Ginny, All Year Round

Ginny All Year Trunk Set

A few months ago I took advantage of being trapped in the car on the way to a band concert, luckily not driving for once, by bidding on a Ginny trunk full of dolls and clothes. I was thrilled to win. I scored this Ginny doll, her trunk, and most of the clothing shown here, as well as the Madame Alexander Wendy-kins from my Wendy's World Tour post and the little Ginger doll in the rust colored dress I wrote about in my Ginger's Giant Family post.

A lot of dolls and clothes from the 1950s.

Ginny needed a good cleaning and to have her arms re-strung, but the main problem was her head. It was attached very tightly to her walker shaft but was hovering above and behind her neck. I couldn't figure out what was going on. Thanks to the This Old Doll blog I was able to see a cross section of the Ginny walker mechanism. Comparing that to my doll, I realized a piece from inside the head was lost at some point and the original owner "fixed" it by jamming the hook of the walker shaft onto a bar inside the head. It was stuck on so well I couldn't budge it, so Jerry had to help me take the head off.

Ginny's head was not attached properly.

Once I had the head off I messed around with it for a while trying to figure out how to affix it properly. I tried to make a piece like the missing piece out of wire but wasn't successful. Finally I realized I could thread the walker shaft in between the eye bar and head bar with the head turned sideways and then turn the head to the front, pushing down, to re-attach the head.

I strung the head to the bar with elastic.

This worked well, except that the head is now turned slightly sideways when Ginny's legs are straight. The head still will turn as the doll "walks". However, if you move the legs too fast or turn the head to far, it would occasionally pop off the neck shaft. To fix this issue I strung the head from the bar to the neck shaft with elastic. The head will sometimes still come off the shaft but it won't fall all the way off now. To re-attach it, thread the hook of the neck shaft in between the two bars in the head as shown above. Then push down on the head gently while turning it to the front. You will feel it lock into place and when you move the legs the head will turn.

Sometimes the head still pops off the neck shaft and has to be pushed back down.

After I straightened out the head issue and cleaned Ginny up I had to fix a small split to her shoulder. Then I styled her hair in pretty braids, and it was time for the fun part: dressing her up!

Ginny's repaired shoulder split

Ginny has some faint brownish marks on her arms.

I pulled out all the clothing that was tagged Vogue to use for Ginny. The tagged pieces are the orange print dress and bloomers, probably from 1959, the pink gingham short dress or top with matching bloomers, a gingham skirt with white organdy overlay, the white plastic shoes, and the brown Ginny purse. The bloomers are not tagged but obviously go with the dresses.

Many pieces are tagged.

Then I picked out some untagged pieces to match Ginny's other things. There's a brown coat and hat set that looks handmade from some thick, boucle type material. Then there's a set that confuses me. There's a striped sundress with lace trim and an attached sheer apron that looks like it could be factory done. But then it has matching shorts and a jacket that are either handmade with far less skill. I don't know if the whole set was handmade or if maybe the shorts and jacket fell apart and someone tried to repair them or what. Looking at the pieces I collected, I decided to do a year 'round trunk set for Ginny.

Ginny's year 'round trunk set

I identified the trunk to 1957. I thought it was a 1955 trunk at first, but according to my Vogue book the company re-used the 1955 cardboard box for the trunk and put a 1957 label on it. The interior lining paper is also the same as the 1955 wardrobe trunk.

The trunk has wear to the interior and exterior

The trunk is #7862 from 1957

The interior has writing and wear.

One of Ginny's hangers is monogrammed. The rest are not.

Ginny loves to wear her orange dress and bloomers to school in the fall! It matches her big sister, Jill's dress #3218 of 1959! The dress needed a hook and eye closure in the back as the snap had pulled through. Ginny likes to carry her matching brown monogrammed purse to carry her lunch money to school.

This set is tagged Vogue.

When the cold weather comes Ginny stays warm in her Mommy-made swing coat and poke hat. This is well-made, with only a little fraying to the sleeve cuffs.

Ginny's Mommy-made coat

In the springtime, Ginny wears her gingham pink checked short sundress and matching bloomers. This had a little stain on the front so I added a grosgrain ribbon bow to cover it.

A tagged Vogue set.

For formal occasions, like Easter, Ginny can top the sundress with the coordinating gingham skirt with white organdy overlay.

This tagged skirt coordinates with the sundress.

When summer comes Ginny beats the heat in her striped sundress, which could be factory made or nicely handmade. She eats an ice cream bar and wears a vintage straw hat to help cool off.

When fall rolls around again, Ginny can add her matching Bermuda shorts and jacket to the dress for some extra warmth. These pieces look amateur compared to the dress. Maybe Mommy made the dress and her daughter practiced on the shorts and jacket.

No matter the season, Ginny can wear her lace-trimmed white petticoat for some extra volume under her dresses. This petticoat is untagged but is shown in the Vogue 1958 catalogue, which is included in this set, in a printed fabric variation.

Ginny's white petticoat.

The original Vogue catalogue from 1958 is included in the set.

The catalogue shows all Vogue dolls and clothing for 1958.

Ginny loves to take the train to visit Grandma. When she does, she packs everything in her Vogue cardboard suitcase from 1952.

What an adorable set this turned out to be! Ginny is a great play doll, since her walking issues and eyes, which stick open unless they are manually closed, keep her from her maximum value. Her clothes and accessories are so much fun for little mommies too!

Even with her issues, Ginny's value is still high simply because it is rare to find a Ginny dolls from the 1950s with a catalogue and so many of her tagged clothing intact, along with her trunk and suitcase, and even a monogrammed hanger! You can find Ginny and another Muffie trunk set from around the same time period in my store, so please make sure to check: http://stores.ebay.com/atelier-mandaline.

Ginny has beautiful blue eyes

Her knees bend well

Ginny can sit and stand alone.

Ginny is marked on her back.