The History Of The Mary Hoyer Dolls
Established in 1925, the Mary Hoyer Doll Manufacturing Company started as a craft store in Reading Pennsylvania. The founder, Mary Hoyer, initially made knitted items for children and infants to wear. Later on, she used a model doll to make crocheted and knitted dresses with her pattern book. The dolls were initially supplied by Ideal Novelty and Toy Company with its twist waist and torso feature. Thus, the first few dolls were labeled with Ideal’s marking. Nevertheless, the doll’s clothes were labeled Hoyer.
In 1937, Mary then hired Bernard Lipfert’s expertise in doll making to create her own doll line. The dolls were made of composition materials, sleep eyes or painted eyes, real upper lashes but the lower portion is painted, and a closed mouth. The models were also manufactured by the Fiberoid Doll Products Co.. The dolls were then embossed with the label “The Mary Hoyer Doll.”
By the end of 1946, the Hoyer dolls sported a hard plastic material which has the marking “ORIGINAL Mary Hoyer Doll Made in USA.” This newer version had mohair wig, blue sleep eyes with eyelids, closed mouth, and still with real upper lashes and painted lower ones.
In 1937, the company started to make their boy doll which measured 14 inches tall and had an all composition body which sometimes comes in prince costumes. The hard plastic version came around 1946 which also sported a jointed body, sleep eyes, short mohair wig, and a closed mouth. The boy doll was also produced in limited number, thus it is slightly priced higher than the common female dolls. This also makes it as one of the most sought -after dolls for collectors.
Another character that was launched in the 1950s by Hoyer was the Gigi doll. It came in two size varieties, 14 inches and 18 inches tall. It had a jointed string body which was also made of hard plastic. The doll featured hair wig, sleeps eyes, closed mouth, and also a hard plastic head.
In 1957, the 10.5-inch Vicky doll was introduced and it came with twist waist, rooted hair, high-heeled feet, and a jointed hard plastic fashion body. The doll was actually the Suzette doll of Uneeda thus it has the marking of the Uneeda Doll Company on its neck as it was supplied by them. It was then repackaged and dressed with Hoyer’s clothing creations.
The Mary Hoyer Doll company had its business closed in the 1970s but was then recently relaunched with its new creations. The new doll editions are priced from $56 to as much as $229. The dolls also come with a line of accessories and clothes and amazingly a line of beautifully crafted wigs of different colors and hairstyles.