Doll Collecting Is Hobby Of Visitor

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31753, 9 August 1968, Page 3

Doll Collecting Is Hobby Of Visitor

"Plangonology” is a word coined in England 16 years ago to describe a new “science”—doll collecting. The first organising secretary consulted the academics to find just the right word to describe the new hobby and their answer was plangonology.

■ A visiting English plangonologlst in Christchurch this week has had her collection valued at $2OOO. She is Miss Mary Dougherty from Kendal, near Windermere.

Doll clubs' usually began as social clubs, but When members became deeply immersed in thelt hobby, its educational and academic aspects emerged, said Miss Dougherty. “If you want to dress an antique doll you have to study the history and manners of the perfod, and if it is a doll 'in traditional costume you will have to consider the geography of the area.” Eventually the collectors might wish to specialise. One member of the Lake Plangon

Club reproduces Kate Greenaway characters (Kate Greenaway was an illustrator whose drawings of children were much admired in the latter half of the 19th century). In America, since the advent of doll clubs (the term plangon is not used there), doll artists have emerged. It

was the Americans wbo first saw the beauty of reproductions, said Miss Dougherty. Doll artists form separate groups over in America. Some members just collect dolls’ heads while others collect and make only paper dolls. Reproductions of antique heads are sold in china and porcelain and members can make their own bodies for the dolls. Since doll clubs became popular In England, the dolls themselves have become valuable as antique items, but most plangonologists are not “in it for what they can make out of it,” said Miss Dougherty. Miss Dougherty has had her collection of 500 dolls insured, but they have a sentimental rather than monetary value to her. Although she had no particular interest 4n dolls when she was a child.

she joined the movement in its initial stages' and was loaned a collection to display when she lectured about dolls to organisations in her area. Collection Grew People often gave her dolls and her collection grew. Her smallest doll is wooden and is only a quarter of an inch high; her largest is a Negro boy doll about three feet tall Her favourite is Serah, which dates back to 1844, her oldest doll is dated 1810, and her most valuable is a French bisque (or china) doll. She has a fairy doll which sat on top of a Christmas tree in a children’s home for 30 years before it was bequeathed to her by the matron. She also has a doll which escaped “the Germans.” It was picked up by a French soldier in a deserted chateau in 1914. He took it home to his little girl and it eventually found its way into Miss Dougherty’s collection. Lecture Tour While in Australia, Miss Dougherty gave 15 lectures on her subject and she was responsible for initiating the first plangon club (the term has been adopted there) in Australia. She has also spoken to doll clubs in America. Her ambition is to open a doll museum in Britain, where there are doll rooms in most museums, but no museum specialising in dolls.

When asked if men indulged in plangonology, Miss Dougherty said about 10 members of her club were men. It was really just like any other collecting hobby, where rare, original and unusual items were prized, she said. The photograph shows Miss Dougherty with two of her dolls. The larger one on the right is a model of Susan Blue, a Kate Greenaway character, and a China doll which was given to her in Adelaide.