Xanthos Kontis Dolls Appear on Ebay

I was browsing the current historical doll offerings on Ebay the other day and came across several historical dolls produced by doll artist Xanthos Kontis in the 1950s. What caught my attention was the facial detail of the Benjamin Franklin doll and the felt coat with painted details. Several years ago I purchased a Benjamin Franklin doll that looked very similar to the one offered on Ebay except the coat was burgundy colored. The Ebay vendor that sold me the doll said it was a doll produced for the country's bicentennial in 1976 but maybe they were mistaken.

I searched the internet looking for more information about Xanthos Kontis and didn't find anything except more listings for other dolls he produced like the Father Knickerbocker (a character from a Washington Irving novel), at right and Thomas Jefferson and Father Juniper Serra, below). All I could find about the man (??) was a Pittsburg obituary for someone named Xanthos Kontis Contaridis dated November 4, 1994. This could be the right person based not only on his name but that one of the dolls offered on Ebay is a portrait of William Pitt - a historical character rarely encountered. It would be natural for a historical doll artist to produce a doll of the local favorite son. If anyone has any additional information about this doll artist I would be interested to learn more.

Shining Knight and Fair Maiden Added to Collection

Today, I won the bid on a couple of interesting antique medieval character dolls on Ebay. The knight, standing 8 1/2" tall has a suit of armor constructed of metallic fabric. His face is painted on fabric stretched over what the vendor believes to be a papier mache form and was reportedly produced in England.

His companion, a nicely detailed maiden in medieval costume carefully stitched of felt with beaded accessories is 8 1/4" tall. She too has a nicely detailed face painted on fabric over a form also believed to be papier mache.

Although the vendors says they were produced in England, their facial style reminds me of the Russian porcelain dolls I have purchased from Russian Dolls of St. Petersburg. I was surprised that no one bid against me as I found the dolls well made and a nice example of craft art. I also appreciate the fact that they are small and won't take up a lot of display space.