Wax Wonders from Cuno & Otto Dressel

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:14][music] [music] Hello doll friends. This is Michael Canatus with the Carmel Doll Shop and the Groveian Doll Museum. We are at the Susan and Lou Nunes collection and today I want to share some some treasures from the Nunes collection. Um at first glance um it doesn't look like there's much of a story here but there actually is. So in um history of doll collecting one of the oldest known recorded companies is a company called Kuno Autodressel.

[00:00:57]So they started um manufacturing dolls, creating dolls, putting dolls together in the 18th century and they worked until the the 20th century. So that's a good uh 250 years of doll production.

[00:01:16]And a lot of their items are not known.

[00:01:20]We don't know um because early on things were not necessarily marked. But there is a group of dolls that I call they're really sleepers. And I shouldn't tell you that because I should we should be all grabbing them up. But they are a group of dolls that are sleepers.

[00:01:39]Absolutely sleepers. And they are lady dolls. And to collectors of a certain uh age and time, they were known as yellow gloved dolls. And that's because they had these hands that rather than have a um a finished hand, they decided to do these these gloves, which I don't believe that they were actually yellow.

[00:02:07]I think that they were white and then they're finished with a a a shellac and that has turned them to this kind of yellow uh color after all these years.

[00:02:18]So, I have a theory. Now, you're looking at these heads, and I've examined them very carefully, and they're all the same mold. They're just in different styles and different applications.

[00:02:34]And uh they are absolutely all ladies. And how we know the difference between a wax doll, a lady and a girl is a girl is going to have a shorter neck and a lady's going to have a longer neck. Um then we have to look at who is the style icon of the time. So who is that? Well, in in our time, my time, uh one of the great style icons was the princess of Wales, Diana uh Lady Spencer, Princess of Wales. And at the time that these dolls were made, it was another Princess of Wales, which was Princess Alexandra.

[00:03:15]And it's interesting, it's a very inter this is a very international doll because she's actually Danish married into the British royal family. And then these dolls were produced in Sonnenberg, Germany. So it's kind of a international thing. So I want to go through the dolls. And as I said, it's all the same mold, just different sizes, but we have a great group. So, we have lots of uh different ways that they were made. Now, uh we could call these a few things. We could call them wax over paperiermâché, which they are. We could also call them reinforced wax, which they are, which means that the paperier-mâché was reinforced with basically plaster of Paris. The wax part is a dipping that they would do on the final stage. So, this one we have, which has the the glass eyes, and I'm going to move it closer to the camera, and you can see she's got glass eyes. And and as I said as a uh an international doll um England was a supplier of glass eyes for many many years until Germany got decided to do their own thing. So there's a good possibility that these cobalt eyes are actually English.

[00:04:43]Another thing that's very interesting about these dolls is uh a lot of them will have in the mold they will have a a bit of their shmese molded into the shoulder plate. This one is not showing it and I don't want to pull at the dress. Um but we have another one that does show. Now, another tailtale sign of Akuno Auto Dressel is the amazing detail of the boots. And here we have the boots with the original paint. Even has the stockings and the guarders still in place. Now, why I can say that they're Kuno Auto Drestle dolls is from experience of having these uh we haven't had a lot, by the way, in our 40 years. And they're usually always marked on this leg. So it would be the left leg. Uh and it will be a um an like an eagle or right leg. It would be You're right. Yes. Thank you. My cameraman corrected me. This one is really amazing because it has a beautiful gown and a wonderful shade of pink and uh a a ton of blonde lace. Now, I'm not sure about the the height of this um dress. Uh there may have been an underskirtt underneath this and it might have just disintegrated away, but it's a it is nevertheless a really wonderful piece. Now, if you're lucky enough to um get one of these and they'll have outstanding wigs and um so we have the late 1870s, early 1880s style. And this is done with a lot of padding. And here you can even see you can see that right there. Uh this would be the same on a doll as it would be on a person. You cannot get these styles without adding uh uh additives to your uh hairstyle.

[00:06:57]But now we're going to look at this one next. Basically the same uh same type of eyes. Uh little different coloring. They're all handmade.

[00:07:10]Of course, it's a a little bit bigger size, so you're going to have uh the features are going to show differently.

[00:07:16]But I believe that this one, now we can't see it on this one, but we'll get to the next one.

[00:07:25]I know. Again, look, you can see all handone. So, the the the feet are going to be just a little bit different. Same stockings, same garters, etc. But an exceptional uh piece. And again, padded hair. This is all padded to give that that poof there. And um don't think of it as like a um a m a wig today where everything is sewn on. This would be glued and added to uh not meant to be restyled or um ever combed out. Now this one is the the really different.

[00:08:13]So, there's a lot of questions here. Did she lose her body with the yellow hands or was it a head sold separ separately?

[00:08:22]That is absolutely a possibility. Re repackaged as a French doll. But this one, we're lucky because you can see there is the molded shmese. So, it's not that she's showing her underwear. This would have been a nice little added um detail and you know showing your shemise if it particularly if it had uh outstanding work would have been um a plus. But what's different about her is she has painted eyes and um it it it's again it's the same um mold. It just uh they didn't give it glass eyes. Not only does it have the the painted eyes, of course, but it does not have earring uh holes. So, they could have certainly dropped the earrings from the wig. You see that? Or just glued on some Dresden ornaments. Um we don't know, but it is the it is the same mold. And this does have a little bit less of a wax finish.

[00:09:34]So, uh, could be a different era, who knows? But it really does resemble very much, I think, the Princess of Wales, uh, Alexandra. And again, it's got the wig with all the padding. This you can really see. And there may be, um, um, seaggrass under there cuz it's actually quite um, stiff. um a beautiful costume um in in the 1870s style.

[00:10:07]So um but again because she's got a French body, we just have normal shoes.

[00:10:15]Well, I wouldn't call them normal, but really nice French shoes.

[00:10:21]So, it could very well have been ordered by a French shop as a wax doll and then they could assemble it how they like.

[00:10:31]So, the next one we're going to look at is she's the biggest of the group. Now, I have seen these dolls up to 36 in. So, um this is big for this group, but it's it is not the biggest. And I think this one is very lifelike. got the very long um neck and the what I consider the English uh cobalt eyes. Um very nice amount of wax on this so that it almost looks like it's solid wax, but it is paperiermâché that is then reinforced.

[00:11:08]And of course, we've got the yellow gloves. And I will say that these I think these may have always been yellow.

[00:11:17]Others look like they've they've changed, but this looks definitely like yellow with the little uh red decorations.

[00:11:26]And then you can see we've got the exact same feet as the other girl in blue. Um and those shoes are really exceptional.

[00:11:41]And then we've got I think on the table probably the most fabulous hairstyle of them all. And of course it's easier because it's bigger and again padded all the applied curls, braids, etc. Now, I think we should have give you all uh because I know a lot of the followers here uh are interested in costumeuming. So, I'm going to give you all a treat and let you see the girls from behind because that was just as important in the 19th century, how you looked walking down the street or in the ballroom as you did coming in. So, they really are exceptional pieces and Susan has managed to get um four more than just about anybody I know. But it it makes a a a very nice study group. And you can display these just like you could a French fashion doll. They are all in uh tableau with other dolls just the same as a French fashion doll.

[00:12:57]Anyways, I'm hope you enjoyed this look at these rarelyseen Kuno and Otto Dressel ladies and they really are the Eduardians. A lot of people think that the Eduwardian era began with the the the King Edward's reign, but long before uh he was king, they were the style setters and trends setters uh really throughout England and Europe. Bye-bye, doll friends.

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