396 - Bruno Schmidt Waltershausen girl doll, celluloid head with sleeping eyes, plaits, 1st half 20th c.

Bruno Schmidt Waltershausen girl doll, celluloid head with sleeping eyes, plaits, 1st half 20th c. Celluloid, composition, textile, girl doll by the firm of Bruno Schmidt, Waltershausen, 1st half 20th century, celluloid head, marked on the back of the head "Schutzmarke" above a heart with "BSW", below "F/45", composition body, open mouth with two upper teeth and movable tongue, blue sleeping eyes, dimpled chin, dark blonde mohair wig with two braided plaits and brown bows, with voice, red dress with white floral pattern, white collar and white puff sleeves, lace trim at the hem, knickers, played-with condition commensurate with age, head soiled, hands and feet heavily chipped, body with signs of age and wear, H. 47 cm. Bruno Schmidt founded a doll factory in Waltershausen in Thuringia in 1900. He obtained the bisque heads of his dolls from the porcelain factory Bähr & Pröschild, which he took over in 1919; celluloid and papier-mâché dolls he produced in his own factory. The trademark of the firm is a heart with the letters "BSW", which was impressed on celluloid heads together with the word "Schutzmarke"; on bisque heads it often appears next to the crossed swords of Bähr & Pröschild. Three-digit mould numbers of the firm come from Bähr & Pröschild, four-digit ones of the 2000 series from Bruno Schmidt himself.