Some of the most well known German doll makers are Kestner, Simon and Halbig, Kammer and Rienhart, Armand Marseille, Heubach. Some of the companies made only heads, some made only bodies.
JD Kestner is considered King of
the German Doll Makers. The company produced dolls from 1820 to 1938.
The early Kestners are marked with X, XI or with a mold or size number.
Later dolls are marked with "Made in Germany." Kestner’s dolls were
put on leather, composition or wooden bodies. They produced a wide
range of dolls including shoulder heads, turned heads, socket heads.
Kestner eyes varied as much as the head styles. The eyes were either
painted, set glass, glass sleep eyes, or googly eyes. Mouths were either
open, open closed, or closed. Kestner is well known for his Hilda,
character babies and Googlies.
Armand Marseille is another well known German dollmaker, but this company made only doll heads and then sent them to other companies for completion. The Armand Marseille company did not make any bodies. This adds to the confusion of trying to date and identify AMs because their bodies were produced by a number of different companines.
Heubach was known for their character babies, which were introduced in 1908. Because the Heubach company made character babies, they have a wide variety of dolls including dolls having tantrums, smiling dolls, crying dolls and screaming dolls. Many of their dolls have intaglio eyes and molded hair.
These are just a very few of the
German doll makers that produced fine bisque dolls in the late 1800's and
early 1900's. For more information on these wonderful creations,
see Books and Reference
materials.