Sylvia Natterer Fanouche Dolls by Gotz--and a Baby!

A couple of months ago, I came across this sweetie at a doll vendor's booth at a local antique show.

I knew right away she was a vintage Gotz doll, designed by Sylvia Natterer.  She has a full vinyl body, beautiful rooted hair, painted features, and stands about 18 1/2" tall.  She is all original, down to her shoes (except for the hair ribbon--I added that).  I snapped her up when I saw that her price was only $40.  What a deal for a quality made, German doll!

 

She wears the sweetest, little wrap dress which ties shut at the side front.  I'd love to replicate this style for some of my other dolls.

 

Sylvia Natterer is a German doll artist who was heavily inspired by Sasha dolls when creating these dolls for Gotz in 1989.  The earlier dolls have no painted lower lashes--lower lashes were added to the dolls in 1994.  This cutie has brown painted eyes and no lower lashes.

 

She has the longest, most luxurious hair!

 

Two weeks ago--16 days to be exact--I had back surgery to repair a slipped disc and compressed nerves in my lower back.  The surgery went great and I've healed from the incision just fine, but what no one tells you ahead of time is that you WILL HAVE immense pain for the next several months as the affected nerves "wake up" and heal.  This part has been so hard for me, and it has confined me to my bed for most of the day.  So, to take my mind off the pain and combat the boredom, I find myself doing a lot of browsing on Ebay!  I'm actually surprised that I haven't bought more than I have--I think I've exercised a lot of restraint, given the circumstances.  But last week, I happened across this little cutie and just couldn't turn her down:

 

This is the original doll that Sylvia Natterer created for Gotz, named "Fanouche".  She has long, red hair with lots of curls framing her face.  All the dolls that came after her with different hair and eye color were simply known as "friends of Fanouche".

 

Both of my dolls are marked like this on the back of their neck:

 

Her outfit is so sweet.  It consists of a teal, velveteen dress with a lace collar, a Swiss dotted pinafore, white tights and black, patent leather shoes which buckle.  Her dress closes with snaps.

 

No painted lower lashes. blue painted eyes, and a light sprinkling of freckles.

 

Gorgeous red hair!

 

This little guy is also a doll by Sylvia Natterer for Gotz--but he was made after 1994 since he has the painted, lower lashes.  He also has a full, vinyl body.

 

Close-up of his sweet face. 

 

I believe that Sylvia's later dolls were given names, but since I got this little fellow second-hand from a doll show many years ago,  I don't know what his might have been.

 

He makes the perfect baby brother for the Fanouche girls!

 

Aren't they so sweet together?

 

Gotz stopped making Sylvia's Fanouche and friends doll in 2003, I believe.  Her dolls are now being created by the Petitcollin doll company of France.   I did a post on August 30, 2015 showing two of these newer dolls in my collection:  Finouche ZOE and Minouche JOELLE:

 

Here is the link to that post, if you're interested:  http://dotsydoodle.blogspot.com/2015/08/new-petitcollin-dolls-zoe-and-joelle.html

 

Besides the wonderful quality of these dolls, I also love the fact that they can sit nicely without splaying their legs wide open like some dolls.

 

These dolls are just so sweet!  I wouldn't be surprised if more ended up joining my doll family before too long.