Elisabeth Pongratz Girl Doll In Beige Tunic
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:7296 | Modified Item: No |
| Year: 1989 | Country/Region of Manufacture: Germany |
| Brand: Elisabeth Pongratz Kunstlerpuppe |
This beautiful handmade girl doll with wooden articulated body and hand carved and painted face has an extremely good and unusual provenance as one of Elisabeth Pongratz’s own early display dolls from when she first began selling her dolls into the international market.
She has been kept on display out of direct sunlight and her ‘skin colour’ has mellowed very beautifully over time, looking like a natural tan on Nordic skin. Clothes (Beige hand-knitted tunic and hat, cot...ton undergarment, socks and red leather shoes) are all original to the doll.
My father, a specialist Australian toy importer, ‘discovered’ Pongratz the first time she exhibited at the Nuremberg Trade Toy Fair in c.1989 (sorry, I can’t remember the exact year, but it was the first time Elisabeth had displayed there). My father particularly loved wooden toys of all kinds and was so impressed with Elisabeth’s beautiful work that he spent quite a bit of time talking to her, and managed to purchase two of her display samples at the end of the Fair - this girl, and a baby doll (already sold). I remember how excited and delighted he was to bring these special dolls home.
My father ordered more dolls from Elisabeth when he saw her at the Fair a year later (1990?). However by then she had a large waiting list and the shipment took more than a year to arrive. He wanted more but her waiting list had blown out to 3+ years and he was worried about the currency risk. In the end he kept all of the dolls (he often kept the best thing for his collection). *FYI I have two other Pongratz dolls from that shipment separately listed.
This wooden girl is a very reluctant sale, however I am having some health issues and the time has come to let her go to an appreciative owner who will understand her beauty and her very special and unusual provenance as a doll actually made by Elisabeth herself and used to demonstrate her incredible dollmaking talents to the international market. As such, she predates any other doll that would have come to the USA or Australia. A great opportunity to own a piece of the Pongratz history and a very special find, rare to see an early doll in such beautiful condition.
The auction has no reserve so it will sell to the winning bidder. On Jul-21-19 at 14:17:10 PDT, seller added the following information:*UPDATE* She stands 14 1/2” tall and comes with her original wooden stand which is 11 1/2” tall, visible in one of the pics.
She has been kept on display out of direct sunlight and her ‘skin colour’ has mellowed very beautifully over time, looking like a natural tan on Nordic skin. Clothes (Beige hand-knitted tunic and hat, cot...ton undergarment, socks and red leather shoes) are all original to the doll.
My father, a specialist Australian toy importer, ‘discovered’ Pongratz the first time she exhibited at the Nuremberg Trade Toy Fair in c.1989 (sorry, I can’t remember the exact year, but it was the first time Elisabeth had displayed there). My father particularly loved wooden toys of all kinds and was so impressed with Elisabeth’s beautiful work that he spent quite a bit of time talking to her, and managed to purchase two of her display samples at the end of the Fair - this girl, and a baby doll (already sold). I remember how excited and delighted he was to bring these special dolls home.
My father ordered more dolls from Elisabeth when he saw her at the Fair a year later (1990?). However by then she had a large waiting list and the shipment took more than a year to arrive. He wanted more but her waiting list had blown out to 3+ years and he was worried about the currency risk. In the end he kept all of the dolls (he often kept the best thing for his collection). *FYI I have two other Pongratz dolls from that shipment separately listed.
This wooden girl is a very reluctant sale, however I am having some health issues and the time has come to let her go to an appreciative owner who will understand her beauty and her very special and unusual provenance as a doll actually made by Elisabeth herself and used to demonstrate her incredible dollmaking talents to the international market. As such, she predates any other doll that would have come to the USA or Australia. A great opportunity to own a piece of the Pongratz history and a very special find, rare to see an early doll in such beautiful condition.
The auction has no reserve so it will sell to the winning bidder. On Jul-21-19 at 14:17:10 PDT, seller added the following information:*UPDATE* She stands 14 1/2” tall and comes with her original wooden stand which is 11 1/2” tall, visible in one of the pics.
