A jointed body and carved face decorated with stylized eyebrows and
brightly rouged cheeks characterize the "Queen Anne" style dolls.
English woodcarvers and craftsmen began making these dolls in the 1600s
which continued through the 1840s. Affordable only to affluent families,
the vast majority of Queen Anne dolls where owned by women, who dressed
them in the fashions of the time.The dolls painted almond shaped eyes, changed to glass and porcelain in later years and limbs came to be made of fabric or leather. Some reports note that fewer than thirty 17th century Queen Anne dolls have survived.
Collectors call the wood dolls from England from the 18th and early 19th centuries "Queen Anne" dolls, which is somewhat confusing, since Queen Anne's reign ended in 1714! These dolls, in good to excellent condition, are extremely rare, and cost from about $1,500 for an early 19th century doll, to over $40,000 for dolls made in the late 17th century (very few have survived-less than 30 by some reports).
