Pleasant Rowland, the founder of Pleasant Company and creator of the very popular American Girl dolls, must have known that her dolls would be cherished --- not only by little girls everywhere, but by collectors as well.  Shortly after starting Pleasant Company in the Fall of 1986, Ms. Rowland began autographing (signing) the torsos of the first three historical dolls. 

    These signed dolls are very valuable and occasionally come up for auction on e-bay.  However, we should all be aware of possible frauds or counterfeits.  The intention of this guide is to share information about signed dolls (particularly the sequence numbers and years signed) to help potential buyers avoid purchasing a counterfeit doll.  The information provided is based on signed dolls that I own as well as information gathered from owners of other signed dolls.  Additional information was gathered from Pleasant Company catalogs dated 1986 through 1988 (originally, Pleasant Company was a mail-order only business) and from conversations with former Pleasant Company employees.  The signed dolls used to prepare this guide have certificates of authenticity so I am confident that the information I am providing is accurate.

Certificate of Authenticity signed Samantha #59

 Signed Kirsten, Samantha and Molly dolls were offered for sale in October of 1986 for $95. At that time, the basic unsigned 18" doll with hardcover "Meet" book cost $75, or $68 with the softcover book.  The signed dolls also came with a corresponding certificate of authenticity  (embossed and also signed by Ms. Rowland), a hardcover copy of the Meet book, and a doll box with a numbered heart sticker on the end.  The Meet books accompanying the first 500 signed Molly, Kirsten and Samantha dolls came with an added bonus---author signatures. Please note however, that the books were not necessarily signed during the same month that the dolls were. 

    Meet Samantha, signed by author Susan Adler in August of 1986

 Because Pleasant Rowland signed the dolls at different times over several years, there are differences in the signature sizes, dates, etc.  Below are several photos of the doll torsos, to show some of these differences.  It should be noted that any dolls signed in 1986 indicate the month in addition to the year.  In 1987 it appears that Ms. Rowland dropped the month and began adding only the year in which the doll was signed. 

I do not know exactly how many dolls were signed in 1986 verses 1987.   However, the highest numbered Samantha I have seen signed in 1986 (Dec) is in the 800s,  the highest numbered Kirsten I have seen signed in 1986 (Dec) is in the high 400s, and the highest numbered Molly I have seen signed in 1986 (Dec) is in the high 300s.   How is this information useful?  Well, for starters, if someone tries to sell a doll with numbers lower than these and with the year 1987, then the doll would be a counterfeit--- Ms Rowland would not have signed the dolls out of sequence.  Certainly, the numbers could have gone higher than these in 1986.  Many dolls I have seen from 1987, have been in the 1000's and 2000's (although it appears that Kirsten dolls as low as the 520 were signed in 1987).  Also, some Molly, Samantha and Kirsten dolls signed in 1987 also had the doll's name written on the torso--- similar to the signed Felicity doll pictured above.

     It is believed that Pleasant Rowland sequentially signed a total of 2500 Molly, Kirsten and Samantha dolls.  To the best of my knowledge, all of these were signed in 1986 and 1987 and all are white bodied dolls with flat, ribboned neck strings (for more information on body colors and neckstrings, see my guide Collectible American Girl Dolls: An Insider's Guide ).  Beginning in 1988, signed dolls were no longer offered for sale through the catalogs).   In 1991, 500 (tan bodied) Felicity dolls were signed and in 1993, 500 (dark bodied) Addy dolls were signed.   As recently as 2005, some of the 1991 signed Felicity dolls were still available for sale through American Girl Place.  These signed dolls were sold as Collector dolls and cost $500 each.  Of the five characters, signed Addy dolls seem to be the most rare (in terms of availability on e-bay).   I have never seen a signed Josefina doll or signed American Girl of Today doll.  However, those were the only other dolls created while Ms. Rowland was still in charge of Pleasant Company.

     In addition to these sequentially signed dolls, Ms. Rowland also signed some dolls at employee functions.  In such cases, employees brought a doll to the event and Ms. Rowland signed it on site.  In other situations, Ms. Rowland signed dolls for a specific person.  In these cases, the person's name was sometimes written on the doll in addition to Ms. Rowland's signature and the year in which is was signed (e.g. To Suzie, Pleasant T. Rowland, 1996).  These dolls do not have accompanying certificates of authenticity and were not numbered.  Because any of these dolls could have been signed after 1991, the cloth bodies could be tan.

    Because these dolls can be pricey, it is important that you do your homework before placing a bid when a signed doll comes up at auction.  Ideally, the doll should have a certificate of authenticity (COA) that matches the sequence number on the doll. It seems however, that many of these certificates were misplaced over the years.  If the COA is not available, be sure to ask the seller as much as possible about how they obtained the doll AND use this guide as a reference to compare the sequence numbers.  If the number seems to be out of sequence, don't buy the doll.

     If you own an authentic, signed American Girl doll and would like to share information on the sequence number and year, please contact me and I will update the numbers presented in this guide.  Also, if this guide has been helpful, please be sure to click on "YES" below.

Looking for more information on American Girl and Pleasant Company?  You can click on the links below to go to my other guides.

Collectible American Girl Dolls: An Insider's Guide

American Girl Doll Felicity: Then & Now

 American Girl/Pleasant Co HISTORICAL Boxes 1986 - 2008

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