Featured Wax male doll - help dating it

You know for sure it's nineteenth century? How do you know so definitively? Could you perhaps share how you know this? I really do not think this is antique. Vintage yes...but nothing says antique doll to me and I have had a tonne of antique dolls go through my hands. Again I could be wrong but I really don't think this is *old* old

 

I'm confused.

How was it described when you bought it? Where did you buy it (antique market, auction house, charity shop...)?

Can you remember why you bought it, i.e. what you thought you were buying at the time? (It's all right if you can't -- you wouldn't be the first! )

 

Maybe it would help if @Northern Lights Lodge could take a look at the lace trim? Hand made v. machine made, possible date?

 

@Fiotomas and @Any Jewelry - what a curious little man! From what I can tell of the lace; it appears to be machine. The trim on the collar and leggings definitely appear to be machine. As for the cuffs, I feel like they are machine also - but if there is a closer up photo... I could re-assess.

Cheerio Leslie

 

Thanks Leslie, I though so, but you have far more lace experience than the rest of us.
That means the clothing can't be older than 19th century. When exactly was the first lace making machine invented, 1860s or so?

 

@Any Jewelry - Netting machines were invented earlier on... early 1800's. But they had no pattern; just open netting. Yes, 1870ish for design pieces.
Leslie

 

"In 1809, Englishman John Heathcoat invented a machine that could make the most tedious element of lace, the mesh ground. By the mid-1800s, machine and handmade laces were often combined into such forms as bobbin appliqué on machine-made net, and a variety of patterned machine laces became available."
https://www.sfomuseum.org/exhibitio...coat,patterned machine laces became available.

 

@2manybooks - yep, that's about right!
Leslie

 

Hi, Please see if these photos are better

 

I bought it at a small flea market in the UK around 25 years ago. I liked it because it was unusual being a male and wax. Also the fashion intrigued me. I can't remember how much I paid for it but certainly not too much as I was a student at the time! I can assure you it is not from the 1900s by looking at it. I am not an expert on dolls but I can see it. It is either 1800s or end 1700s. I was hoping somebody could tell me by looking at the style.

 

Are you able to undress him? What does the body look like and what is he made of?

Debora

 

No, I can't. The body is soft, I guess fabric while the head, hands and feet are wax