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I don't really have much blue around the place, except in my doll collection. So today I thought I'd show off my Toni Doll. She's an early 1950s doll, made by the Ideal Toy Corporation (their slogan was "It's a wonderful toy! It's Ideal!"). She's made from hard plastic, about 16 inches tall, and is in absolutely mint condition. She came with her original (blue) outfit, box, wrist tag, and all the proper accouterments: curlers, shampoo creme, and "play wave" (a sugar-water solution). But I'm pretty sure Toni never had her platinum hair "done" – it's still in the original set.
The reason I call her a mystery doll is because of the slightly cryptic piece of writing we found penciled on her box. The note simply says "Last Christmas." The dealer we bought her from said she had been put away for over forty years in an attic or the top of someone's closet, and never played with. Well, the "never played with" part is obvious – she looks like she was just slipped out of Santa's bag. And I took the note to mean that the doll was received at Christmas last year, about fifty years ago. But my husband, who is a much more creative thinker (and just a teeny bit sentimental sometimes) came up with a sad and rather spooky scenario about a doll received on a child's last Christmas (as in final Christmas – as in somebody died), and then put away untouched and un-played with for nearly half a century.Well, that's intriguing but very depressing, so I choose to go with my own first impressions and ignore my hubby's little flight of fantasy. But should he be writing short stories, or what?
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Cross-posted at Joysweb.
