Santa Rosa doll show draws enthusiasts

You could buy a Donald Trump doll that blurted “you’re fired” when you squeezed its belly, or spend about 100 times more on a rare 1880s French doll at the annual Redwood Empire Doll Show on Sunday.

Before the end of the day, Trump was gone but the $5,800 “exceptionally nice - in perfect condition” French girl doll was still waiting for a buyer.

The owner, antique doll collector Jim Fernando, wasn’t exactly expecting to make the sale.

The Benicia octogenarian, who has been collecting and selling dolls since he was in grade school, said he’s had people come up to him 20 years after they first saw one of his dolls and announce “I finally have enough” money to buy it.

Fernando, who is well known for the quality and rarity of his antique dolls, has some dolls for which he paid $30,000 to $40,000, but they weren’t at Sunday’s show. Those, he said, “are not for sale.”

There were all manner of less expensive dolls on display at the Veteran’s Memorial Building, including characters from “The Wizard of Oz,” presidential dolls, vintage Ken and Barbie, Shirley Temple and Madonna.

For a real throwback, there were dolls of former heads of state John F. Kennedy, Winston Churchill and Nikita Khrushchev.

The several hundred people who attended Sunday’s show were a decidedly more mature demographic and mostly women. But organizers noted that some of the most serious collectors are men, like late Santa Rosa Police Officer Ray Radley, who wrote an illustrated book on doll collections.

His widow, Judi, was manning a booth Sunday.

“It’s still a very viable hobby,” she said.

Doll fanciers say dolls offer a window into the past, whether it’s a German doll from the 1880s, celebrity dolls, more contemporary action figures, or fashion dolls.

“I’ve loved dolls all my life. I think my mother cut me off too soon from my Christmas dolls. I’m making up for it now,” mused Arla Weiss, 83, a volunteer at the doll show.

There was an appraiser on hand for people to check out the value of their family collections.

Colleen Richardson of the Doll Mercantile in Petaluma was appraising a steady stream of dolls and said some of the very old, one-inch miniatures especially stood out.

Aficionados spoke of the allure of some dolls - the lifelike faces and eyes, the fine features and period dresses - which children treasured before throw-away consumerism took hold. Kids even used to line up at doll hospitals to take a broken doll in for repair, Fernando noted.

Nina Lowrey, head of the Redwood Empire Doll & Study Club, said dolls are defined by their materials - whether wood, china or composite.

Some of the more desirable dolls have articulated wrists, elbows and shoulders, or are ball jointed.

The recession, imports, mass production and eBay are factors that have affected the price of dolls, she said. Lowrey said it’s a bit like classic cars: “the Model T isn’t worth as much when muscle cars come into vogue.”