Fulper Pottery Antique Bisque Dolls 1918+ USA
Fulper Pottery Company of Fleming, New Jersey USA was established in 1805. From 1918 until 1927 Fulper Pottery sold some small all bisque dolls; a Peterkin doll unmarked except for a paper label designed by Helen Trowbridge, a Kewpie doll marked Fulper Made in USA designed by Rose O’Neill, have been found. Plus larger bisque head dolls to fill the void as European bisque doll were not available during World War I (1914-1918). Among the companies that used Fulper bisque products are; Amberg, Colonial Toy, Horsman and Sears.
Fulper produced bisque socket or shoulder heads of Dolly face child dolls, 14″ to about 43″ tall, some of the dolls have human hair wigs, usually with sleep eyes, some character doll heads have molded painted hair with intaglio eyes, all dolls we have found so far have an open mouth with teeth.
Fulper character Baby dolls have bisque socket or shoulder plate heads, 13 to 24″ tall, sleep eyes and molded painted or wigged hair, open or closed mouth with bent limb baby composition bodies.
Fulper Dolls Identified
ca. 1918 Horsman Toddler Doll bisque Fulper head, 16″ tall, wigged, multi stroke painted eyebrows, glass sleep eyes, upper and lower painted eyelashes, open mouth with two upper teeth on a five piece German type composition slant hip toddler jointed body, bisque head marked Fulper as shown below.
ca. 1918 Horsman Toddler Doll bisque Fulper head, 16″ tall, five piece German type composition slant hip toddler jointed at the neck, shoulders, hips and knees body, doll composition body marked E.I.H.
ca. 1918 Fulper Kewpie all bisque doll 9″ tall, bisque head with lightly painted top knot hair, big side glancing pained black eyes, closed smiling watermelon mouth, jointed at the neck and shoulders, straight together legs, doll can stand along, bare feet, doll marked Fulper doll mark Fulper cmu in triangle Made in USA designed by Rose O’Neill.
ca. 1919 Fulper Peterkin all bisque doll 10 1/2″ tall, bisque head with lightly painted blonde hair, side glancing blue painted eyes, closed watermelon mouth, jointed at the neck and shoulders, slightly bent arms, sturdy straight legs with bare feet, doll is unmarked, came with a paper label. Peterkin was designed by Helen Trowbridge.
1920-1927 Amberg antique Victory Doll with bisque Fulper socket head, 24″ tall
1920-1927 Amberg antique Victory Doll with bisque Fulper socket head, 24″ tall, came in four sizes, with multi stroke painted eyebrows, painted upper and lower eyelashes, sleep eyes, open mouth with two upper teeth, came on a five piece composition jointed body. See the Amberg page for the composition head doll.
The bisque doll head will have the Fulper vertical mark as shown below, on the back of the composition body has the raised mark of Amberg’s Victory Doll plus a size number in centimeters, known size numbers are 40, 50, 60, 70.
Fulper ceased manufacture of bisque doll heads in 1922, but continued to sell their remaining stock of heads until 1927 which included dolls as large as 43″ or so, as well as bisque novelty dolls and small bisque head pin cushion dolls. Fulper, Ernst Reinhardt and James Scholly Taft are the only known (to us) American doll makers of antique bisque head dolls.
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Fulper Doll Marks Identified
The Fulper doll mark MS initials are for Martin Stangl, head of production for Horsman’s bisque head dolls. In 1998 the Strong Museum reproduced a Limited Edition bisque head doll with painted eyes and a jointed composition body, doll head will have the Fulper mark plus Licensed by the Strong Museum.