Sweet Caroline

Caroline's coat and hat

Caroline Kennedy was just such a cutie as a little girl, Neil Diamond wrote a song about her and Madame Alexander sculpted a doll in her image. In fact,  in 1961 the Alexander made this Caroline doll, a Jacqueline doll, and a John Jon doll who used the Caroline sculpt with short hair. Madame Alexander had a long tradition of making dolls in the image of royalty, such as Princess and then Queen Elizabeth, so why not America's "royal" first family? The company didn't have permission to make the dolls, however, and the Kennedys objected, so the Kennedy family dolls were produced for a very short time and are now extremely rare.

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It's too bad, because the Caroline face and toddler body sculpt is just precious. She's a perfect play doll. She's sized just right for little hands, at 14 inches, and the soft vinyl is nice to hold. Her chubby frame is poseable and easy to dress. In that spirit, I put together an entire wardrobe for Caroline. I hope a new little mommy will enjoy dressing and loving her.

Caroline wears an untagged, factory-made sundress.

Caroline is a toddler-style, 14 inch doll.

This little Caroline comes with a summer sundress, a coordinating swing coat and poke hat, a very full day dress, panties, a flannel nightgown, and new unused vintage shoes. All these are at least 50 years old and show their age with spots here and there. I've repaired any holes or thin spots and cleaned everything.

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Caroline is marked in her back and neck.

Caroline's hair had some issues, and at first I worried it had been cut. After washing it, treating it for softness and shine, and giving it a new set, I don't think it was cut. I think the ends are dry and have some breakage. I've gotten it as soft and shiny as possible, and Caroline is still very cute.

This is a Madame Alexander dress, probably for a baby doll.

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The print has washed off the tag.

Caroline's cheek paint was rubbed off in spots, so I refreshed it with artists' acrylic paint and then sealed it with matte varnish. I use acrylic paint on vinyl dolls and oil paint on hard plastic dolls. Caroline is so adorable with her rosy cheeks and big dimples!

Caroline's nightie

The doll has refreshed cheek paint.

Besides Caroline, I finished an unusual Ginger doll today. Her face paint is very pale, but looks factory-painted, and her hair is extremely light blond. I've never seen a Ginger like this except in doll book photos. Ginger's hair looked fine, but I noticed when I washed it that it has a center stitched part, which is usually only found on wigs with braided pigtails. So, I'm not sure if the hair was cut or what. I styled it in Ginger's signature roll, and now it looks pretty. There is slight glue residue on on side of her face.

A Ginger doll

I've had a really productive weekend and have tons of stuff listed right now, including the dolls shown here, so please make sure to check my store: http://stores.ebay.com/atelier-mandaline.

This doll has unusual pale paint and hair.