Cuno & Otto Dressel Dolls 1700-1945 German

The Dressel family toy and doll business in Sonneberg, Germany has a long history and operated for a very long time, it passed from one generation to the next, by 1873 the company was known as the Cuno & Otto Dressel Factory. 

Dressel purchased bisque doll heads from noted manufacturers such as: Simon & Halbig, Ernst Heubach, Gebruder Heubach, Limbach and Armand Marseille.  They expanded to three factories in which; dolls were produced in Sonneberg, metal toys in Nurnberg and wood toys in Grunhainichen, Germany. 

Cuno & Otto Dressel were very prolific producers of dolls and toys.  The Dressel company used many different markings; letters of S., D., C, ED, symbol of a winged helmet, initials of C.O.D. - and for those searching the internet -  doll mark COD = Cuno & Otto Dressel initials, found on antique dolls.

Dressel trade names were: 1903 Fifth Avenue dolls, 1907 Jutta doll molds 1348, 1349, 1909 Bambina dolls, 1910 Jutta Baby doll molds 1912, 1920, 1912 Poppy Doll (School boy), Superior, Victoria and Holz-Masse (wooden composition).

Cuno & Otto Dressel, Uncle Sam doll, 13" tall

1896 Portrait Doll Series, 10-15" tall, bisque heads with portrait face, glass eyes, composition jointed body. 

Some Cuno & Otto Dressel character dolls names are;

Admiral George Dewey doll, Admiral William Thompson Sampson doll, Admiral Winfield Scott Schley doll, Admiral Charles Dwight Sigsbee doll, President William McKinley doll, Richmond Pearson Hobson doll, Buffalo Bill doll, a Farmer doll, Old Rip doll.

Photo above courtesy of Lebarn

Cuno & Otto Dressel 1912 Poppy Doll, a schoolboy, 13-14" tall, bisque shoulder head, molded painted hair, plus some may have flocking, painted single stroke brows, painted upper and lower eye lashes, stationary fixed glass eyes, closed mouth.  Cloth or leather stuffed jointed body with bisque or composition lower arms, cloth or composition lower legs.  Doll is marked with an oval label on his stomach Trade, winged helmet symbol, Mark, Poppy Doll, Germany.  Doll mark on back of head 10/0, probably indicating a size or model.  Bisque flange heads marked 5/0 on all composition jointed bodies have also been found and there may be other sizes or similar markings, too.

Cuno & Otto Dressel 1910, Jutta Baby Doll, 24" tall, bisque socket head, multi stroke painted eyebrows, painted upper and lower eye lashes, sleep eyes, open mouth with upper teeth.  Composition jointed bent limb baby body.  Marked on back of head Made in Germany, four pointed star, 1914.

Photo courtesy of littlemarz