Pre-Mattle Dolls - How are they "branded" on their necks?

[sjdc]

Do pre-Mattel dolls have a different look to the text where it says "Pleasant Company" on the back of their neck? Also, do they have a tag on the side of their body? After looking at the fake Felicity on eBay and a post about restoring dolls, I decided to finally brush though Kirsten's hair, only to realize that where it says "Pleasant Company" on the back of her neck it is a little crocked comparing to Flicity's, Kit's, and Kaya's. There isn't a tag on her side like the rest of the girl's either. [img]confused.gif[/img]

[courtneysunshine]

My pre-Mattel dolls do not have tags on their bodies either. I believe others have posted that the earlier dolls do not have tags. Also, I think Ann has posted that not all the lettering is even on the earlier dolls as well. With the fakes, there really isn't "one" thing that distinguished it as fake, but several things combined. To me, if you look at the pictures, you can see right away they are not AG dolls. Your Kirsten is probably most definitely the real thing. If you are very concerned, though, you could go to the website and put your doll up against the pictures there and you should be able to tell. Plus, I don't think anyone has mentioned seeing fake Kirstens, just Kit, Felicity, and Lindsey

Hope this helps,

Kim [img]smile.gif[/img]

<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ August 11, 2004 05:31 PM: Message edited by: courtneysunshine ]</font>

[Grapedy1982]

I personally don't think there's any such thing as a Pre-Mattel fake. Mattel moved production to China, which is where the fake dolls are produced. They probably don't have any way to copy the pre-Mattel dolls.

The pre-Mattel's are definately different from the current ones in hair color, hair feel, skin tone, body tags, the thickness of the body, the stamp on their necks. My pre-Mattel Molly and my sis's pre-Mattel Kirsten have a different font used to stamp Pleasant Company on them. They also do not have tags

The odds of your Kirsten being a fake are slim to none, IMO. The factory in China just doesn't have the capabilities to fake a pre-Mattel, again IMO.

[sjdc]

Thanks! She does look like an AG, but after reading a post here I looked at the back of her neck and though about the way it was in the fake AG auction on eBay.

Now her hair is a lot better- now to get the fizz out (tangles are gone!)....

[TaffyCheerful]

There was a report on 60 Minutes about fakes in China. Essentially, any company that moves its production to China is virtually guaranteed to seet its products illegally copied and aggressively sold. China's government really does not care if companies create and market "knock-offs", even ones with the original brand logos, etc.

So, the lesson to be learned is that moving your production to China will get you cheaper manufacturing, but at the cost of a large number of pirated copies of your product, which you will then spend the money your saved on lawyers fighting to keep the pirated copies off the market.

Taffy

[horsemom]

I think some of the more recent Felicitys (post-Mattel) now have body tags that say 1986 because this is when the design for Felicity was copyrighted. My 1991 Felicity (bought the year she came out) has no body tag. But I've seen lots of recent Felicitys with them, so they're probably not fake, just maybe not very early types. You can tell the German-made ones primarily by their hair and eye color, which is quite different. Their faces are a bit different too.

[mom4four]

Don't worry, Mandy's Felicity has a body tag, we bought it from AG in 2002. Also all of my dolls have slight differences in skin tone, thinness, etc I think it just has to do with when and where they were made. They were all purchased from AG

<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ August 16, 2004 07:14 AM: Message edited by: mom4four ]</font>

[Sakurako]

I bought my Felicity in January, 1993. She is definitely genuine and has no body tag. Also, she's tubbier than the Molly and Sam dolls I bought in Nov. 1992. The very earliest Sam, Kirsten and Molly had slim, white muslin bodies and their eyes are smaller than those I bought in the early 90's. None of the dolls had body tags back then. I think the first time I saw a tag on a doll's body was when I bought one of the first Josefina dolls. I knew immediately she was different (no nice new vinyl doll smell when I opened her box and the vinyl was very hard!) so then I checked the label on her box and saw she'd been made in China. Afterwards I took her clothes off and saw the body tag. I'm guessing that body tags might, therefore, have started being added around 1996 or 97. The AGoT dolls that I bought when they first came out in 1995 didn't have body tags either, and were made in Germany. Hope this helps!

[americangirlsrus]

I have a Felicity doll that has a body tag from 1986. Please tell me that's not a fake, because I did get it off ebay! [img]frown.gif[/img]
Also, in trying to build our collection I have gotten a double of Samantha, Molly and Kirsten. The two kirsten's looked very different, especially skin tone the older, I think, was more orangy. And Samantha's face and body on one was much thinner and her eyes seemed deeper set, maybe? I'm not sure if we kept older ones or newer ones, I let my daughter pick! I wish someone would write a book about these dolls for those of us (Me) who weren't collecting while all these changes were taking place. I think I'm rambling now.. it's getting late!!