Limited Signature Edition 21

Birth of a Royal Baby Boy

Limited to 5000 sets - Issued in 1982

This depiction of the Prince of Wales is based upon how Alison Nisbet imagined he might dress, to welcome his wife and firstborn son, Prince William, back to Buckingham Palace

The Princess Diana doll has a more traditional (for Nisbet) mohair wig - (see Limited Signature Edition 19 for Diana with a moulded plastic wig).   

The Royal Baby, Prince William, was sold with his mother, and the two shared a catalogue number, but were distinguished by the addition of a letter "a" for Diana, and "b" for Prince William

The complete set consisted of the following three dolls :

  • P/1007   - H R H Prince Charles (Royal Birth Model)
  • P/1008a - H R H Princess of Wales (Royal Birth Model)
  • P/1008b - The Royal Baby (Royal Birth Model

The boxed set of three dolls came with a single certificate

 The slideshow below displays the entire "Royal Birth" doll collection

The doll pictures will auto run as a slide show in the window above.

Press F5 (function key 5 on your keyboard), to re-start the slide show.

Alternatively, you may control the slideshow manually – follow the steps below :

  • Place the cursor at the bottom of the window to access thumbnail and navigation control bar
  • Click on the “?” (question mark) symbol (bottom left hand side of the control bar) for a detailed explanation of the controls
  • See a full screen slideshow by clicking on the “Square with Arrow” symbol (2nd from right on the control bar)
  • Use the keyboard arrow keys to move forward and back through the slideshow, as desired
  • Use the “ESC” key to leave full screen mode
Paul's photo of the two sets compared

Correspondent Paul L and his sister both purchased the LE.21 "Birth of a Royal Baby Boy" set, some years ago.   They noticed, when the sets were compared recently, that there were differences, and wondered if both dolls were genuine.   Here is our response to Paul's question :

Although described as a "Limited Edition", 5000 sets of dolls was a large production run, and although all broadly similar, dolls from various points through the life of the production run could show some costume variances - as seen in a comparison of Paul's dolls with his sister's set.   It's quite likely that if the lace used for Diana's collar ran out, the pearls were substituted, in order to allow completion of the batch - and this same reason might have required an alteration to the neckline of the dress, too.

Diana's short "bob" hairstyle caused a lot of problems to the House of Nisbet, as it is not so easy to make a short mohair wig that looks right - and certainly not quickly, in a high output production situation - so they experimented with the moulded plastic "helmet" wig, (as seen on Paul's doll).   This was the cause of a lot of controversy here in the UK, and the wig did not find universal approval.

So both dolls are the "real thing", and show the sort of variation that occurs from time to time.   Many collectors wouldn't be aware of any variations, (only having the one doll to look at), so Paul's two sets reunited tell a very interesting story.   

Thank you, Paul!

News

21st September 2023

 

Important Announcement

 

My dear wife, Christine, passed away on the 8th December, 2021after 8 weeks in hospital. I was by her side, when she slipped away from me peacefully, with no pain or suffering.

 

Chris had been struggling with a slow decline in health, associated with a progressive, untreatable, and ultimately terminal lung disease, and finally succumbed to her old adversary, Pneumonia.

 

We had been friends for 55 years, together as a couple for 50 years, and married just a month short of 48 years, when she died.   

 

This website was Chris's idea, and I did all the technical stuff, to make it work.   After news of Chris's passing reached her close friends in the doll collecting world, I was deeply touched and gratified to hear their tributes to my dear wife, and I must thank them all for their kindness and support.   Ultimately, it was her doll friends that gave me the courage to continue with the website.

 

In the months before her eventual hospitalisation, Chris had outlined a number of additions and changes she wanted to make to the website, and it is my intention to honour those wishes, and to implement the changes we had considered, over the coming weeks and months.

 

I must apologise to all those who have written to us via the website, only to have your emails go unanswered.   Unfortunately, the email system had been hacked aroung the time Chris was going into hospital, and many emails must have been lost, as a result.

 

As you might imagine, I felt completely broken by Chris's loss, and it is only now, almost 22 months after her passing, that I have felt strong enough to even look at the website again.   

 

My aim is to continue with the website, and to implement Chris's aims for her many new ideas as soon as I can.   In the meantime, I have hopefully got the email system sorted out, and I will attempt to answer any enquiries as soon as I can, and to send replies with the same high degree of accuracy that a reply from Chris would have had.

 

From now on, I will be flying solo, whilst my co-pilot and guide will be soaring much higher, (though she is always in my heart, and in my thoughts).

 

My thanks to all our website visitors for your continued support

 

Dave (also known as Arthur), and Chris, (my lost love, Guinevere)

 

Christine Poulten

25th December 1949 - 8th December 2021