The little sailor was great but the poor fairy had seen better days. She was in really good condition apart from the elastic holding her arms to her body which had perished so they had come adrift.
About two years ago, I bought a "made in Hong Kong" doll from either late 1950s or early 1960s when "hard plastic" was so thin that it was almost flexible and you could actually squish it. I bought it from a charity shop and they were almost giving it away. Her mouth was painted with almost white lipstick, her staring eyes were fixed and the paint was coming off her moulded hair.......she was horrible and scary looking to be honest - but she was dressed in a genuine net skirt trimmed with silver ribbon and tinsel from that period. She also held a wand (silver stick) which had lost it's star. Well, once the little tatted fairy arrived, I cut off the Hong Kong doll's dress and also the ragged fairy skirt and hair-bow (which frankly had gone a ghastly shade of yellow) from the Pedigree doll and redressed her. So while her outfit is totally repro, it is repro from the correct period.
Here she is now......she doesn't look like the same little doll and while she is no longer authentic, she stands happily among my other Pedigree Delite dolls which are both authentic and re-dressed. I'm happy, she's happy and the other dolls are happy to welcome the Fairy among them.
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