Doll:French Fashion Doll

French fashion dolls bearing the inscription "FG" present an interesting dilemma for doll collectors and historians. Two major doll manufacturers operated in Paris from 1860 to 1915, Gaultier and Gesland, and both sold dolls marked with the initials "FG." For a long time, collectors accepted that attributing "FG" dolls to one of these makers would be impossible. Recently, however, a distinction emerged. Experts have discovered that Gesland did not really make dolls in the fullest sense. Gesland indisputably assembled and repaired dolls, but the firm manufactured only doll bodies. The heads, feet, and hands that Gesland used came from Gaultier, a firm that won many accolades for its beautiful doll heads. This doll's shoulderplate, which is part of the head piece, bears the "FG" mark, and is therefore a Gaultier creation.