Making Faces
LE/59 Dona Elvira
The two images above are of LE/59, Dona Elvira, who was part of Special Collectors' Set No. 8, Queen Mary I - "Bloody Mary" (Mary Tudor), limited to only 250 sets worldwide, and issued in 1975. (Dona Elvira was the Spanish Lady-in-Waiting to Katherine of Aragon, mother of Mary Tudor)
The three images below show the actual metal mould used to make the upper body of this doll. The Nisbet factory had a standard doll body, which was made in a metal block split lengthways. The hollowed-out doll-shaped central space was injected with molten plastic, under very high pressure, to produce the doll's body. The head and shoulders could be interchanged to allow different doll (faces) to be moulded as part of the body, but all sharing the same standard lower body form.
P/1005 Lady Diana Spencer
The two images above are of P/1005 Lady Diana Spencer, who was issued as part of the Limited Edition Set LE 19 - "Royal Wedding". (4000 sets were issued in 1981)
The three images below show the actual mould used to make the head and shoulders of this lovely doll - our plain white casting serves to give an indication of the shape hidden in the mould, but it is the painting that brings the doll to life, and gives it character and appeal!
News
21st September 2023
Important Announcement
My dear wife, Christine, passed away on the 8th December, 2021, after 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
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