The Large 19" Early Izannah Walker Doll Which Was Rescued

This doll sold in 2013, over a decade ago. I shared some images of this doll which sold at James Julia's auction house. I retained some of the images for private study, because I was working on a project. Then I had a hard drive failure, so thought I had lost them. But, through the power of automatic backup of images, I found the other images of that doll! 

As a result of this, I've decided it's better to share than to hold back. We never know what can happen to images/devices/lives. Knowledge we have today can fade as we age. So, here is a more complete documentation of this doll. 

These images are not edited in any way. They are what a 2013 camera in the hands of an amateur could do then. I took pictures in a small conference room with fluorescent lighting, with staff holding the doll. I had been used to being left alone with dolls to do pictures, so this was different for me. I asked to take pictures outside to get a better images of her whole body, and the Julia auction employee went outside with me and held the doll up.  Not my best pictures ever, but they still show the scale of the doll next to an adult women's arm/hand. So I'm thankful for that. 

Maine Antique Digest reported the sale of this doll, reporting the height as 29" 

"Julia reported that an Izannah Walker doll was retrieved from a garbage can when the wife of the consignor rescued it about 20 years ago (which would have been 1993). It was made in Central Falls, Rhode Island, around 1860 with a one-piece painted head and upper torso, molded and painted arms and legs, and a stockinette-covered body. Like a phoenix rising from the trash bin ashes, the doll soared to $14,220." 

Kovel's Antique Trader said this:  

"An early Izannah Walker cloth doll that was saved from a trash heap over twenty years ago by a late Rhode Island woman with a keen eye who thought the doll needed a little love sold for $14,220 against an estimate of $4,000-6,000."

Rescued from the trash!  Oh, my! The rescuer "thought the doll needed a little more love" - well, yes, but love of her as she is. 

As you go through the images, you can see that the back part of the head is made up from what appears to be a green knitted material. I think but do not know, that this makes a case for it being an earlier doll, along with other construction details.