The Toy Box Tourist

In addition to visiting as many gorgeous castles and palaces as we could manage on our trip to Scotland, I had my own "doll tourist" agenda to follow.

When I lived in Edinburgh, the only doll source I was aware of was the toy section at the Jenners department store.  My favorite things to browse at this store were the beautiful Sasha dolls and the numerous Playmobil sets.  I also remember the realistic Beswick porcelain horses in the home department that I would admire while my parents were looking at dinnerware.

Before we left Edinburgh, I wanted to return to Jenners (now owned by House of Fraser) to see how the toy selection had changed over the years.  I also wanted to visit Smyths, because my online searches suggested that this store is similar to Toys R Us--one of my favorite Maine haunts.  In addition, I took Nealie's advice and stopped in at the Edinburgh Museum of Childhood to admire their collection of antique dolls and dollhouses.

I'll share some of what I found at all of these places with you, starting with one of my favorite little Scottish faces:

Flirty-eyed hard plastic Pedigree walking doll, c. 1950s
(Edinburgh Museum of Childhood).

"Summer Lila" and "Summer Lucas" by Salvador Berenguer for JC Toys

Based on the focus of this blog so far, you might be surprised to learn that I got my start as a doll enthusiast by collecting baby dolls.  Actually, to be perfectly accurate, I got my start as a doll enthusiast the moment I received Madame Alexander's baby "Victoria" as a gift from my grandmother.  Victoria and I were inseparable for the better part of my youth:

My mom made us matching outfits!

As an adult, baby dolls started to appeal to me again around the time I got a yearning for real babies.  Even after I had my two boys, baby dolls served as reminders of the most precious stages and expressions of my little guys.  As my kids got older, I moved into collecting Himstedt child dolls, but that stage couldn't last too long because Himsetdts are big and expensive.  These days, for whatever reasons, I am much more interested in fashion dolls.  It might have something to do with shelf space.

Despite not acquiring a lot of new baby dolls at this point in my life, I still retain many and strong opinions about these dolls.  Recently, someone asked my opinion on what would be a good realistic baby doll for an older child.  I had a great time thinking through the options.  For this special girl, I ended up recommending Zapf Vivian or Lilian, by master sculptor Cathariena Teunissen. The process got me pondering what the best realistic baby doll choices are for each price range and age group and I thought I'd start sharing my thoughts about this topic here.