This 14-inch strung bride is an early Madame Alexander hard plastic Wendy Bride, dating from 1950. She is all original and has clearly never been played with; unfortunately, she has probably been displayed in open air for many years, and her fragile outfit is discolored and deteriorating.
First let's look at her positive qualities:
1) Wendy Bride is all original. She has white oilcloth shoes with bows (one bow missing), thigh-high rayon stockings, and white taffeta undies. She even has her original bouquet still tied to her hand. It looks like it's never been removed so I left it alone.
2) Wendy Bride's dress is tagged.
3) Wendy Bride has a beautiful strawberry-blond mohair wig, still in the original set. Mohair is super soft, and is therefore notoriously difficult to work with. To find it still in the original set like this is extremely rare. And I love the color of this wig!
Now for her problems:
1) Wendy Bride's dress and veil is in extremely poor condition. There are many large holes in the netting and it all feels extremely fragile. It also is a little discolored with age, most likely from being stored in open air for quite some time.
2) Wendy Bride's face appears to be a little discolored. I hardly noticed this before taking the pictures, but my camera picked it up: Her face, besides being pale, has some varying shades of flesh tone.
A pristine mint example of the 1950 Wendy Bride appears on page 194 of Linda Crowsey's Collector's Encyclopedia of Madame Alexander Dolls 1948-1965. The caption says that in mint condition, she books for $900 and up.
Now, my doll is clearly not even close to being in mint condition, but even considering her problems $65 is a reasonable price. Perhaps some talented seamstress could remake her dress and make her beautiful again!
Now, my doll is clearly not even close to being in mint condition, but even considering her problems $65 is a reasonable price. Perhaps some talented seamstress could remake her dress and make her beautiful again!
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