THERE ARE NO HARD FACE CANADIAN CHATTY'S!!!~~~NO CHATTY CATHY'S~~NO CHATTY BABY'S~~NO TINY CHATTY BABY'S~~~

BELOW ARE SOME OF THE QUESTIONS I HAVE ANSWERED FOR PEOPLE~

Q.~Just wondering what is the difference between the dolls that are made in Canada and the ones made in the US? Hard face, soft face? Also, why do some dolls have a soft cover over the speaker, and others a hard hexagon one? Different years manufactured? When they say "Piggy" in discription, what does that mean? Her hair? Thanks!!!!!

A.~HI, I know what you are referring to. It does take some pratice to spot the differences. One of the difference's I go by-A Canadian doll on her right side will have the freckles sort of pointing down at the end.The American's will be pointing up.The freckles on the Canadian across the bridge of her nose the top two will be flowing downward to her left.The right top freckle will be higher.On the American dolls they are usually going more the other way or look sort of even.Some look at the eyebrows.There are differences there also.A Canadian is always a soft head.There are no Canadian hard head dolls.The Canadians usually have a different tint of lipstick.More of a peach color.There hair is quite coarse.The Pigtail versions do not have hair rooted all over the head.They will have a bald spot on both sides under the pigtail.I know a lot of people refer to the figure 8 freckle,but that can be deceving to some.All of the Canadian dolls have the peach limbs and they are a little different in texture and appearance.There are no Prototype Canadians.Mattel American dolls are the ONLY 1st Chatty.Canada did make #2,3,4 & 5 torso dolls.They do also have 3 eye type's.They can have either the decal,glassine or pinwheel eyes.There are other things to look for but these are a good start.~

~The early dolls The "American prototypes " have a cloth covered speaker.These are only American made Dolls.The Canadian's did not have a prototype.The # 2's Canadian and American have the cloth,The 3's Canadian and American have a circle but no cloth,,The 4's are a hexogon with two varitaions.The 5's have the hexogon with four holes underneath. The prototype's were in 1959 and the rest followed.There is a ton of information on these dolls to learn.If you want more information there are some very good books out there on these dolls. Yes the word Piggy referring to the dolls means the hair.

~~Of them all, which is the hardest to replace the box? THE PROTOTYPE'S,#2'S AND 3'2 ALL HAVE THE BLACK BOX INSIDE.ONCE YOU GET THE DOLL OPEN YOU THEN HAVE TO GET THE SEALED BLACK BOX OPEN.THESE ARE THE HARDEST TO REPAIR.~~DON'T FALL FOR THE LINE---"ANYONE CAN DO IT!"~~~THAT IS ABOUT AS FAR FROM THE TRUTH AS IT GET'S...YOU KNOW THE OLD SAYING IF IT LOOKS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE~ IT PROBABLY IS.~~IF YOU TREASURE YOUR DOLL ~ DO NOT DESTORY HER...HIRE SOMEONE WHO KNOW'S HOW.~~IT'S A SHAME TO SEE SO MANY OF THEM LAYING IN PIECES WITH KIT'S,BOOKS AND VIDEOS.~~RESTORING THESE DOLLS AND REPAIRING THE TALK BOX'S IS AN ART THAT TAKES TIME AND TALENT.~LOVE YOUR VINTAGE DOLL? FIX HER RIGHT.~~~

~~~ONE OTHER THOUGHT ~~ALL OF THE CHATTY'S WILL NEED REPAIR AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER.~~SOME DON'T LIKE TO HAVE THEM OPENED.~~THE THING IS IF YOU DON'T AT SOME POINT IN TIME...THE DREADED BELT INSIDE THE DOLL "DOES" DETERIORATE......IT WILL RUN....IT WILL GET INTO THE LIMBS AND EVERYTHING ELSE INSIDE YOUR DOLL..IT WILL SEAP INTO THE VINYL AND EVENTIALLY DESTORY THE DOLL.~~~JUST A THOUGHT....AND A FACT.

~~Q.~WHAT DO I HAVE?(PICTURES WERE SENT)

A.~Hi , You have a #3 torso Chatty from what I could see in the pictures. Is it a circle with out the material cover on the front? If so it is a black box Chatty. They are the hardest to get into and fix. The black boxes came in the prototype dolls,#2's and 3's...These are closed boxes. You have to cut them apart as well as the doll...There is a lot more to it then just replacing a O-ring and string. Then came the early #4's they were know as the transitional chatty's...They ususally have the faded limbs. They never talk worth a crap.They have a floating needle and the box is open and you can see it if you take the dolls head off.Very bad Idea of Mattel..They have a hexogon speaker design .Then came the late #4's they still have the hexogon speaker on the tummy,but will have like a solid spot in the middle of the speaker...A little better. Still a floating design that is open to the eye.They did add a plastic speaker to them . They sound much better and say 18 phrases. All of the earlier dolls said 11.The limbs are now made up of a different material and hold the color better. Unless they have tried to use up earlier parts..Mattel never through anything away...Some late 3's were given the new heads which were the hard heads..They have a tendency to shrink over time...(All of the broken eyes)...They used the hard heads for the #4's...Bob's and pigtail version. MOST All of these were actually given the decal eyes.Then last in the series were the #5's..They were the hexogon speaker with the four holes under it. They said 18 phrases. They really started using up and mixing parts then. They tried to use all of there best ideas.There were bob's,piggys and the longer version without the pigtail part. Some were soft face and some were hard face dolls. See never throw anything away..The #5 doll's say Pat'd in Canada on the back but they are not Canadian dolls. They also used the different eyes.The decals, The Glassines and the pinwheel. I have never actually found anything in the Mattel books that refer to the Canadians,but I do know how to recognize them.The  Canadian dolls are always a soft face doll. Never a hard face doll. I cannot honestly say when they started making them in Canada,but most everything actually came from Hawthorne,California...At least the torso's!! --The heads and the limbs are the only difference.I do know that they did not make any Prototype's!!...That's Chatty 101-

*****So you can tell what box is in the doll without removing the head..It takes an expert to fix the black box dolls and even then some of them have wore out records.

~~~CHATTY CATHY ORIGINAL  11 PHRASES~

1. Will you play with me?

2.I hurt myself!

3.Please brush my hair.

4.Let's play house.

5.Tell me a story.

6.I'm sleepy.

7.Where are we going?

8.Please change my dress.

9.Please carry me.

10. I'm hungry.

11.I love you. 

~~~THE LATE 4'S AND THE #5'S ARE THE ONLY ONES THAT SAY 18 PHRASES.

~~~THIS IS NOT EVERYTHING BUT MIGHT GIVE SOME OF YOU A BETTER IDEA OF WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING AT OR WHAT SOMEONE IS TRYING TO SELL YOU.

~~~GOOD LUCK AND HAPPY CHATTY HUNTING!

THIS IS A CANADIAN CHATTY WITH BLUE DECAL EYES.

THIS IS A CANADIAN WITH BLUE PINWHEEL EYES.THIS IS A AMERICAN RE-ROOT WITH BLUE DECAL EYES AND AMERICAN FRECKLES.HEAD ON THE LEFT IS A AMERICAN CHATTY SOFT FACE WITH REPLACED BLUE PINWHEEL EYES..~~HEAD ON RIGHT IS A CANADIAN RE-ROOT WITH ORIGINAL BLUE/GREEN PINWHEEL EYES.