However, it would be another 30 years before Simon & Halbig would begin making dolls. Bisque and parian dolls, to be precise.

    Both bisque and parian dolls are made of unglazed porcelain. The matte finish gives the dolls a realistic texture that is more like human skin than glossy porcelain or china dolls. But there are differences between bisque and parian dolls.

    Bisque dolls are made of white clay that is tinted to look more like natural skin tones before being molded and then fired in a kiln. Once cooled, the heads are painted to create additional skin tones, then fired again. Typically, each head is painted at least one more time to add more color and details to the facial features (and, possibly, for dolls with moulded hair, hair coloring as well). The pieces are fired again after each coat of paint. The process is the painstaking work of craftsmen.

    Parian dolls are not tinted; hence their very white "skin" appearance. (In fact, the word "parian" refers to the fine white parian marble of Paros, Greece.) However, like bisque dolls, parian dolls may have painted facial features and hair. Once again, the parian dolls are fired in the kiln after each coat of paint.

    [Dolls, as well as other porcelain and pottery pieces, which are not fired after they are painted are called "cold painted." This is done to save money, of course -- and it shows. Paint that is not fired onto the piece, especially when it is applied over a glaze, easily slides or washes off. Simon & Halbig, and other quality German doll makers, did not manufacture "cold paint" dolls.]

    Since they began manufacturing dolls in 1869, Simon Halbig concentrated mainly on making bisque doll shoulder-heads, lower legs, and arms that fit onto leather, cloth, or other bodies, including selling the parts to other doll companies. According to Sherry Minton, who served as a chairman of the Antique Competitive Room at the annual United Federation of Doll Clubs' Doll Convention for eight years, Simon and Halbig did not produce complete dolls or doll bodies other than their all bisque dolls. Focusing on making consistently high-quality modeled and painted faces to meet the needs of other doll makers was one of the ways that Simon and Halbig stood out from their competition -- and they had a lot of competition!

    Alt Beck and Gottschalck, Bahr and Proschild, Bergmann, Franz and Bruno Schmidt, Kammer and Reinhardt, Kestner, Kley and Hahn, Kling, Konig and Wernicke, Max and Heinrich Handwerck, and others were all contemporaries of Simon and Halbig -- and located in the same area of Thuringia. It was the Golden Age of German Dolls, after all!

    Simon and Halbig must have had their work cut out for them just attracting and keeping skilled workers at their factory. But they must have smartly recruited their craftsmen and treated them well too, because the fine craftsmanship certainly shows in their dolls.

   The quality not only lay in the fine molds, and in taking the time to repeatedly paint and fire the bisque dolls, but in the painting itself. The painting techniques were delicate and precise. The attention to detail, the choice and application of colors, made the dolls appear special. And they remain so today. Slight differences can be spotted even in dolls of the same basic model, so that each individual doll seems to have its own characteristics and personality. Then too were the many variations in molds, some designed to fit the doll fads of the day.

    In the 1880s, many of the S&H dolls were made in the classic French style of the time, complete with paperweight eyes, pierced ears, heavy brows, and even the swivel heads on kid-lined shoulder plates. Most of these were made by Simon Halbig for French doll companies. Among the more rare features at this time, are bisque dolls with the head turned to the side, the doll's gaze looking down.

    When the child doll gained popularity and began to surpass adult dolls, Simon and Halbig made the switch too. These early dolls were so special, they were almost character-like in their charming details. Even in the so-called Dolly Face era.

    Dolly-face dolls, typically German-made, were idealized and even exaggerated child portrait dolls. With their plump cheeks, open mouths showing exposed teeth, they are so stylized that they seem almost generic -- but Simon and Halbig dolly-face dolls had more distinctive, more individualized, looks than the others on the market.

    By the turn of the century, the start of the 1900s, doll buyers were affected by photography and were looking for more realistic dolls. While the doll companies changed from the traditional leather or cloth bodies, replacing them with ball-jointed wood and/or composition limbs that allowed dolls to sit or stand, Simon Halbig brought their own creativity and inventiveness to the trend as well. Now S&H would focus on producing some of the most exquisite character dolls ever made. These character dolls also included Black dolls and Asian or Oriental dolls. 

   But that's not all!

    Since the doll heads and limbs were most often sold to other companies, those companies could make all sorts of variations with the doll bodies. That meant there were talking dolls, like mama cryers, and Edison himself selected Simon Halbig parts for his (ill-fated) Edison Talking Dolls.

    The ultimate in rarity and creativity, however, is the articulated wooden doll with cork torso and wind-up mechanism. Known as "the swimming doll", the doll's hands paddle back and forth when the mechanism is wound. The cork body keeps her afloat and she will swim on the water. Patented by Elie Martin in 1878, this early automaton went on exhibition as "Poupèe Nageus" and was sold as "Miss Ondine", with both English and French instructions inside the box. Simon Halbig didn't invent her, but they sure had to create some special molds!

    In fact, S&H had to do a lot of that. The number of doll companies which were supplied Simon Halbig heads and other doll parts number in the double-digits -- and span at least three countries:

American doll companies that used S & H doll heads: Arranbee, George Borgfeldt, Edison (including for Edison's Talking Dolls), and John Wannamaker.

German doll firms: Bawo & Dotter, C.M. Bergmann, Bing Brothers, Carl Bergner, Cuno & Otto Dressel, Eekhoff, Gimbel Brothers, Hamburger & Company, Heinrich Handwerck, Adolf Hülß also spelled Hülss, Kammer & Reinhardt, Louis Linder & Sohn, Franz Schmidt, FAO Schwartz, Schoenau & Hoffmeister, Strobel & Wilken, Carl Trautmann doll mark S & H C.T., Wagner & Zetzsche, Welsch & Company, Wiesenthal, Schindel & Kallenberg, and Adolf Wislizenus.

French doll companies: Fleischmann & Bloedel (or Blödel), Jumeau, Roullet et Decamps, and Société Française de Fabrication de Bébés et Jouets (also referred to as S.F.B.J.).

    This list is by no means complete because not all the dolls made by S&H had both of the company's makers marks. (Some might bear only the S&H mark; others, only the mark for the doll company selling the complete dolls.) While the later dolls are usually marked well, early Simon Halbig dolls are sometimes marked with just a mold number or they only bear the Simon Halbig name. Also, while there were at least two S&H porcelain factories, one in Frafenhain and another Hidburghausen, dolls do not bear any markings to indicate which factory they were made at.

    While Simon and Halbig followed the popular trends of the time, and certainly worked hard to make unique "branded" dolls for the various doll companies they supplied, Simon Halbig applied a creativity and craftsmanship that made their dolls stand out as Simon Halbig dolls. Even unmarked dolls bear a distinctive Simon and Halbig "look". Of course, there were those who would try to capitalize on Simon and Halbig's success by copying the "look" of the dolls -- but upon closer examination it's the quality of the dolls themselves which will expose the copies today just as it did back then. Collectors are advised to familiarize themselves with the look and feel of quality Simon Halbig dolls to educate themselves on identification of these beautiful dolls.

　A Brief Timeline Of Simon & Halbig Dates For Doll Collectors

In 1869, the Simon & Halbig porcelain company began making dolls.

In 1870, the company began making an exclusive line of doll heads. One of these was the very popular bisque shoulder head with fancy molded hair. Some of these molded hairstyles were so elaborate that they had molded hair ribbons too. These came in painted-eye and glass-eye varieties.

In the 1880s, S&H begins making their all bisque dolls.Many of these were fashion dolls that had long molded stockings and other very French looks.

In 1905, the ampersand (&) was added to the Simon Halbig mark.

By 1909, the baby doll with the "bent limbed body" was introduced to the doll market.

In 1920, Simon and Halbig was sold to Kammer & Reinhardt who continued to make dolls at least until 1932, when the company became Keramisches Werk Gräfenhain. (It ceased doll production in 1943.)