Antique Bisque Dolls

There was an incredible rivalry between French and German Dollmakers.

Both sought to be the only major dollmaking organisation in the world.Jumeau was the top French Dollmaker (closely followed by BRU whose superb dolls were exceptianal in design but who sufffered by making fewer but perfect dolls)

 

The introduction of Bisque heads ensured even better quality but Jumeau had the better designers and clothes makers.

 

Kestner on the other hand was known as the King of the Dollmakers - he produced superb dolls at lower retail prices however his dols often had a very German look to them and their clothes were not quite up to the standards of Jumeau and Bru.

 

Wigs on German made dolls really did look as German Children dressed their hair with plaits and buns in the German stle.

 

Eventually however, Kestner subtly changed his dolls to look more like French Dolls and a more succesful sales team meant Kestner had much more control of the World Market..

This was at the time of course of the new mail order catalogues in many countries and He managed to monopolise the supply to many of these companies

 

Eventually the French companies one by one joined together in an effort to fight against the powerful German company that was undercutting them on price.

 

The French companies remained in business until after World War One but soon fell by the wayside against the competition.

 

The History of both the Jumeau and Kestner companies can be see by clicking on the pictures and text links above.

The Jumeau link takes you to more choice on the history and sections about Jumeau and their dolls.