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Good Golly! Check Out Those Collectible Golliwogs!

November 18, 2017 Patty 4 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links.

First of all- what is a Golliwog?

No, it’s not related to a “pollywog” -which is a tadpole-its a funky-looking, but adorable, black minstrel-looking rag doll originally made by West African mothers for their children during the late 19th century.  The dolls made their way to the US and U.K. during the slave trade.

Vintage "Golliwog" rag dolls
Vintage “Golliwog” rag dolls

The Golliwog was used in the fictional storybooks created by Florence Kate Upton in 1895. Ms. Upton came up the Golliwog character from a Blackamoor minstrel rag doll her grandmother had given to her as a child, along with some wooden Dutch dolls, she had used as models.  The Golliwog became the main illustrated character for her first book “The Adventures of the Two Dutch Dolls” which was published in London by Longman, Green and Co.

Florence and Bertha Upton's First book, "The Adventures of the Dutch Dolls."
Florence and Bertha Upton’s First book, “The Adventures of the Dutch Dolls.”
Source: Pinterest.com

The storyline is about the adventures and trials of two wooden dolls; Peg and Sarah Jane and the Golliwogg (Golly). Upton’s Golliwogg character was in fact, quite scary in appearance. He was a cross between a small black minstrel and a Raggedy Ann doll, but this, somewhat frightening Golliwogg character became a great hit with children in the U.K.  The Upton Golliwogg was adventurous, silly and lovable-which led to twelve more Golliwogg book volumes to be published.

The Golliwog books were the results of a mother-daughter team; Florence had a talent for drawing, so she became the illustrator and her mother, Bertha wrote the stories.

Original Golliwog Doll head
Original Golliwog Doll head-(A little scary looking)

Unfortunately, the Upton’s didn’t copyright the idea for their Golliwog books, and the image entered into public domain territory where he became a common character in other children’s storybooks and toys. Unfortunately, the lovable black Golliwog character in books published later in the 20th century; was often depicted as hideous, unkind and mean.

During the mid-century, Golliwog’s characteristics became associated with racial stereotyping and insensitivity. Because of this, many books containing Gollies were removed from public libraries, and the manufacturing of anything “Golly” related, was discontinued. Ultimately, his popularity had all but diminished- but not with Golly collectors.

For almost a century, the huge British grocer brand “James Robertson and Sons Manufacturing, Limited” used a Golly character for advertising their jams and preserves. Ultimately, the company received negative attention because of its long-time use of the Golly, black-faced caricature. In 1988, Golly was removed from all TV ads, and eliminated from Robertson’s jar labels in 2002.

Robertson's Marmalade "Golly" character Ad
Robertson’s Golden Shred Marmalade “Golly” character Ad

 

The well-known teddy bear company-Steiff- became the first toy company to mass produce and distribute Golliwog (changed from Golliwogg), dolls. Other notable German companies to produce Golliwogs were Schuco and Levin. In the U.K., Deans and Merrythoughts produced them.

Vintage Steiff "Golliwog" doll wearing black leather shoes and red pants
Vintage Steiff “Golliwog” doll wearing black leather shoes and red pants

Today Steiff Co. Golliwog dolls can sell for over $6,000, which makes them the most prized of all “Golli” collectibles. 

Upton Golliwog books; stuffed toy dolls, postcards, penknives, jewelry and badges; pottery, china, paperweights, card games, perfume and even wallpaper-basically anything vintage with his image- can be worth hundreds of dollars.

Good news for “Golly!” In 2016, a retired midwife and grandmother from Hampshire U.K,  Charlotte Nightingale,  started making and selling Gollies with the hopes of reclaiming the rag doll’s black heritage. Her goal was to have people re-think the absurd racial issues surrounding them and at the same time, raise money for African charities.

In closing, I leave with this quote:

“When You Think Positive Thoughts, Good Things Happen”

 

 

 

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Vintage Treasure and More african, Enid Blyton, Florence Upton, golliwogs, rag dolls, Steiff, storybooks, valuable

Comments

  1. elizabeth leach says

    July 21, 2018 at 9:06 am

    Gollies were the most popular nursery toy back in the day and true golly collectors are never going to be deterred by ludicrous racist implications. Like me….l have about 300….nearly all old or vintage.The definative book about golly collecting..Buy Golly…has been written by an anglo african man.Long live golly….he is wonderful!!!!

    Reply
    • Patty says

      November 13, 2019 at 6:08 pm

      Yes, I agree. Sounds like quite the collection. I just had a man send me a photo of a Golliwog he has. It has a leather-like head, pants and top are sewn on as legs and torso (no clothing). Is there anyway I can send you a photo, as he may want to sell it? It has no face, and looks x-tra old. I’d say from his photos, it looks to be from the 19th century.

      Reply
  2. Kiwi says

    June 27, 2019 at 3:35 am

    Where can I sell my gollies? I found some in an old attic, one of them is crocheted and seems extremely old, I looked up the other and it’s worth about 80 bucks. Not allowed to sell these on most online platforms. And I can’t sell them locally where I’m from, or I would wind up with an angry mob at my door with pitchforks.

    Reply
    • Patty says

      November 13, 2019 at 6:03 pm

      I’d try to sell at a local antique mall, or as a consignment and sell from a local auction dealer or estate sale company. Did you try Etsy?

      Reply

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