$45,000 Bid Wins 19th-Century Doll

A 19th-Century French doll known as a “long-faced Jumeau” sold for $45,000 at a Los Angeles auction Saturday, setting a world record, a spokeswoman for the auction house said.

The 29-inch, blue-eyed Jumeau Triste, with a bisque head and pressed wood-pulp body, was sold to a New York City man on the first day of a two-day auction by Theriaults, The Doll Masters, a nationwide auction house, spokeswoman Tammy Trujillo said. The new owner of the doll asked to remain anonymous.

The previous record of $38,000 was set in 1984 by the French doll A Marque, made about 1880 by a now-defunct Paris company of the same name.

The $45,000 Jumeau, made in the 1880s by the then Emile Jumeau Co. of Paris, is rare because of its size and excellent condition, Trujillo said. She said the Jumeau Triste, nicknamed the “long-faced Jumeau,” is larger than most dolls of its era. The doll, an adult woman with a blond mohair wig, is dressed in a royal blue gown with trim made of bronze-colored silk and ecru lace and is wearing a tan straw hat, pearl earrings and black leather shoes, Trujillo said.

Theriaults, headquartered in Annapolis, Md., expects to sell from 450 to 500 antique and collectible dolls during the two-day auction, as well as museum-quality Victorian clothing and paper dolls from the 19th and 20th centuries, Trujillo said.