One of my favorite events at St. John’s Catholic School was the fabulous annual Halloween carnival. In second grade I got to wear a beautiful blue Little Bo Peep costume which my mother had sewn — it even had a staff with a little stuffed lamb attached. My older sister, Sally, a seventh grader, was working in the Fish Pond booth. The congregation had donated all kinds of stuff to give as prizes in the booths, and when it was my turn, Sally made sure to put something really good in my bag. Here is what she attached to my pole:
A little box of “Made in Japan” bisque dolls dressed in costumes from different countries (well, actually just Spain, China and America, which is an odd assortment when you think about it). Unfortunately, this is a photo of a set which was auctioned on ebay several years ago that I did not win. I loved my dolls so much (which were exactly like the ones in this photo), and I played with them constantly until one by one they all broke — bisque being pretty unforgiving when dropped on a hardwood floor. I still look for them, and occasionally see one or two from the set. I can understand why very few survived.
Then last year while searching on ebay, I found this wonderful Mother Goose set, which I did win. I believe it’s around the same age as the original dolls, and they are in mint condition — looking as if they have spent most of their lives in this box. This time I’m going to be a lot more careful with my new toy.
I have been visiting your blog for several months now but never made by self know. Your have a great site. Your quilts and other areas of interest are treasures. I am envious of your recent bisque Mother Goose Find. I have a set of WW1 soldiers that were my grandfather’s toys that are also bisque. Isn’t it remarkable what feed our imaginations and spark our memories. Thanks for sharing your wonderful “finds” and ideas.
The Mother Goose set is the one I would want!
I also went to the Halloween carnival at my Catholic school every year. I miss that now… My favorite game by far was the fish pond. Although ours didn’t have prizes nearly as cool as this!
Wow! The costume dolls are great, but the Mother Goose is a whole other thing! What a find! Congratulations!
Martha, sometimes I think we are twins from different mothers! I love bisque dolls too although I’ve never seen them in a box before. I about a dozen to a dozen and a half… and I know why they break because they are very unsteady standing up. Still trying to devise a way to display them without them falling. I’ve never seen the Mother Goose ones, LOVE THEM!!!
How NEAT! Kind of ironic that you were dressed as Little Bo Peep when you got your first set of dolls (Sally must be the best sister!) and now through searching for a replacement set you found this WONDERFUL Mother Goose set with Miss Peep AND her sheep! Or is that Mary’s lamb? Even if her sheep are still lost, Little Bo Peep has a pretty staff…
The prizes at our church’s “LAFF Night” don’t even compare to that, but the fish pond was my absolute favorite!
Your dolls are so sweet, Martha. So nice that you were able to find similar ones on ebay. Their expressions are really cute.
I adore dolls and whenever we are in a handcraft shop in India, I can’t leave without atleast one 🙂
Very, very cool!
I have a Mother Goose set like this. My cousin and I played with it at our Grandmother’s house. I loved the yellow box, too, but not much was left of it when the dolls became mine. BoPeep has lost both her hand and her staff, but the dolls are all there. I wish I knew how old they are. And I agree, they don’t stand up well to display. I do love them!