AG Raised Neck Stamp - More Research (and Questions)

In a previous post were pictures of a used Josefina doll that I bought with the raised neck stamp. I had seen the raised neck stamp on a Nellie doll being sold on eBay by a consignment shop months earlier. I had researched it and couldn’t find a lot of information, and thought maybe someone on LADL had information on the raised neck stamp. Since that posting, I did a little more researching and bought the Nellie I had seen on eBay. 

This is the neck stamp and body tag on my Josefina. 

1. Ticia mentioned being told that the Josefina mold had been broken. Nellie has the Josefina face mold, so I found that was interesting that both dolls would have the raised neck stamp and be from the same mold. 

2. Here is the Nellie I bought from a consignment shop on eBay. Josefina and Nellie have the same neck stamp ‘American Girl LLC’, the same body tag, and the neck opening doesn’t have the added wedge or ‘V’ shaped material to make the neck opening wider. 

3. When I did a search for the raised neck stamp, I found a blog post about how to tell if the doll is an authentic American Girl doll. In the comment section, a person asked about GOTY Kailey Hopkins raised neck stamp. The blogger replied saying that she bought Nellie from AG, whose neck stamp is raised. I went on eBay to look at GOTY Kailey dolls, and found two with raised neck stamps. The differences between Kailey, Nellie and Josefina: 

Kailey has the classic face mold and her raised neck stamp says, ‘Pleasant Company’. Kailey was released in 2003.  

Nellie was released in 2004. 

Josefina was released 1997. 

(More on release dates.)

One similarity is that her neck opening also doesn’t have the wedge or ‘V’ shaped piece of fabric to make it wider. 

This is the link for the Kailey doll with the necklace: 

This is the link for the second Kailey doll.

4. Then a raised neck stamp Josefina appeared on Goodwill. Her neck stamp also says ‘American Girl LLC’.  What year was this box used? I don’t see it on the LADL post ‘American Girl Doll Boxes - History’ and I don’t see any other website with a history of the boxes like LADL has. I have two boxes that have the same design, and on the tag, it says ‘Made in USA, Germany, China’ I'm curious if the heads and limbs were just starting to be produced in China and someone messed up the mold resulting in a raised neck stamp instead of an indented one? 

5. I remember seeing something about a tag being inside the torso by the shoulder that indicated month and year that it was made. So I took apart my Josefina, but I didn’t find a tag. But the bottom of her head mold didn’t seem to be like other molds on dolls that I have. The bottom of the head on other dolls seems to be flat, but my Josefina’s is a bit slanted, or curved, not sure how to describe it. Here are pictures: 

6. Here is a Bitty Twin that was sold on Etsy with a tag that has ‘3371’ on it instead of a year.  Looks like the neck stamp says ‘2002 Pleasant Company’, which is indented.  

I have found this topic interesting, since I don’t see this very often. Some sellers don’t take a picture of body tags or neck stamps, unless it is to show that an older historical, GOTY, or JLY doll is Pleasant Company, which reduces the opportunity of seeing different neck stamps and body tags. I can see how showing a different body tag or neck stamp, when you are selling the doll, would raise the question of the authenticity of the doll. 

AG Raised Neck Stamp - Joesfina Montoya

The AG Raised neck stamp

I have only seen this a few times, on dolls for sale or auction. Searching for information about it online, I can only find one person mentioning that their doll has the raised neck stamp, in the comment section of a doll blog post on how to tell if a doll is an AG doll.

The Josefina I bought came with this box, I don’t know if this is the box she originally came in. Was this a limited production, since the Pleasant Co and other AG neck stamps are recessed?

Anyone with more info please comment below.

*REVIEW* Addy Face Mold Differences

Since we all know that Gabby is TM 46 with them Sonali face mold, I wanted to focus on doll face molds and subtle differences I have noticed. 

Addy has one face mold, but lately my dolls with Addy face molds look different from one another. 

TM 31 and MyAG 50 look different, but same face molds.  MyAG eyes look bigger and seem to face you straight on. TM31 her eyes seem smaller and look down turned. Noses look different too and the vinyl on My AG 50 catches more of these light in the room on her face than TM 31.  They are the same in color, but 50 seems to glow. Pleasant Company JLY 18 has an Addy face mold, but looks different than the other two. Darker vinyl and features in the face are more defined. 

This makes me feel 100% confident that Gabby may have slight variations in her face mold as well that may be different from most TM46. Hope this helps. 

-Ticia

*REVIEW* JLY 9 vs Samantha

Here is another look at JLY 9 doll and Samantha.
I brushed August's hair back and off to the side.  This was how her hair looked in some of the old catalogs. Now it is dryer and not as silky. Here she is next to Samantha. You can see the hair difference and most of the JLY dolls did not have curls, or layered hair. Big difference from Samantha.

Faces look similar because of the time period they were manufactured. Eye difference makes it easier to tell them apart. However when I found August with her eyes closed in a box at my parents house I thought she was Samantha. She was in her dress so I wasn't sure what doll I was bringing back home until I saw her face and eyes.

Another thing I noticed in old catalogs is the eye color change in wording. In one it says GT DOLL 9 gray eyes in another hazel.

There is more variety now and very few dolls have bangs unlike the dolls of the 1980s and 1990s PC years. Let me know what you think of the similarities and differences in dolls yesterday and today.

Ticia

*REVIEW* Molly vs JLY 9

Here are the twins!

In 1995 GT 9 D came out. Light skin, light brown hair, gray eyes.  Molly has these same features so it can be hard to tell them apart.

One way to distinguish between these two is to look at the hair length and thickness. This can be difficult at times because older dolls can have hair cuts and the hair may be thin due to over combing. 

Molly has silver glasses, but glasses can come off and JLY dolls were offered glasses for their line too. Mine are gold and they also came with a red felt-like holder or glasses carrier.
Bodies of the dolls also vary.

Molly 2013 doll has a newer look, more face paint and shinier hair.

Molly White Body PC doll has longer bangs, lashes and a white cloth body and soft vynal. 

JLY 9, has a beige body like all light skin dolls after 1990 and a fuller wig. Her bangs are cut differently, but are still full. Face paint is light and eyebrows are not as defined. 

A JLY doll 9 and Molly beige body PC doll can pass as identical twins. The only indicator is the wig and the length, thickness and curve at the end. Molly's hair is longer and falls straight down. JLY 9 has a curve at the ends like most JLY 1990s dolls.

Hope this helps.

Ticia

AG Doll Chart - Reference

Shosy put together a detailed AG chart for doll fans to reference!

Thank you Shosy!

Maryellen and JLY#38 - Comparison

I got my MaryEllen last week and did some comparisons.

 With the introduction of MaryEllen, JLY #38 disappeared.
It isn’t hard to see why.

Here is a closeup:

The difference in the eyes is obvious here. MaryEllen’s face paint is a little darker than #38 (and it seems like all of the newer dolls have more face paint.)

#38 can hop into a time machine and be one of MaryEllen’s sisters, younger (Beverly) or older (Carolyn or Joan):

 

The family resemblance is obvious. #38 is wearing an Our Generation Retro dress from Target. The quality between the two dresses is obvious. The American Girl dress has serged seams while the OG dress has raw edges. The OG dress has a sewn in crinoline that is yellow and pretty thin—it doesn’t add much fullness. The cardigan on the OG outfit is much better quality than the dress. It is knit and has a mesh lining. The shoes are nice and the glasses add some dress-up possibilities. Look for it on sale—I paid around six dollars for it last year.

#38 looks AMAZING in Mary Ellen’s outfit (and could be mistaken for ME at a glance)

 

Can I just say how beautiful MaryEllen’s Meet Dress is? It is cotton and poofs out even without the extra crinoline. I wish the purse had a clip but everything else is top notch. #38 could be MaryEllen’s doppelganger from the front. The differences, however, are obvious from the side:

 

#38 has a lot of short hairs to cover her wig cap that are hard to corral. She looks much better in pigtails than in a ponytail.

MaryEllen can be all modern too:

Whew, I was afraid MaryEllen could only wear her own clothes! ;-) The hair is quite different. 

 

MaryEllen has wavy hair and much more of it than #38. My #38 had her hair in braids (she was being Anna from Frozen) for a long time which caused some crimping. #38 has very straight hair and no layers. Both have shiny, silky hair—no texture.

Here is another picture showing the length and fullness difference.

 

With the waves, the length differences aren’t that obvious. But #38 still has a lot less hair. Final thoughts are though the two look superficially the same, there are enough differences that AG probably didn’t have to retire #38, but they were getting rid of all the dolls with bangs so the writing was on the wall.

Everyone looks good in MaryEllen’s dress. Ramona is rocking the 50s look.

And now it is time for Halloween. 
Happy Halloween!

I also thought a fun discussion question would be:

If you had to pare your collection down to five dolls (any brand) what five would you keep?

-MollyMonster

*Review* Comparison - AG and A Girl for All Time Dolls

I get A LOT of questions whether these two brands can share clothing.

NO!

And I understand why because everyone loves the A Girl for All Time period costumes and wants them for their AG dolls to wear. 

 

AG dolls have an 18" cloth body and are far thicker than AGAT dolls.

By comparison AGAT dolls have 16" slim bodies, all vinyl.  

American Girl Face Molds - By Category (Updated)

Here is a reference for the different AG face molds and which dolls fall under each category.

Addy face mold

Addy Walker, MyAG # 1, 11, 18, 26, 31, 45, 50, 58

Classic face mold

Caroline Abbott, Emily Bennett, Felicity Merriman, Gwen Thompson, Isabelle Palmer, Kailey Hopkins, Kirsten Larson, Kit Kittredge, Lanie Holland, Lindsey Bergman, Mia St. Clair, Molly McIntire, Nicki Fleming, Ruthie Smithens, Saige Copeland, Samantha Parkington, Blaire Wilson, MyAG # 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 29, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 44, 48, 49, 51, 52, 55, 56, 57, 59, 60, 61

 

Jess face mold

Ivy Ling, Jess McConnell, Kanani Akina, MyAG # 30, 40, 54

Josefina face mold

Chrissa Maxwell, Elizabeth Cole, Josefina Montoya, Julie Albright, McKenna Brooks, Marisol Luna, Nellie O'Mailley, MyAG# 28, 53, Rebecca Rubin, Grace Thomas, Lucinda Vega

Kaya face mold

 Kaya'aton'my and Logan

Marie Grace face mold

 Marie Grace Gardner

Sonali face mold

Cecile Rey, Sonali Matthews, MyAG# 46, 47
  

Asian Face Mold

MyAG#4