Horsman Doll Company - Dolls 1865-1940's

Edward Imeson Horsman opened a toy company in New York city (1865-present) and became a leader in the toy industry. In the early years they produced the trademarked name of "Babyland Rag Dolls" an all cloth doll, a variety of mama and baby composition dolls wearing wigs, molded or painted hair, sleep or painted eyes. About 1909 they used a new formula to make "Can't break Em" dolls like the Billiken. In 1930 the Horsman company acquired the Louis Amberg & Son doll company, their competitor, and continued to produce some of their dolls notably the Vanta Baby. In October 1933 Horsman was purchased and became a subsidiary of the Regal Doll Manufacturing Company, by the 1980's the Horsman name was sold to an Asian company and produced dolls under the name Horsman Ltd. and the dolls are now made in Hong Hong today.

Some of the dolls made by Horsman 1901-1940's:

1893-1912 Babyland Rag Dolls, 13-28" tall, white or black, all cloth with a flat simple with little detail, painted face, mitt like hands, some have mohair sewn to top of head, clothing is removable, marked: Genuine Babyland Trade Mark or unmarked. Some may have the date printed on the lower edge of the head plate, PAT'D JULY 8th 1901, believe these were made by Albert Brückner for the Horsman Co.

1907+ Dolls had a lithographed printed face, these seem to be mostly unmarked, they also made a topsy-turvy doll in both types, one that has both a white & black face.

1901 Albert Bruckner made for Horsman, Babyland Rag Doll, 13"

1909 Billiken, 12" tall, "Can't Break Em" composition character head on plush body, marked with a cloth label.

It's believed that 200,000 of these dolls were sold in the first six months of production, and was a major success for Horsman.

In 1995 Gata reproduced these dolls in a limited addition.

1909 Billikin, 12"

1910 Campbell Kid, 10" unmarked

1910-1928 Campbell Kid, 9 1/2-16" tall, based on artist Grace Gebbie Wiederseim Drayton's illustrations and sculpted/designed by Helen Trowbridge. Early dolls have a composition head, cloth stuffed with cork body, jointed at arms and hips, most have side glancing painted eyes, dolls are unmarked.

After 1928 Horsman lost the licensing for the Campbell kids doll to the American Character doll company, after WWII they re-acquired the rights again to produce the authorized Campbell Kid dolls ca. 1948. All composition jointed body, molded painted hair, side glancing painted eyes, painted on shoes & socks. Dolls are unmarked.

1948 Campbell Kid, 12"

painted molded shoes, unmarked

1911 Baby Bumps, "Can't Break Em", character doll, 9-18" tall, black or white version, composition head, hard stuffed cloth body, marked: E.I.H. 1911.

The Baby Bumps Jr was the smallest size at 9", Big Baby Bumps the largest at 18", in 1916 their were Sandy Bumps & Mandy Bumps which came with a shovel & pail.

1911 Black Baby Bumps, 14"

1911 Cotton Joe, "Can't Break Em", character dolls, 10 or 14" tall, composition brown head with painted features, hard stuffed cloth tan body, olive cloth legs, marked: E.I.H. 1911. Came wearing a red or striped shirt with brown or khaki suspender pants, some may have had a straw hat. He was one of the original American Kids in Toyland series.

Some other Can't Break Em dolls were; 1919 Little Mary Mix-Up 15" or 18", ca. 1914 Polly Pru 13" and 1917 Uncle Sam's Kids; Miss Sam, Master Sam, 15-15 1/2" tall.

1911 Cotton Joe 14"

1911 Puppy Pippin, 8"

1916-1930's Peterkin, 11 or 13" tall, all composition, girls and boys, for-runners of the Campbell Kid line, cherubic painted faces, eyes look slightly to the left or right, smiling closed mouth, molded hair, one piece body and head with jointed arms. (Doll shown is probably re-dressed). The later dolls have a composition head and limbs with a cloth body, was marked: EIH, Inc., came with a variety of different outfits.

1920's Peterkin Girl 12"

1915-1918 Blink, Gene Carr Kids, 14" tall, comic characters based on Gene Carr's New York World comic strip, "Lady Bountiful". Dolls were designed by Bernard Lipfert and have round faces and exaggerated features; all 14" tall; Skinny, Blink, Lizzy, Mike, Jane, Snowball and Smoke (last two are both black dolls).

Blink and Mike also came dressed as Carnival Kids in pierrot type clown outfits. Blink wore a orange and black clown outfit and Mike came in a blue and white one. (doll is shown re-dressed).

1915-1918 Carnivale Kid 14"

Blink in pierrot clown outfit

1918 Child Doll, 16" tall, all composition, sleep eyes, wigged, jointed body, shown redressed.

1918 Child doll, 16"

ca. 1920's Bunny Tots, 6" tall, all bisque, one piece doll with sculpted bunny hood and pink lined bunny ears, a blond tuft of hair at the forehead, painted side glancing eyes, closed pouty mouth and painted purple shoes and white socks. Marked on foot: Germany Bunny Tots trademark. Paper label on chest: Copyright by the E.I. Horsman Co.

"Bunny Tots Adventures" was the name of a character that appeared in the Washington Post in an illustrated column on Sundays in 1924 and became part of a series of books published by author/illustrator and creator Edward G. McCandlish in 1926 and republished in 1928.

This was a question posted on the forum board by Karen Kothera, a long time doll collector, who owns this item. We could not find any information to help on this item, so the question was passed on to the Horsman doll expert "Don Jensen". Don wrote that he "had not seen any advertising by Horsman for a 6" all bisque Bunny Tots, but that he had seen these these dolls before, just not with a paper label that would indicate Horsman sold these". He noted that Horsman did resume selling some German Bisque products in the 1920's and thought that a likely dating. Thanks Karen & Don for sharing!!

ca. 1920's Bunny Tots, 6"

Photo courtesy of Karen Kothera

1921 Jackie Coogan, 14" tall, composition and cloth, Jackie was a child actor from the Charlie Chaplin film "The Kid" in 1921, there were two dolls; the first one used a generic molded doll head that was used on many other dolls, then a second head was sculpted specifically for the doll by Helen Trowbridge with a likeness of the child actor and wore a pageboy wig.

Both dolls are dressed in a turtleneck sweater, long pants with suspenders, checked cap and button that said "Horsman/Jackie Coogan/Kid/Patented".

1921 Jackie Coogan, 14"

The 2nd doll

1923 Baby Horsman, 14, 20 & 24" tall, designed by Edith Hitchcock, composition flange head & hands with loosely stuffed cloth body and limbs, disk jointed shoulders, hip joints are stitched, molded painted hair & facial features (they largest size has painted eyes, the smaller two have sleep eyes), and closed mouth. Was meant to portray a real life baby and even has dimpled hands. All are marked: E.I. © H. Co.

1923 Baby Horsman, 24"

1924 Tynie Baby 9"

ca. 1924 Baby Darling, 16-25" tall, composition head with lightly molded painted blond hair, brown sleep eyes with painted upper and lower lashes, open red painted mouth, cloth baby body with composition arms wide spread apart fingers, composition legs, doll is unmarked.

This head mold was used by other doll manufacturers as well.

Photo N/A

1924 Baby Darling

1926 HEbee & SHEbee dolls, all composition 7 & 11" tall or 4-9" tall, all bisque, painted facial features, both have a molded white painted chemise, girls have pink shoes and boys have blue shoes each with a metal loop on shoe for a bow.

These character dolls were designed by Charles H. Twelvetrees a cartoonist & illustrator, from his "Twelvetrees Kids" featured in the Pictorial Review and newspapers throughout the USA during the prior decade.

The HEbee shown are both jointed at the shoulder, all composition, HEbee is 9" tall with blue shoes and the SHEbee is 7" tall with pink shoes with bow loops. Dolls are unmarked but had a paper tag on bottom of foot: Trademark Charles Twelvetrees/Copyrighted 1925.

Photo courtesy of Flozdolz.

1996-1997 HEbee & SHEbee all bisque dolls were reproduced by Horsman & artists modern reproduction dolls can be easily found at flea markets & auctions.

1925 HEbee & SHEbee

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1928 Baby Dimples, 16-18 & 22-24" tall, composition flange head & partial composition limbs on a cloth body, molded painted hair, sleep eyes, open smiling mouth, marked: © E.I.H. CO. INC. Doll shown unclothed on left is 16" tall.

Doll shown clothed on right is pristine and all original, right down to her shoes.

Photo courtesy of Wildrose55.

1928 Baby Dimples

Photo courtesy of Wildrose55

1928 Ella Cinders, 18" tall, comic character by Bill Conselman & Charlie Plumb, has a composition head with round painted eyes, freckles beneath the eyes, open/closed mouth, cloth body. Had at least four different costumes, shown is the pink and white checked cotton dress with black sash and white apron. Marked: ©/1925/M.N.S.

Gata Box reproduced this doll in 1988 when they acquired the Horsman name, productions were limited to 2,000 - 3,000 dolls.

Doll shown is the original not the reproduction doll.

1928 Ella Cinders, 18"

1928 Mama dolls, various sizes, composition shoulder heads with composition limbs and cloth body, criers, including baby dolls: Brother & Sister, 12-14 & 18-20' tall and girl dolls: Peggy Ann & Dolly Rosebud, 14-16 or 22-24" tall. Dolly Rosebud has her name in the mold on the back of her neck.

1928 Dolly Rosebud 19"

1929-1930 Peggy Jr., Peggy & Peggy Ann, 12-20" tall. All composition, molded painted hair with a pin in head for a ribbon, have a right bent arm, fully jointed, painted eyes or sleep eyes.

The large 20" size Peggy Ann has a shoulder plate head on a cloth body and is unmarked. The 14" size Peggy is marked: Amberg/Pat. Pend/L.A. & SD. © 1928 and was from the Amberg line and is a body twist doll. The 12" size is marked: IT and is the Peggy Jr., thought to also be by Amberg.

1929 Peggy Jr. 12"

1931 Babs 12", Sue 14", Jane 17-18", and Nan 20" tall, Horsman's Patsy type competitor; all composition, jointed bodies, molded painted hair, painted or sleep eyes, closed painted mouth, all are unmarked. These are Horsman's Patsy type competitors and replaced the above Peggy dolls. Sue at 14" may have the body twist.

When trying to identify the Patsy look a likes, it's all in the molded hair style, they are tricky to made an accurate identification, just takes a bit of hunting and research.

Shown on left is a painted eye Babs, 11" and on right is Sue 14", also with painted eyes.

lol, wonder why they didn't mark these as most their dolls were marked. Ha, sneaky.

1931 Sue, 14"

1931 Little Buttercup, 12" or Buttercup 16-19" tall, first dolls have a composition head and limbs with cloth baby body, in 1932 Buttercup's head was replaced by hard rubber so it became an all rubber doll, came dressed in a lovely sheer dress with matching bonnet, marked: H © C. or E.I.H. Co. or H c Co. Photo courtesy of Flozdolz.

1931 Little Buttercup, 12"

1930-40's Child dolls, 13-18" tall, all composition, some have slim child bodies others are chubbier toddlers, some came with a tag that said "Gold Metal Doll" marked: HORSMAN.

1940's Child Doll 18"

1937 Jo Jo, 12" tall, all composition, came as both a boy or girl, has molded hair underneath the mohair wig, Jo Jo has a long mohair wig in pigtails, closed rosebud mouth, tin painted or sleep brown eyes, marked: Jo-Jo/© 1937 Horsman. Shown wearing original clothing.

1937 Jo Jo, 12"

1937 Whatsit Dolls, dolls are 14 or 16" tall, all composition with molded hair, right arm is bent (like Patsy) came dressed in a cotton dress with leather shoes; Jeanie (molded hair with a small topknot, tin painted eyes, mama crier), Naughty Sue (has topknot molded hair), Roberta (brown molded hair in braids curled into a bun over each ear). Dolls are marked with their Name © 1937 Horsman.

Doll shown is possibly an earlier issue as she does not have the 1937 in the marking, unless it is lower on the neck, and didn't show in photo.

1937 Whatsit - Jeanie

1937 Brother 21" tall and Sister 23" tall, both have composition head and limbs, painted tin sleep eyes, molded hair, she with a small topknot, cloth body. Both have comical faces with small puckered closed mouth, hers more so than his Dolls are marked: Brother or Sister © 1937 Horsman.

Photo's courtesy of Ronsfancy, dolls are redressed.

See the Horsman Brother & Sister doll page for more details on these dolls and the restoration done by Patrice - Nativelady.

1937 Brother 21" & Sister 23"

1938 Sweetheart, A Horsman Art Doll, 24 or 28" tall, all composition with hard rubber unbreakable arms, jointed, brown mohair wig, green sleep eyes, open mouth with six upper teeth.

The Horsman ad reads: A true reproduction of girls between the ages of 10 and 16, they are dressed in the latest fashions, sculpted by the famous sculptor Ernesto Peruggi.

1938 Sweetheart, 21"

A Horsman Art Doll

1940's Bright Star, 12-20" tall, all composition, some are Shirley Temple look a likes, some have braided wigs, but their are actually several doll molds that are all Bright Star dolls.

ca. 1944 Bright Star 16"

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1946 Betty Bedtime, 18" tall, cloth body, composition head (with either molded hair or wigged hair) lower arms and legs, came in a box that converted into a bed for the doll to sleep on, wore a white dress with open eyelet weave, trimmed with ribbon, matching bonnet, socks and shoes.

Photo on right courtesy of Terri Robbins

1946 Betty Bedtime, 18"

ca. 1949 Squalling baby, 19" tall, soft vinyl head and limbs (vinyl forearms, hands and legs to just above the knees), cloth body, molded hair, painted blue squinting eyes, red angry painted cheeks, wide open mouth - like it's crying or "squalling", sometimes marked Corp. Lastic Plastic 49.

ca. 1949 Squalling Baby, 16" tall, like the above doll, slight changes - only head, hands and feet are vinyl, rest is cloth, this one is a squeaker/crier, this one is unmarked, same squalling face :)

Antique Doll Collectors Online Advisor - has nice photo's of these dolls.

Note: Not everyone agrees that these were made by Horsman.

1949 Squalling Baby 19"

Photo courtesy of Dorene