Photo Gallery

Since we didn’t have a fireplace or a chimney I used to get oranges, nuts, and stocking stuffers in a big paper mache boot. In this picture a Terri Lee baby called Linda Baby is welcoming you from my paper mache boot. Behind Linda is a small tree with antique spun cotton Christmas ornaments. The ornaments come from Germany and date to approximately 1900-1910. Just behind and to the right of Linda’s head you can see an old spun cotton ornament shaped like a peach. It belonged to my grandmother, my dad’s mother who died at the age of 38 when my dad was 13 years old. Every year my dad would put this ornament on our Christmas tree in memory of his Mom. I did that for many years also as my dad passed away at 45 but now I have it on display in my doll room all year long.

Terri Lee is dressed for Christmas in her red velvet snow suit and hat. She has white bunny fur mittens and white felt galoshes trimmed with fur. The little elf in the picture is a felt doll called a JumpJump.

These two girls are sporting an earlier version of the Terri Lee snow suit or Nanook costume. It came with either blue or red cotton pants, a fur coat lined with fabric matching the pants, a fur trimmed hat and very tall fur trimmed mukluks.

In the front a painted plastic Terri Lee, about 1948, is dressed in her early red taffeta Christmas gown. It is trimmed with red sequins. Just above Terri is an Armand Marseille 390, a German doll from the early 1900’s. She has a bisque head and a jointed composition body and a human hair wig. A Terri Lee with a wonderful provenance poses above the German doll. This Terri Lee went Christmas shopping with her little mother and got lost on a train all by herself. She was given up for lost for 6 months but eventually was found and returned.

Three very different Terri Lee dolls are ready to go caroling. Dressed in beautifully detailed coats they are perfect for the holiday season. Left to right: A hard plastic Terri Lee marked Pat Pend on her back and made in 1950-51 wears a navy blue velveteen coat and hat lined in white taffeta and trimmed with pearl buttons and lace. In the center a composition Terri Lee from 1946 wears a red Botany wool coat and hat lined with taffeta and trimmed in pearls and lace. The doll on the right is a painted plastic doll marked Pat Pend. with a mannequin wig. She wears a red velveteen coat and hat with a white fur muff and felt mittens. She dates to 1948-49.

These Terris are wearing Curtsy Coats. They are made to match real little girls Curtsy Coats. Notice the elaborate details in the coat designs. They are made of fine wool with taffeta lining, matching hats and leggings. The coat on the left has cuffed sleeves and pockets and the coat on the left has a cowl neck and covered buttons with velveteen centers. The hats are very detailed and lined to match the coats.

This Terri Lee doll and outfit was one of my mother’s favorites. She thought that it looked like my daughter who was always very fair with long blonde hair. This particular doll is very pale plastic. am sure that it came from the factory that way and that batch of plastic happened to come up short on the flesh coloring. The coloring is very pale which is usually not a favorite with collectors but I have kept her in this outfit since my mother passed away in 1993.

Here are two Terri Lees showing off a leopard print coat and accessories. The doll on the left is dressed in a rust velveteen coat with leopard collar and mittens. She also has a matching leopard skin bonnet. Both the coat and bonnet are lined in taffeta. Not shown are her leopard trimmed boots. The doll on the right wears a leopard print sport coat with matching hat. The leopard fur is really rabbit fur dyed to look like leopard.

Patti Jo and Benjie can’t wait to go out to play in their matching purple velveteen outfits. Benjie wears short pants and dates to about 1950. Patti Jo wears a velveteen coat and matching hat with a little fur trim on the hat. Her purple and white checked dress can be seen under the coat. She was inspired by the Jackie Ormes’ cartoon character of the same name and dates to 1948. For more information about Patti Jo please see the book Jackie Ormes, The First African American Woman Cartoonist by Nancy Goldstein.

This is a very special “spit curl” Terri Lee doll. Notice that she does not have the usual bangs that Terri Lee always has. She is dressed for the Winter Formal Dance in her white taffeta long dress trimmed in sequins and lace and also wears a long formal coat of purple velveteen. The coat is trimmed in faux fur and lined in taffeta.

Jerri Lee and Terri Lee are dressed in matching polished cotton suits of red and white gingham. Although they are not wintery I thought they were appropriate for the holidays. The Terri Lee Company made many outfits in red and I have a whole cabinet just for the dolls in red outfits. For Southern California these outfits will do fine for the holidays. In other parts they would be too chilly.

Some more dolls in their red holiday outfits. The two Terri Lees have on cotton pique dresses. They are made from the same pattern but the bodice is different. The pique is a very fine wale and both the solid and the print fabrics are pique. Jerri Lee wears red Botany wool short pants and a red checked cotton short sleeve shirt. Jerris with blonde curls are my favorites because my childhood Jerri was a blonde like this one. One of the exciting things about collecting Terri Lee dolls is the size of her wardrobe. Color and fabric combinations seem to be infinite and the fabric was of such superb quality that outfits look as if they had been made yesterday instead of 60 years ago.

Here are two examples of later Terri Lee dolls. They are
from the INS/Marfan era of Terri Lee which is 1960-1962.
They were made in the Los Angeles area and not in
Apple Valley, CA. This Terri’s face is not as artistically painted
as the earlier dolls. Her dress is a cute red and white
gingham with a red organdy apron. Tiny Terri Lee, introduced
in 1955, was continued in this era of Terri Lee dolls. Tiny Terri
wears a red organdy dress trimmed in lace with matching
panties. Tiny Terri Lee has sleep eyes and Terri Lee has
hand painted eyes.

If you have questions, please email me.