When writing my book I had a catalogue from the late 1930's showing model 1157 a Black Mammy Doll. This model only appeared in one catalogue so is quite rare as many of the other Islanders were made for many years. From the photograph I made the wrong assumption thinking she had painted eyes. I had never seen one before in all my years of collecting and then amazingly two of the same model came into my possession within one month. The first a large 36 inch doll in her original box which also had the name 'Susan' written on the label as well as 1157. I can't confirm that this was indeed her name or whether her owner had put this name on the box. If I had the price list for the catalogue it would have confirmed this. Unfortunately many of my catalogues are photo copies and the original catalogues had the price list tucked away in the back of the catalogue and were nearly always missing. Anyway she was truly a magnificent doll and totally original as you can see by the picture I have added to share with you . The other doll is her 'mini me', only 13 inches tall nearly identical other than her gingham shawl and head scarf being a different colour combination. The interesting thing about these models is they both have wonderful glass eyes. The head is jointed with arms sewn on and legs sewn in one piece to the body which means they can only stand. The skirt and top are velvet with the apron, shawl and head scarf made of cotton gingham. They do not have any under wear. Jewellery consists of coloured hoop ear rings, beaded necklace and the larger one has bracelets. They do not wear any socks just simple black felt slip on shoes. I hope you have enjoyed learning more about this particular model
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