Patriotic Kewpie doll : Miss M M Walton, Shannon Vale, NSW

Blow mould celluloid doll in skin tone. The doll is produced in two heat-joined pieces, front and rear, and is moulded in a sitting position with elbows on knees and hands under chin, with each hand holding a flag which sits under each ear. A small topknot of hair is also featured. Doll's eyes are painted in white with black pupils; flags have black painted stick and white flag with red 'rising sun' pattern.

Celluloid Kewpie doll, probably of Japanese manufacture, depicted sitting down holding a pair of Japanese (?) flags. The Kewpie doll was based on an illustration drawn by American Rose O'Neill to accompany a story titled 'Kewpie's Christmas Frolic', published in the December 1909 issue of 'Ladies Home Journal'. The cute topknot character, based on her concept of a cupid, became very popular, leading O'Neill to cast around for a doll manufacturer to realise her creation. The Kewpie was thus first made as a bisque doll in Germany in 1912 with subsequent licences seeing it made in cloth, celluloid and (later) plastic. The doll made a fortune for O'Neill until interest declined in the 1930s.

Many companies produced unlicenced versions, of which this is probably an example. It was given to Miss Marjorie May Walton (born Shannon Vale via Glen Innes, NSW on 27 April 1910) as an infant, just before or at the start of the First World War, making it one of the very early celluloid examples produced. It is possible that this version was made in Japan as a patriotic doll, based on the two flags it holds. Japan fought with the Allies during the First World War, making it likely that this style of doll was marketed in Australia during that period. Miss Walton's family owned the property 'East View'; she later married a Brown and died on 6 December 1983.