Doll, felt faced 'King George VI Highland Uniform', J K Farnell & Co Ltd, London, 1937.

Moulded felt headed doll with painted features. Rest of body is stockinette stuffed and hand stitched, the hands are complete pieces of material with stitching to indicate fingers. The doll is dressed in highland uniform complete with felt red jacket with yellow collar and cuffs, embroidered with stitching and buttons. Kilt is traditional material in red, green, yellow and blue tartan, underwear also made of same material. Doll has knee length socks in red, white and black check pattern with garter round top. Plastic cloth effect shoes with metal buckle detail on top of each shoe. Doll is accessorised with white felt sash with metal pins used for stopping cannons from firing, synthetic black plastic belt, sporran made with white mohair and black ties and buckle. Wearing traditional bearskin helmet made of velvet and black mohair attachment pointing downwards on right side of hat and white mohair attachment pointing upwards with metal flower stud attached on left side.

This soft toy is from Daniel Agnew's collection. He is best known for running Christie's famous Teddy Bear auctions from 2000 to 2007, but his passion for Teddy Bears and all toys goes back much further than that. His mother is a well-respected antique dealer known throughout Britain. As a child he was fascinated with the bits and pieces that she bought home from her various buying trips. Daniel started to attend auctions and shows with her at the weekends and as a child aged 9 or 10, what caught his eye most were the toys.

Farnell toys began around 1867, some sources say it began slightly later in 1871. Miss Farnell began the company in Acton in London making plush and cloth animals. Dolls were introduced to the production line in 1915, and in 1937 special character dolls were produced to mark the coronation of King George VI. The trade mark of these dolls are the felt faces and the embroidered label on the right foot of the doll. Some had an acorn shaped cardboard label attached to their arm.
Farnell went on to produce dolls in plastic in the 1960s and 1970s, which they continued up until 1974 when the company stopped producing toys altogether.

Alpha Toys as they came to be known had business both in the UK and the USA. The Alpha trademark begain in 1925. This particular doll was a representation of people who attended the procession of the coronation of King George VI.

B.129-2010