Collectors of vintage German dolls know this Plasticbaby doll perfectly well. The logo of the company was an angel with the inscription PLASTICBABY on the wings spread out to the sides, It won the hearts of collectors all over the world.
But not many people know the short history of the company.
Let me tell you about a company and about amazing dolls.
The company Preh-Werke from Bad Neustadt/Saale was the first to start producing plastic toys after the war in 1949 and produced them for only one decade, until 1959. Founded the company back in 1919 by Jakob Preh.
Until 1945, the company produced radio components
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After the death of the founder of the company in 1945, the Preh family received back their property and the new CEO Walter Preh refused to release radio components in favor of plastic toys.
In addition to Bad Neustadt/Saale, two more subsidiaries were eventually opened in Arnstein and Gemunden.
The first toy products of Preh-Werke were not dolls, but electric cars with remote control. For a while, the company produced wooden dollhouses and miniature vacuum cleaners for children.
That is why it is so difficult to find dolls with angels on their backs now. Promotional releases of doll products from 1958 have been preserved. On them, it is obvious that the company offered plastic and even vinyl dolls.
In various sources of information, you can see dolls with the same face, but different sizes. from 3 to 14 cm .
Some doll models were produced with hair, although most dolls were produced with molded hairstyles.
In the photo, you can see 6.5 cm and 14 cm dolls in comparison, like grooms and brides.
Most of the dolls of that period were produced as souvenirs in folk costumes of different countries.
Until 1959 , the company produced even large dolls with glass eyes and wigs with a height of 46 and 56 cm .
In 1950, the company released the first vinyl baby swimmer, 10.5cm tall (if you put him in the water and make him “swim”, then his hands will turn like a real swimmer).
There are several vintage Plasticbaby dolls in my collection. Let’s take a look at these cute dresses for my lovely doll. All dresses I knitted for her.
You can make an order for a dress for a doll from 2 to 5 inches. Follow the link and fill out the order.
