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http://www.ebay.com/itm/230879180702 -- $25,100 for an Edison Talking Doll with reproduction phonograph.

Wow, That is staggering. Anyone know what one has sold for in the past? ...And to think, There wasn't even a recording included with this one...!!!

Tony K.

The description said it had a Simon-Halbig head, I thought the parts edison used were jumeau, Simon-Halbig is very common and jumeau very sought after today. Bob Smock

Simon-Halbig 719 is the correct head.

The doll in this auction appears all authentic, except for the reproduction phonograph. Dolls without phonographs normally sell around $3000-$3500. Original phonographs are extremely rare, the last one I saw at public sale was $14,500. But this auction was totally out of proportion, even if it had been an all-original one. There are many dolls without phonograph mechanisms since all the remaining stocks were sold off as surplus, without phonographs inside, after 6 years of lawsuits. Those with original phonographs were only sold for a few months in 1890 before being withdrawn. I'd speculate there are 50 empty dolls for every original complete one.

Even the clothing of this doll is a reproduction. The basis for the complete reconstruction was a stripped doll. By the way, at the time the body was made in Sonneberg, Germany.

The auction result, the outcome of a competition between two individuals with the necessary cash, is not representative for the real value which is about $5000 in this condition.

Interesting enough an Edison doll, which claimed to be all original, sold (w/o clothes)for $6,000 this past weekend at Noel Barrett auctions.

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/137 ... -mechanism

Did anyone inquire about this doll to confirm its originality?

As you can tell the doll that brought the big bucks, the mech was a repro, notice the aluminum cylinder holder, an original is stamped steel. The one that brought $6000 was indeed an original one, sans record. I know for a brief time someone was making reproduction cylinders for these dolls, If I had the dimensions I could also make records for them, and made with new Aylsworth formula wax. were they the standard 100tpi, what speed were they recorded at. If her mother would let her, my daughter would do well for the voice, she is 3 ½ years old.

Interesting how the doll with some condition issues and obviously repro phonograph sold for at least 5 times its realistic value, while an original sold for less than half its value. Auctions are weird at times.

Jean-Paul Agnard has reproduction doll cylinders. He was making them out of recycled original brown wax but even with the addition of a mesh screen liner they still had some problems with shrinkage-related cracking, not to mention inevitable wear since the original stylus is steel. The records he sells now are made of an unbreakable, non-wearing plastic formula in the original brown color. They are ideal reproductions since they look authentic but can be played without any worries.

I'm only aware of 3 surviving original wax records in good condition.

the edison doll cylinders are slightly larger than normal cylinders closer to the intermediate size than standard i think i saw repro's on the norman bruderhoffer site made of a durable hard material
greetings
tino

bobsled48 wrote:The description said it had a Simon-Halbig head, I thought the parts edison used were jumeau, Simon-Halbig is very common and jumeau very sought after today. Bob Smock

You may be thinking of the French Lioret Bebe Jumeau talking doll.