Francois Gauliter

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Illustration 11 – 31” F.G.

Francois Gauliter has been a mystery doll maker. It has been hard to find much information on him. He made bisque doll heads and limbs, as well as all-bisque dolls. On December 2, 1872 he took out a patent for the improvement of molds for making dolls’ heads. In 1884 his firm became Gaultier and Son and again in 1888 the name changed to Gaultier Brothers. In 1899 Gaultier Brothers become part of the SFBJ company but not part of the land or premises.

As far as collectors are concerned dolls with the markings F.G. are referred to as Gaultier’s. Heads marked F.G. are painted in a style of their own. F.G. heads and dolls are valuable to a collector because they are made of fine bisque and are well decorated.

There are three types of bodies on F.G. dolls – wood, wood and composition, and Gesland bodies. Bodies by Gesland are made of a padded metal armature covered with knit fabric.

Some small, later F.G. dolls are not as well painted and bisque is not the same quality. One detail that alerts us to the difference is low painting of nostril color, which makes the doll appear as if it has a bloody nose.