Norah Wellings and Cinderella Plastic Shoes

I am sure many collectors when buying a Norah Wellings doll with plastic shoes would think they can't possibly be original.....well they are. Norah Wellings used them in the early 1950's on most of her Norene Models and also on some smaller National Dolls.If you have not seen these shoes before they have Made In England, Cinderella and a number written on sole of the shoe corresponding to the size of the shoe. I have taken two photo's from a 1950's catalogue showing some Norene Models, as you can see only one doll out of seven is wearing felt shoes, all the others are the are plastic Cinderella shoes. I do not know why they were used and can only guess that perhaps Norah Wellings thought she would use shoes more like a child's. It must have been cheaper to make the felt shoes so I can't see the cost being the reason unless she was given a huge selection of them. Anyway the next time you see a 1950's Norah Wellings doll with plastic shoes don't take them off and make felt ones as they are probably original this also means if you wish to replace any shoes on the Norene Dolls I have shown in this catalogue buy plastic Cinderella ones.

Merry Christmas And A Happy New Year

I would like to wish you all A Very Merry Christmas and A Happy, Healthy and Safe New Year.

Norah Wellings Baby Jolly Toddlers

I thought you might like to see two rare Norah Wellings babies from my collection. These wonderful Twins are Norah Wellings Jolly Todders and are model 2129. They were made from about 1939 to early 1940's. They are only 10 inches tall and quite chubby. They have felt heads with painted features. The hair is air brushed and they have separate ears. Only the head is jointed. Arms and legs are velvet and they have a cotton body. Both wear original organdy dresses, cotton pants and knitted booties. The bonnets were made later, the original ones would have been organdy to match their dresses. Both have Norah Wellings labels on the inside of their wrists. I have shown a picture taken from the 1939 catalogue. Wonderful pair so cute.

Wonderful Box Of Norah Wellings Pixie People

Just after I completed my book in 2003 I was delighted to see advertised at Auction in America this wonderful box of Pixies. Luckily for me I won them but unfortunately too late for my book. They are really a mystery, the box is marked 1001 which should contain the items shown on the box lid. Looking at them from left to right Dutch Boy model 123, Sammy model 126, Knutto Monkey model 450 Dudu model 122,Jollyboy model 139 and Turko, model 955. As you can see the box has four wonderful Pixes inside. Normally a box of Pixies would contain 6 different models and it would be marked 1006.This leads to the Mystery.. either.. the wrong box was sent with an order containing only 4 Pixies or 6 Pixies were sent and 2 have gone missing. Another possibility is the box and the Pixies may have been matched up at a later date by the original owner of both, only speculation. Despite them being mix and match I was thrilled to win them and it is lovely to see such a colourful box with equally bright and colourful contents. I should mention the box itself is all red with a gold design and measures 11 1/2 inches by 9 inches. Usually the Norah Wellings Boxes are very plain with only the Norah Wellings symbol at the end of the box.
The Pixies were first shown in the Norah Wellings Catalgue in 1936. They are at the top of my list of favourites. The models in this box from left to right are 1121, 1123, 1124 and 1125. The first two models only appeared for a couple of years and are the hardest to find. They are all between 8 and 9 inches in height. All have felt heads with painted faces (no ears). The first two models are bald and the last two have painted hair. All have Painted faces, velvet clothing as an integral part of their bodies, felt hats,felt pointy feet to represent pixie shoes and felt single piece hands. The blue model 1124 has Felt Wings.All have Norah Wellings labels sewn to their their feet. Two of the Pixies also have their cardboard round label stating 'I'm one of Norah Wellings' "Little Pixie People"
I hope you enjoy seeing these wonderful Norah Wellings Pixies and their Mystery Box.

Norah Wellings 'Bones' The Dog

Norah Wellings wonderful 'Bones' is a commical dog. He is model 234. This great character made his appearance in 1927 at the first British Industry Fair Norah Wellings attended with her new business from Victoria Toy Works. It is interesting to note that Dismal Desmond looking a very similar comical dog also made his first appearance at this Fair although he was launched by Dean's in 1926. 'Bones' did not appear again in any Norah Wellings catalogues until after 1930, one wonders if there was any problem due to his simerality. 'Bones' was made until around 1938 then discontinued. The Games and Toys magazine in April 1927 quotes what they thought about his first appearance 'Other lines shown at this stand include 'Bones', a grotesque looking dog', I do not think this would help much for marketing him to the Toy Shop buyers. I think he is very cute. There is no mention of 'Bones' being made to present any particular comic strip or book character.

I have shown a picture of the Norah Wellings Stand at the British Industry Fair in 1927 and as you can see a large 'Bones'is standing at the entrance. He appears to be fully jointed, however only his head is jointed on the models sold from the catalogues that I have seen and they were only available in sizes 7 and 12 inches. They were made of velvet with either glass or painted eyes. Available in lovely bright colours. Colours I have seen so far are blue, red and yellow.

The picture above shows three 'Bones' dogs, the two larger ones are 12 inches tall with lovely glass eyes and the smaller one is 7 inches tall with painted eyes. They are all made of velvet with their limbs sewn on and they all have a little tail.

I have also added a very rare 'Bones' nightdress case pictured on the right hand side. Thank you so much to Julie Wyles a friend of mine who has kindly allowed me to use this photo. He is not featured in any of my catalogues.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about this wonderful character who would be a rare addition to any collection.

Rare Norah Wellings Japanese Dolls

I thought I might share a couple of Rare Japanese Norah Wellings Girls that I have in my collection. They were both made before 1936 and appear to have been discontinued by the 1936 catalogue.

The top doll is a Norene Model 848. She is the smallest size 12 inches and they were made in various sizes. This little girl has a wonderful felt face with painted Asian features. She has the usual zig zag stitching at the back of her head with separate ears. She is completely made of felt including her body. Her head and legs are jointed but her arms are sewn on. Her hands are sewn mitt style This appears to be a feature of the smaller model. ( On page 115 of my book you can see the face of a larger 18 inch Norene Japanese Girl, her body is cotton, fully jointed and her middle two fingers were joined together).This smaller girl has a black mohair wig in a bun at the back.
She is wearing her original floral pink cotton teddy underwear. Her Kimono is felt with felt applique shapes and a felt tie around her waist. Her orignal felt strap shoes have quilted soles. In her hair she has lovely felt flowers on on both sides

The next girl is a Novelty Doll Model 230. Once again this is the smallest size 12 inches and they were also made in 15",19" and 37 inches. She has a velveteen Head, separate ears and painted features. Lovely black mohair wig in a bun at the back. Her body, legs and upper arms are cotton with velveteen mitt hands. Only her head is jointed, arms and legs sewn on.
She is wears a white cotton Teddy as underwear. Lovely original velveteen Kimono with applique felt shapes sewn on and a felt tie around her waist. She also has original socks and felt shoes. Felt Flowers adorn her hair on either side.

It is interesting to note that these models can be found with either mohair or wool strand wigs. There can also be variations on material used for clothing. I have added a photograph of a Japanese Nightdress Case at the side which shows the wool wig. I hope you enjoy seeing these lovely Rarer Norah Wellings Dolls

Norah Wellings Character Bunny Rabbits.

Well Easter is nearly upon us so I thought I would show a few Norah Wellings Bunny Rabbits.The rabbits are from the Novelty Animal range.

The first rabbits pictured are my favourites. They are both model 561 and were only made for a few years in the early 1930's and discontinued by 1936. They are fantastic characters and dressed typical of the time as if in their lounge suits. Both are 13 inches tall to the top of their ears. They are made of wool plush with glass eyes, the lighter one having clear glass eyes and the other brown ( these are original). Most of the velvet outfit is an integral part of the body except for the body part of the jacket which is infact sleeveless and removeable but matching the arms. They both have different buttons on their outfits and they are original with a Norah Wellings label on the bottom of the foot. I bought the lighter one many years ago and found the other one recently, how happy they were to find each other not to mention me, especially being different colours. Although I have a black and white picture in one of the earlier catalogues only the model number is mentioned.

The next picture is of a rabbit called 'Bunty' model K60. He was made in 5 sizes from 7 to 25 inches. Again made of wool plush with glass eyes and velvet clothing as an integral part of his body. Only his head is jointed. He appears in the 1936 catalogue but not in any of my other catalogues. I love the way he looks very distinguished. He reminds me of the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, just needs his pocket watch!

I have also pictured with the Nightdress Cases Model 970 made in the early 1930's and 18 inches tall. Made of wool plush with glass eyes and velvet outfit and skirt to hold the nightdress.These also came wth felt or other material for the skirt.Norah Wellings label is on the foot.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing these Bunny Rabbits. Norah Wellings did make other models and some are featured in my book.

May I take this opportunity to wish you all a Very Happy Easter!