Beautiful Nancy Ann

Beauty #156 by Nancy Ann

Nancy Ann Storybook dolls, perinially popular from the 1930s on, very often appear in the big box lots of dolls and toys I buy to restore for my stores. Usually they are a mess, typically missing articles of clothing and sometimes even their hair or face paint. Occasionally I get lucky, however, as I did with today's doll.

The doll is fully jointed.

The Story Book mark

This doll was in terrific shape and wore a beautiful original dress with even the floral embellishments intact. She just needed a little cleaning up. Even when these dolls are perfect, however, it's hard to identify them if they don't have their original tag or box. Their clothes are remarkably similar and the dresses for each version vary widely from year to year. I initially thought she could be a bride minus her veil. None of the brides in my book have flowers at their waists, though. The bridesmaids do, but they don't wear white. She looked like a good candidate for Orange Blossom or maybe the Sabbath doll, but in the end I decided she is most likely Beauty of Beauty and the Beast, #156 in the Fairyland series. This plastic version would have been made in the mid-1950s.

A photo of Beauty from my Nancy Ann book.

My doll has a gorgeous crepe de chine gown with attached buckram crinoline and the doll in the photo has a tulle overskirt, but earlier variations of this doll have yellow taffeta dresses. The ribbon at the waist and floral cascade are nearly identical and the trim along the skirt is quite similar. The doll herself is identical, a brunette rather than a redhead or blond, which is a bit unusual in my experience. If Beauty had a hair ribbon at one time it's lost now, so I made her a new one and pinned it into her wig with a tiny white straight pin.

Beauty is all original except for her hair ribbon.

There is a faint spot along the hem.

There is an attached crinoline.

I made and pinned on the hair ribbon.

The dress is designed to fill a window box display.

Beauty really is a beautiful example of a Nancy Ann doll! She's jointed at her neck, arms, and hips and all her joints move. Her black sleep eyes work perfectly. I tagged her with my own tag so she looks wonderful for gifting. Right now I have lots of Nancy Ann and other dolls in my eBay and Etsy stores and the eBay Atelier Mandaline branch has an Auction Event sale going on so I hope you'll check!