Here is Shirley who is now at my house. I’ve examined her a little and now know that she has the correct markings for Ideal’s Shirley Temple on the back of her neck and on her back. She is an 18 inch doll.
Shirley is a little grubby and has some scratches but is in fairly good condition otherwise. Her wig, which appears to be the original one is coming loose from her head but she still has her teeth and most of her eyelashes. Her fingers are all there too. I haven’t undressed her yet to have a look at the rest of her body. Her shoes look like vinyl so may be replacements but I think her dress is original.
We are still not sure which Shirley she is but I think she is one of the earlier ones around 1934-35 because the later ones had darker eyebrows for one thing.
I can’t stop looking at Shirley’s pretty face, she has a lovely expression.
I would like to clean her a little and tidy her hair but as I’ve never cleaned a composition doll before I’m a bit wary of touching her. I need to read up on the subject first. It may be better to take her to the dol doctor. At least she does not need to be re-strung.
Dolls, Dolls, Dolls 
She is in great shape for her age. I’m impressed by her paint job and her wig!
LikeLike
I know. Her colour is just lovely. Considering we rescued her from a box full of glasses and knick knacks she is in pretty good shape.
LikeLike
I love your Shirley Doll. I have a rescued Shirley too. I used to have her dressed as Dorothy as she was the first person they wanted for the Wizard of Oz, but after seeing how sweet yours looked in her dotted dress I redressed her. She used to be a Heidi doll from Danbury mint about 1986.Poor thing was naked and damaged. I even gave her grown up guardians two farmer dolls from Artist Sandy Leach. I will look forward to more Shirley tales as well as your most excellent doll houses and fashion dolls.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Shirley spent Christmas in an armchair in my living room but she has now gone to stay in my old TV cabinet where I keep my porcelain and other fragile dolls until I learn about cleaning her up a bit. Sweet Sue has befriended her.
LikeLike
is sweet sue an American character doll? need to learn more about those. I have a mary make-up doll and an other I suspect could be from that company, I need better reference books.as most dolls I rescue are naked or already redressed. also I recently got some clones I need to check the marks on.i have some dolls magazines I will be scaning for good articles.and as ever I will review your blogs for jems as well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes Sweet Sue is by American Character. I didn’t know what she was when I got her but a fellow blogger recognised her as she collected them. It is hard to ID dolls when they have been redressed especially unmarked ones. One site I often go to for help is http://dollreference.com/ as they are good for things like doll marks. I don’t have a lot of books myself except for fashion dolls. It is one of the reasons that I decided to add a Doll Detective page to my blog to help ID those pesky mystery dolls 🙂
LikeLike