sometimes a swatch from her husband’s or sons’ shirts! This can be some help for if the fabric cannot be identified on the color pages in Volume I (1988)

I have the Collectors information guide VOLUME I dated 1988

and several catalogs from the 1990s

Check out my other GUIDES on the Annalee Christmas Dolls!

If this GUIDE helped you

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