Help ID Native American and Mexican dolls?

My mother gave to me some dolls which had been hers and her mother's. They were collected in the 1940s. Two especially intrigue me.

The first is a Mexican doll with designs and YUCATECA embroidered on her clothes. The second is a small Native American doll, a woman wrapped in a blanket. I'm not knowledgeable about dolls, and haven't been able to find others like these online. I'd love to learn more about them, and wonder whether they're worth selling or not.

 

Does the smaller doll in the blanket unwrap at all? There might be info / characteristics worth seeing.

The head looks like a 'Skookum doll' on that one, but the fabric on the bottom does not.

 

I don't see Yucateca embroidered but it refers to a female from Yucatán. Did they travel there? The traditional clothing is a Hipil so perhaps she's meant to be dressed like this?

Debora

 

That look like it...
https://for-sale.yowcow.com/listing/134789096/

https://gspawn.com/skookum-doll-rare-sitting-male-female-3-5-pair/

http://www.zeppy.io/product/gb/2/321545366738/

 

Unfortunately the doll is wrapped up tight. The blanket doesn't come off. I'll look up Skookum dolls.

 

"YUCATECA" is hidden in the folds of her skirt.

No, they didn't travel there; this was very likely bought in the 1940s in Seattle.

 

WOW! That's exactly what I have. Thanks SO much for the links -- I'll investigate more.

 

I'd think that was an odd thing to find for sale in Seattle in 1940s.

Debora

 

The small doll is a Skookum doll, which is a registered trademark and brand name doll. They were manufactured by the H.H. Tammen Company of Denver, Los Angeles, and New York.

It is a common misconception that they were made by Indians...which is entirely untrue. They were first made by Mary McAboy,a former Anglo school teacher, who then sold her company to the Denver firm, which mass produced them as a popular souvenir item, selling Skookums all over the country.

The best reference on line is probably http://www.skookumgal.com/skookumnews/index.html I'd be careful of taking the word of many of the sellers on eBay. There are hundreds of "Skookums" listed, but many are not authentic. Several knock-off companies also made similar "Indian" dolls wrapped in blankets, and there are many that were made in Japan. The Skookumgal website has information on how to tell the difference.

They were made by the millions from the 1920s to the 1960s. Many tourists bought them thinking they were buying a Native American doll, which the company encouraged. If you get a chance, see if you can find the background on H.H. Tammen, on the Skookumgal web site.

So if you try to sell it, just be sure that you don't identify it as a Native American doll, because legally it isn't. Tammen got away with it, before the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 was passed.

 

@Taupou .....yer the best !!!!