A composition doll is a doll made partially or wholly out of composition, a

composite material A composite material (also called a composition material or shortened to composite, which is the common name) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or ...

composed of sawdust, glue, and other materials such as cornstarch, resin and wood flour. The first composition dolls were made in the 19th century. Composite dolls were marketed as unbreakable, compared to earlier more fragile dolls.Izen, Judith
''Collector's Guide to Ideal Dolls: Identification and Value Guide''
, 3rd Edition. Collector's Books, 2005. However, over time the composite material deteriorated, leaving many older dolls with small cracks and flaked surfaces. Some dolls were given a protective coating of varnish to delay deterioration.

Background

Many antique German and French bisque dolls from the 19th century combine a bisque head with a ball-jointed body made of composition.An Introduction to Bisque Dolls - About.com
/ref> In 1877 French dollmaker

Jumeau Jumeau was a French company, founded in the early 1840s, which designed and manufactured high quality bisque dolls. It was founded by Louis-Desire Belton and Pierre-François Jumeau in the Maison Jumeau of Montreuil-sous-Bois, near Paris, France ...

introduced the ''Bébé Incassable'', with a bisque head portraying a young girl and a fully articulated composition body. With realistic glass eyes and contemporary fashion styles, thousands of Bébé dolls were produced for an international market. The French Bleuette doll from S.F.B.J. has a jointed composition body with a bisque or composition head. The composition Bleuette was produced from 1905 to 1958. In the United States composition dolls were hailed as an improvement in doll making from the fragile bisque and china material previously used. Two types of composition manufacturing processes were used: cold press and hot press. The cold-press composition manufacturing process was invented by Solomon D. Hoffmann in the 1890s. Hot-press composition began around 1920 and was an improvement in the processing. Horsman secured the rights from Hoffmann, whose company was the

American Doll Company American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the " United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

. Some early

celebrity doll A celebrity doll is a doll modeled after a celebrity. Celebrity dolls have been in production for a very long time. In the 1840s, several famous ballerinas were featured as paper dolls. Also in the 19th century, various military heroes were port ...

s were made of composition, like the

Baby Peggy Diana Serra Cary (born Peggy-Jean Montgomery; October 29, 1918 – February 24, 2020), known as Baby Peggy, was an American child film actress, vaudevillian, author and silent film historian. She was the last living person with a substantial car ...

doll from

Louis Amberg & Sons Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis (d ...

, which was a success in 1923. The American Ideal Toy Company began making composition dolls in 1907. They produced over 200 variations of dolls throughout the composition era. Their Shirley Temple doll was one of the most successful celebrity dolls. First produced in 1934, millions of the composition Shirley dolls were produced. Composition doll manufacturing lasted until the late 1940s in the U.S., when plastic began to be used for dolls.

References

{{Dolls 19th-century toys Dolls