Closing Prices for Lenci Dolls on Jan 14 Theriaults auction

Posted on by
Reply

This was the live proxibid auction of Theriaults "Other People's Lives" - Session II, Antique Dolls on Saturday, January 14, 2012. The highest price of this selection went to lot 399 a very rare ethnic doll "Hottentot" from the mid 1920's in great condition with original outfit and accessories, closely followed by a rare googly, autumn from the seasons collection of 1931. The Pola Negri doll with silk hair in a white dress with felt trimmings that was attributed to Lenci  - in my opinion it looks more like a  Perotti of Brazil  - it sold for $4,000. Joao Perotti was a former Lenci worker that started his own company in Brazil and made dolls using molded felt similar to the Lenci dolls, but using cheaper materials like the silk hair, and usually they are dressed in spanish costume and their felt trimmings often use zig zag edging (which is rarely seen in Lenci dolls)  like the flower in the hair of this doll.

Rare Italian Brown Felt Character Doll by Lenci with Original Costume and Jewelry 1200/1700

Lot # 399

16" (41 cm.) Slender girl of reddish/brown felt with swivel head, elongated throat, pressed and painted facial features, brown side-glancing eyes, white eyedots, dot brow...more

Sold for: $7,750.00

Extremely Rare and Wonderful Italian Felt Googly by Lenci Known as "Autumn" 3000/4000

Lot # 242

19" (48 cm.) Felt swivel head with pressed and painted facial features, large round googly eyes in brown painted downcast expression, outlined eyes with curly lashes, sli...more

Sold for: $7,500.00

Rare Italian Felt Doll by Lenci, Inspired by Mary Pickford, from "Poupées Salon" Series 2500/3500

Lot # 238

28" (71 cm.) One-piece felt head and torso with refined slender shape and pose, her head inclined to the right with uptilted chin, side-glancing blue eyes in defined eye ...more

Sold for: $6,750.00

Italian Felt Character Doll Portraying Josephine Baker by Lenci 5000/7000

Lot # 401

18" (46 cm.) Plumply-shaped light brown wool felt swivel head with pressed and painted facial features, brown side-glancing painted eyes with white eyedots, curly lashes,...more

Sold for: $6,500.00

Early and Very Rare Italian Felt Spanish Lady by Lenci with Superb Costume and Painted Teeth 2000/30

Lot # 235

29" (74 cm.) Felt swivel head with elongated strong throat, head positioned to look sideways, strongly-modeled facial features, brown side-glancing eyes with black upper ...more

Sold for: $6,250.00

The Rare Italian Cloth Portrait Doll by Lenci Depicting Valentino as "The Sheik" 4000/6500

Lot # 237

30" (76 cm.) Felt swivel head with firmly-pressed and painted facial features, strongly-defined cheeks, jaw and nose structure, painted brown side-glancing eyes, painted ...more

Sold for: $5,750.00

Wonderful Italian Felt Doll Depicting Actress Pola Negri by Lenci 2000/3000

Lot # 236

29" (74 cm.) Felt swivel head with very elongated strong throat, oval-shaped face with pressed and painted facial features, brown-side-glancing eyes with brown encircling...more

Sold for: $4,000.00

Rare Italian Felt "Bellhop Googly" by Lenci, Model 563 from 1928 Catalog 1200/2000

Lot # 330

23" (58 cm.) Felt swivel head with pressed and painted facial features, very chubby cheeks, large shaded-blue side-glancing eyes with pronounced white accent dots, grey e...more

Sold for: $4,000.00

An All-Original Italian Felt Character Girl, 109 Model, by Lenci 1200/1700

Lot # 334

23" (58 cm.) Felt swivel head with pressed and painted facial features, brown side-glancing eyes, dark upper eyeliner with painted curly lashes, white eyedots, grey lower...more

Sold for: $3,200.00

Wonderful Italian Felt Sunflower Girl from Series 110 by Lenci 1100/1500

Lot # 332

18" (46 cm.) Felt swivel head with pressed and painted facial features, brown side-glancing eyes with pronounced shading and white accent dots, grey eye shadow, painted b...more

Sold for: $2,200.00

Italian Felt Character, Opium Smoker with Pipe, by Lenci 1500/1800

Lot # 400

11" (28 cm.) All-felt doll with plump swivel head, amber-tinted complexion, high domed forehead with high comma-shaped brows, modeled closed eyes, long painted lashes, cl...more

Sold for: $1,800.00

Early Italian Felt Doll by Lenci Depicting Spanish Lady with Wooden Fan 1200/1800

Lot # 236.1

24" (61 cm.) Felt swivel head with uptilted face on long slender neck, original darkened complexion, well-defined chin and cheek bones, painted facial features, side-glan...more

Sold for: $1,500.00

Italian Felt Glass-Eyed Googly Known as the Merry Widow by Lenci 1200/1700

Lot # 331

19" (48 cm.) Felt swivel head with firmly-pressed facial features, blue glass flirty googly eyes, long painted curly brown lashes, high arched brows, upturned rounded no...more

Sold for: $1,500.00

An All-Original Italian Felt Character Girl, 300 Series, by Lenci 900/1200

Lot # 333

17" (43 cm.) Felt swivel head with pressed and painted facial features, brown side-glancing eyes with grey lower eye shadow, painted brown curly lashes, accented nostrils...more

Sold for: $1,500.00

Italian Felt "Barefoot Winker" by Lenci in Original Costume, with Silver Lenci Button 1200/1500

Lot # 241

11" (28 cm.) Felt swivel head with pressed and painted facial features, eyes sculpted to appear as though he is winking with painted blue left eye nearly shut, paitned la...more

Sold for: $1,400.00

Two Italian Felt Miniature Dolls by Lenci in Original Matching Gowns 400/700

Lot # 239

8" (20 cm.) Each has felt swivel head with pressed and painted facial features, blue or brown side-glancing googly eyes, painted curly lashes, "O" shaped mouth, blonde mo...more

Sold for: $1,300.00

Two Italian Felt Miniature Dolls by Lenci 400/600

Lot # 402

8" (20 cm.) Each has felt head with pressed and painted facial features, painted googly-like eyes, long curly lashes, rounded nose, closed mouth with pouty lips, accente...more

Sold for: $1,300.00

Italian Felt Glass-Eyed Googly in Organdy Gown 1100/1500

Lot # 405

19" (48 cm.) Felt swivel head with pressed facial features, brown glass googly eyes with grey eye shadow and dramatic long curly painted brown lashes, slightly-modeled br...more

Sold for: $1,000.00

Two Italian Cloth Miniature Dolls by Lenci in Original Vibrant Costumes 400/700

Lot # 240

9" (23 cm.) Each has felt swivel head with pressed and painted facial features, brown side-glancing googly eyes, painted curly upper lashes, comma brows, accented nostril...more

Sold for: $950.00

Upcoming auctions: Rare Lenci dolls at auction Jan 14 2012

Posted on by
Reply

Lenci Collectors will be delighted to see rare Lenci dolls on the block at Proxibid online auction on Jan 14 2012

Among the listing is a rare Rudolf Valentino Lenci doll and Lenci Lady dolls, Lenci googlies, plus rare ethnic Lenci dolls such as the early Chinese Opium Smoker with pipe and two black Lenci dolls, the smaller black doll with grass skirt  and the Josephine Baker Lenci  seen in the 1926 Lenci catalog. You can see an original 1927 Lenci catalog picture of the Rudolf Valentino Lenci doll in the 1927 Lenci Catalog slide show in the Gallery section.

Click here for the Lenci items on Proxibid

Read about Josephine Baker Lenci doll : Celebrity Favorites: Josephine Baker

Beware of Fraudulent Lenci Auction Listing on eBay

Posted on by
Reply

I just had an email from Stefanie the owner of this rare Lenci Spanish Lady doll to tell me that her pictures are currenty being used by another seller on ebay  who does not have her doll  - and her doll is NOT for sale. I searched ebay and found an auction using her pictures and a copy of english part of her description  at eBay listing no 130619111628. I am assured by Stefanie that her doll is not for sale and the person using her pictures is using them without her permission. She has notified eBay about this issue.

Her original auction was at this link and that auction is now closed.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160664965846#ht_1682wt_1138

Rare Lenci Spanish Lady for sale on eBay

R JOHN WRIGHT auctions on eBay

Posted on by
Reply
R John Wright Flower Fairy - The Christmas Tree Fairy

R John Wright Flower Fairy - The Christmas Tree Fairy on eBay

Several rare and discontinued R JOHN WRIGHT creations are appearing on eBay in time for holiday shoppers to add to their collections. This week a cute white sleeping Christmas Dreams rabbit got a lot of attention.

R JOHN WRIGHT CHRISTMAS DREAMS WHITE RABBIT No 14 of 50 on eBay

Continue reading →

Black Anili Dolls on eBay

Posted on by
Reply

This time of the year usually turns up a few treats for Lenci collectors on eBay.  Many of you will already know that Anili is the daughter of Elena Scavini(Madame Lenci). When Madame Lenci sold her company to the Garella's in the early 1930's she stayed on as artistic director for a number of years, and then left the company. Her daughter Anili started a new company called Anili, they made felt dolls dolls under the Anili label. Madame Lenci herself was involved in the design of the dolls so they are of interest to Lenci collectors for this reason. Lenci was Elena Scavini's nickname, it is a diminutive of her original German name 'Helenchen'. When she sold the business she could no longer make dolls under the Lenci name. This week on eBay I see two black Anili dolls that I have not seen before from seller palm7875
They are black dolls in two versions of the Anili doll molds

Black Anili Lady doll on eBay

Black Anili Child Doll on eBay

 

Lenci Bambina on ebay this week

Posted on by
Reply

1930's Lenci Bambina

Ebay member beamdoggie is selling a rare Lenci Bambina on eBay this week. This is a lovely 1930's Lenci Bambina in fine condition and a treat for some Lenci collector for the holidays. It is rare to see a Lenci bambina at auction so just looking at the pictures is a treat. The seller has added a picture from Nancy Lazenby's book  Lenci: The History and the Dolls that looks like the same exact doll.

Click Here to View the Auction Listing on eBay

Auction Results: Lenci Sam sold for $19,000

Posted on by
Reply

Lenci Sam sold for $19,000

The Candy Spelling Doll Auction results are online now and Lenci collectors will be interested in the closing prices,especially for the rarely seen Lenci characters. The highest price in the Lenci category went to the later model Lenci character Sam that sold for: $19,000. This may well be a record price for this 1940's-50's era remake of the earlier 1925 Sam.  This later model Sam is slimmer than the chubby and more child-like earlier Sam of 1925. This model Sam was exhibited in  December 1953 at the annual Toy Trade Show in Italy - watch the 1953 archive  video clip below  or see the entire newsreel at Archivo Luce  CLick Here to watch the archive video at archivioluce you can see the 1953 Lenci exhibit at around 0-2-18-20 the on screen counter. Sam is briefly is on the left of the screen at the start of the following clip - see also the screen capture below.

Lenci Sam Original 1925 Lenci Catalog

Compare to the earlier 1925 Lenci Sam which is a standing chubbier child-like doll with more rounded eyes, listed as model 260 at 31 inches tall. He did not have a waistcoat and is made of brown felt. The later Sam is made to be seated like a boudoir doll and is of black felt.

Screen Capture Lenci Toy Trade Show 1953 - Sam is seated on the left

Above is a screen capture from the 1953 Trade Show video, the Lenci Sam is seated to the Left of the screen, this video clip is interesting because it shows some of the larger boudoir dolls that were on sale that year - note the lady doll in black the commentator refers to as "Anna Karenina" and the Spanish Lady with Guitar, Large Russian Dolls and Japanese Costume dolls. This newsreel is a brief but rare glimpse of the Lenci dolls on offer in the early 1950's - there is no complete Lenci catalog for the 1940s-50s. If you have Marco Tosa's Book "Bambole Lenci" you can see full color photos of dolls from this era of production. The Lenci Sam on page 155 in the Tosa book has a green Lenci paper tag that was in use during this later period of production - however the date given in the Tosa book refers to the date of the earlier series of 1925.

SAM 1925

See the rest of the auction results of the Candy Spelling Lenci dolls

Auction Results: The Candy Spelling Collection Lenci Dolls

Posted on by
Reply

Below are the Proxibid auction results of the entire selection of Lenci dolls from the recent Candy Spelling Collection auction  - the Lenci Sam black boudior doll fetched $19,000 and the Lenci Josephine Baker went for $11,000. this is nowhere near the high prices of some of bisque dolls that were sold but these are high prices for Lenci dolls nevertheless. If you are a collector who buys or sells on eBay the prices for the dolls below is relevant in terms of current market pricing for the rare character dolls and the near mint condition Lenci dolls.  If you missed the online auction, you may even get a chance to see some of these dolls again. In the days or weeks following a major auction it is not uncommon to find some of the same dolls listed on eBay for resale. So take note of the prices and bookmark this page for your reference. Scroll down for the details Continue reading →

350 Series Lenci Mascotte of 1949

Posted on by
Reply

Lenci Mascotte 1949

Heather sent in this picture of her Lenci mascotte of 1949.  Heather writes " I have had this Lenci doll for at least 35 years in a box.  My mother owned it before me.  She received it as a gift from a very well off family. I have looked through all of the Lenci catalogs online and have not been able to find this doll anywhere.  She is in mint condition.  Her paper tag is from Torino; on the back handwritten it says 350/1. So she's a 350 series, but she looks so much more primitive than the 350's in the catalog.  A majority of the 350's in the catalog are followed by a letter rather than a number.  She has a solid body, her face is one piece of felt, she has sewn on ears and human hair. " Continue reading →