Raleigh Doll Co. - Dolls 1916-1920

Jessie McCutcheon Raleigh an artist, first success was from a cast metal statuette called the "Good Fairy", not long after she founded a small doll business in Chicago, IL USA called the Raleigh Doll Company.  She produced composition dolls from a specially developed formula.  The dolls were created to resemble real children, Raleigh used student artists from the Chicago Art Institute to paint the dolls facial features.  Dolls were 10 1/2" to 22" tall, all composition or composition head and limbs with a cloth body, dolls limbs are attached by an embedded metal spring attached to hardwood plugs, sleep or painted eyes, molded painted hair or wigged, dolls often have a bent arm, thus allowing them to hold an accessory.  The eye lashes of some dolls are painted almost vertically, instead of curved. They made boy and girl dolls and dolly face dolls.

Because of the short time span of this business, few dolls have been found and all their dolls were unmarked, making identification a challenge, however due to their distinctive body construction and the dolls unique look, it shouldn't be hard to tell them from the mass produced, unmarked dolls from this time period. 

Raleigh Doll Co. - Dolls 1916-1920

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