Betsy

Meet Betsy. She is a 1965 Vogue Doll. She was my Grandmother Jane's doll, that I was given when my grandma moved into an apartment building. This was my favorite doll of my grandmas when I was growing up. She is a large doll, bigger than a real baby. She used to sleep in a cradle that my grandma had in the basement. I loved her. She wears a handmade gown that my grandmother had made especially for her. Today, she lives in my doll room and I cherish her.

Vogue Dolls were started by Jennie Graves in 1922. The company is known for it's Ginny Dolls. Success followed success until 1948, when a sales dip in her line of existing dolls inspired Mrs. Graves to introduce an 8" plastic doll, the forerunner to Ginny. Store owners and consumers alike loved the new doll, and in 1951, Ginny was officially born, named after Jennie's daughter Virginia. From a point in 1949 where a 15,000 square foot warehouse was needed and Vogue employed 50 regular workers plus from 100 to 200 home sewers and did a sales volume of $239,000 a year, Vogue grew to a point in 1953 where annual volume reached $2,113,904. Ginny’s success was assured.Mrs. Graves decided to retire in 1960, and her daughter Virginia and son in law Edwin Nelson continued to lead the company until Mrs. Virginia Carlson's retirement in 1966. The company was then run entirely by Mr. Nelson until 1972 when the Vogue name was sold to Tonka Corporation.

I loved Betsy so much that when I saw an identical doll, Patsy in the basement of an antique store, also a 1965 Vogue Doll, I had to take her home. Their faces are just so similar. They are each worth somewhere around $50.00-$65.00 dollars.