Recently Naomi and I were both looking at Sindy related items on eBay in particular Sindy’s pet dogs. I got sidetracked into reading about Patch’s friend Betsy. I am not so familiar with Betsy who was first released in 1967 after we left England. I don’t know if she was sold in Australia or not.

Here is a link to a picture of Betsy

I came across an auction for a doll which the seller said was Betsy but I was doubtful about this because she was standing next to Sindy and not only was she a similar height but she had thicker legs, not like a fashion doll at all.

As I sometimes do if I see something I think may not be right I messaged the seller to ask if they were sure it was Betsy.

I received this reply.

Hi there,

We are not experts on Betsy dolls although we collect the 1960s Sindy dolls and know more about vintage Sindy dolls.
Having said that we are certain this is a Betsy doll.
The models can vary in size depending on the year. We believe this is one of the earlier Betsy dolls pre 1969.
Sindy and Sindy set friends differ in make and model from year to year, for example my Betsy doll has jointed walker legs, but if you look at later models of Betsy they differed as they had unjointed legs.
If you have any more information on the manufacture of Betsy dolls please let us know:)

I had a look at two of my favourite Sindy sites to see what I could find out. The reference to Betsy shows her as being smaller than Patch and with an unjointed rubbery looking body the same as Tutti.  Betsy was said to be Patch’s American friend. Betsy was only made for one year so she is quite rare. She was released in 1967-68 and was six inches tall. I could not find any mention of a larger version.

I have saved some pictures of Betsy on  my Pinterest doll board, you are welcome to take a look.http://pin.it/9Gy9C9R

I sent a second email to the seller including my sources and received a second reply saying that there were large variations in the size of Sindy over the years (true) and that she was often assembled from odd parts, (also true). The seller felt certain that the doll for sale was Betsy. I still feel certain it isn’t however, a third email would be pointless and rude so I am letting it go.

Maybe this seller knows something I don’t know. Maybe I am missing something here.  All I know is  that looking at the photograph of the Betsy doll next to Sindy the scale looked wrong to me. Even if the height was correct her legs seemed way too thick for a fashion doll.  I daresay that there were other dolls produced with the name Betsy around that time as it was more popular as a girl’s name in the sixties.

I am not trying to show anyone up here. I just wanted to illustrate the value of doing your own research when buying dolls. The point to this story is, as we have said before, don’t take everything you read on a sale site as gospel. Ask questions. You may save yourself disappointment or you may learn something new. Either is good.

Betsy References

http://www.petradolls.co.uk/sindy_friends.htm

http://www.oursindymuseum.com/196768sindysnewfriends.htm