Friday, June 20, 2008

Gregor here

Hello Everbuddy—it's Gregor here! If you want to know the truth, unlike Sasha, blogging is not anything that ever crossed my mind. But since I have the chance, I may as well give it a whirl. You never know, it may be my only hope for 30 seconds of fame. So I get to tell you MY story. I was MamaT's first Ebay Sasha. Now Sasha is hovering over my shoulder and telling me I have to back up a bit, to where ol' Karinne left off. Well, I wasn't even here then, so I don't know why that's my job, but I'll tell you what I've heard anyhow, and no doubt, Sasha will let me know if I get any of this wrong.

I think MamaT got Karinne in 1999. MamaT got married in 2002 and started on this house building project, which they still haven't finished. Don't ask me why it's taking so long. You might find that on MamaT's blog. Anyhow, in 2003, they moved onto the property, and most everything had to go into storage including Sasha and Karinne. MamaT says it really bothered her to think of her dolls packed away in a dark box in a cold storage unit, what with them being real and all, but it couldn't be helped. And I don't know what the technical term is, it's not hibernation or aestivation, but we dolls go into some sort of suspended animation while we're in storage, so it's not quite so bad as you think. Still we do prefer to be out in the open.

Fast forward to 2007 when at long last the storage unit was emptied, and MamaT was delighted to be reunited with her dolls again. She also pulled out her Sasha books, although most of her other books are still boxed up. MamaT says she searched for Sasha's on Ebay a number of years ago, and found some, but there were only a few. With her dolls back on her mind, she did a search in 2007 and was amazed to find dozens of dolls available at any given time. She googled Sasha too and found all kinds of wonderful websites about Sasha dolls and saved most of them on her Favorites. It wasn't long before she became addicted to looking at the Sasha doll listings almost every day, just to enjoy looking at them you know. The most common search term she uses goes like this:
  • sasha -bratz -euro -eurogirl -american -osmond -attic

This narrows the number of non-Sasha hits down a bit. There are other terms she could take out too, but there is a character limit on the search term. She has this search saved as a favorite. Now if you are looking for clothes and accessories, you could probably leave Eurogirl, Magic Attic, and American girl (for accessories not clothes) in, but MamaT mainly just wanted to look at Sasha's which she says she never tires of.

Now I said earlier that I was MamaT's first Ebay Sasha, but that was not the search she used to find me. Just for an experiment, she tried searching on “Gregor” and I was listed without Sasha in the title. She thought maybe there would be a little less competition for me, since most people just search for Sasha. So she tried bidding on me. It was a very close auction. She won me by only 2 cents. She felt a little guilty the next bidder lost by such a narrow margin, but later that same bidder outbid MamaT more than once, and she saw her pick up lots of other things. So she quit feeling guilty after that. Back when Ebay didn't keep the bidder names hidden, she would see the same Sasha bidders a lot, some often enough to make a guess at their personality. But she says it's been more fun communicating with them more personally on the Sasha-L list.

My original owner was a young girl who had an English Grandma who got me and a blue gingham Sasha for her granddaughter. The mother who sold me couldn't remember what my original outfit was, but the highest probability is that I wore the denim jeans and navy sweater. Her best guess is that I was purchased in about 1985, and I have all the characteristics of an 1980's doll (dark brown and white stringing, minimal hand detail on my eyes and paler skin). I've been told that I resemble Hugh Grant for what that's worth. Sasha says I should take that as a compliment. I came wearing the pyjamas outfit with the red robe usually found on blonde Gregor's, but also shown on a brunette in the postcard set. I also was wearing the ribbed briefs typical of dolls of 1980 and older, so it seems my underwear is older than I am. I have to tell you one great advantage of being a doll is that you can wear the same pair of underwear for 20 years and no one cares. In fact, the longer you have worn the same underwear and same clothes, the more valuable you are. Is that cool or what? But since I have pyjama bottoms, I really didn't need the briefs all that badly, so I loaned mine to Sasha who wears a skirt and needs them more than I do. Again, this is all totally kosher when you're a doll.

One of my best talents and favorite tricks is standing on my head. I am also a pretty good dancer. Now Sasha is whispering that I have to share my favorite website with you. Well having some English family roots (besides being manufactured there), I'll have to say Shelly's site, Sasha Doll UK is the one I'd like to share with you. It has all kinds of great Sasha doll photos and some fantastic dolls for sale that would make any Sasha collector salivate. Good day to you all! --Gregor Vaughn

Friday, June 6, 2008

Sasha Resources

Hi, It's me, Sasha, again. I just discovered something really cool. If you click on the pictures in the blog notes, they pop up full screen, so for example, if you click on Angela K's photo in her entry below, you can really see how pretty she is and how pretty her dress is. I've always been a little envious of her dress. Except when it comes to play time, mine is a lot more practical.

I also notice A. Karinne made several references to the Sasha-Puppen book (sample page shown in photo above) without explaining what it was so now I think I need to do an entry about the Sasha books and other Sasha resources out there. So first about the books, currently there are 3 available.

1) Sasha Dolls by Michael O'Brien, 1998. It is a small paperback 6x8” and about 40 pages long. 1,000 books were printed, and each has a number stamped in it. MamaT's is #031. It features photos and information about the Sasha dolls produced in the 1960's, including both the German and English dolls. Dorisanne referred to it as the “Dream Book”, I think because it has so many nice photos of dolls we'd all love to have. The thing about Sasha dolls is that the older the dolls are, the more hand painting was done to finish their eyes, so the older they are, the more unique and extraordinary the eyes are. In particular, the early German or Gotz dolls (which stopped production in 1970) have a wide variety of eye styles and face styles too. MamaT didn't like them as well as the English dolls when she very first saw them, but has since become entranced with them. A 60s Gotz doll is in our fantasy wish list.

2) Sasha-Puppen, Sasha Dolls by Benteli, Verlag Bern, 1999. This is the book Angela Karinne kept referring to. It is a large 11x11.5”, 120 page, coffee table book, written in both English and German (as is O'Brien's book). The book tells the story of Sasha Morgenthaler's life with samples of her early artwork, including stuffed animals she made for her children when they were young. A section of the book was written by Sasha's daughter, Barbara Cameron Morgenthaler. The book also features numerous large format, stunning photos of Sasha Morgenthaler's studio dolls. This book was MamaT's first introduction to the studio dolls, and she was instantly captivated by them. A studio doll is on the extreme end of our fantasy wish list.

3) Sasha Dolls Through the Years by Dorisanne Osborn, 1999. This book is the current encyclopedia of Sasha dolls. There is information on the studio dolls, course dolls made under Sasha's or her assistant, Trudi Loffler's, instruction, and all the lines of production dolls. There is information on the different face and body types, so you will know what it means when a studio doll is described as CIII, for example. There is a lot of information to assist a collector in aging their doll, including stringing color, skin tone, eye painting style, boxes, tags, clothing, even underwear and snaps or closures. It is really a must-have for the Sasha collector.

There is information on ordering these books on Susanna's site.
--http://www.sashadoll.com/books.html

You can also order Dorisanne's book directly from the author (and even request a signed copy). See this link for information on what Dorisanne has to offer. You can also ask her about magazines with Sasha articles she may have.
--http://www.mysashas.com/friends_of_sasha.htm

The books also show up on Ebay regularly for a wide variety of prices. Since we have them, we haven't searched out other sources.

Finally, we are eagerly anticipating the publication of a 4th book, which will be titled The Magic of Sasha, by Anne Votaw, Ann Chandler, and Susanna Lewis, expected summer 2009. Besides the history and identification of Sasha dolls, the book will also feature examples of the creativity that Sasha has inspired.

There is also a magazine called “Sasha World” currently printed in the UK. For info, see:
--http://www.mysashas.com/sasha_world_magazine.htm

In fact this is a good website to feature today. The home page is: --http://www.mysashas.com/
Click the “Doll Information” tab for more good info about Sasha's.

And there is a current newsletter called Sasha Friends. See this link for information on how to subsribe to the newsletter and information on subscribing to one or more Sasha on-line email groups. --http://www.sashadoll.com/#board

There have also been many magazine articles about Sasha dolls published. There is a good bibliography on Susanna's page, good through 1999.
--http://www.sashadoll.com/bibli.html

Post-1999 Sasha articles we've found include the following. You can find these sometimes if you google or search for the magazine issue on Ebay.
--Osborn, Dorisanne. Best of the West, Sasha travels Arizona's highways. Dolls, Oct 1999, p14-15.
--Osborn, Dorisanne. Sasha Dolls, a Favorite of All Ages. Doll Castle News, Nov./Dec. 2003, cover, p. 4-5.
--Knüsli, Laura. A Swiss Vignette: Zürich's Toy Museum exhibits Designer Toys "made in Switzerland" from Sasha Morgenthaler, Kurt Naef, and Antonio Vitali. Doll Castle News, Nov./Dec. 2003, p. 10-11.
--Heyerdahl, Virginia Ann. The Sasha Morgenthaler Doll Museum at the Museum Bärangasse. Doll Castle News, Nov./Dec. 2003, p. 12-13.
--Warnaka, Karen. Apron with Knitted Bib for Sasha Dolls. Doll Castle News, Nov./Dec. 2003, p. 14.
--Stiles, Evalyn. Velvet and Taffeta Holiday Dress for Sasha. Doll Castle News, Nov./Dec. 2003, p. 20.
--Nelson, Martha. Sasha How to... Holiday Box with Cookies. Doll Castle News, Nov./Dec. 2003 p. 23.
--Truffaut, Laura. Needlework Corner: A Snowflake Turtleneck for Sasha. Doll Castle News, Nov./Dec. 2003, p. 24.
--Osborn, Dorisanne. Sasha Morgenthaler, Swiss Doll Artist. Doll Castle News, Nov./Dec. 2003, p. 25, with paper dolls of Sasha Morgenthaler, age 7, featured on p. 26-27.
--Osborn, Dorisanne. The 2003 Sash Festival. Doll Castle News, Nov./Dec. 2003, p. 28-29.
--Newman, Penny. Sasha Dolls, a Story of Harmony, Simplicity and Love of Humanity. Contemporary Doll Collector April/May 2004, p. 30-35.
-- Sasha Babies at the Beach. (paperdolls). Doll Castle News May/June 2004, p. 26-27.
--Osborn, Dorisanne. Sasha Morgenthaler's Boys and Girls. Doll Reader, Feb. 2005, p. 24-29.
--Ndouop-Klajian, Ruth. Playing with Asymmetry. Doll Reader, December/January 2008, p. 62-64.

There are oodles more websites, but I am only going to feed them to you a few at a time, so you can spend some time to enjoy each one, without being overwhelmed at all of them, although you can find more on some of the links I've already listed.

Wow, I didn't realize there were so many Sasha resources when I started this note, and I'm sure there is more I've missed. Phew!