Company: Horsman
Doll: ‘Big Eyes’
Country: USA
Year: 1975-1976
Size: 14in
The Horsman company is based in the USA and make many types of dolls. Edward Imeson (E.I.) Horsman opened his toy company in New York city in 1865 and became a leader in the toy industry. I believe the Big Eye dolls were only made for a year which makes them very rare dolls. These dolls are sometimes confused with ‘Pudgie’ Dolls which were also made by Horsman from 1977-1979.
They are a big doll and have a hard vinyl body with hard vinyl movable arms, legs and head. I have only ever found girl dolls, with either brown or orange rooted hair and they have painted shoes and face.
Don Jensen has written a number of books on Horsman Dolls which may be helpful in classifying your dolls.
Doll Faults
Horsman Big Eyes dolls are very hard to find to purchase. I have only ever seen 4 on eBay to buy and I bought 2 of them. The first doll I purchased had very bad crazing on the body, front and back. I have never seen this before. Unfortunately she fell off a small table onto carpet (as her legs were quite loose) and she landed on her bum cheek. When I picked her up, she had a dent, and a lot of the top layer of vinyl had come off (see below pics). The dent did pop back out by itself but I am left with a very fragile doll, until I find a way of stabilizing it. Luckily all the crazing on her body can be hidden with clothes. I also plan on making a mohair wig for her, as her hair was very damaged. It is also very hard to separate the arms, legs and head from the body. I would not recommend doing this.
