1940's Kathi Urbach fabric dolls

[familycollectiblesstore]

Good morning- now that I finally have time to give to my items, yet another question...these are Kathi Urbach creations, vintage, 1940"s. I have found very little on her work, and nothing at all like this set. I have found precious few stand alone dolls, and zero dolls that are in beautiful wooden pagoda style shadow displays. They are hand signed, very, very detailed and vibrant, the boxes are well built and quite heavy, the dolls ( need a clean..) have the signature emerald green eyes, tiny shell detailing, the boxes are beautifully hand painted and adorned, large, boxes come in at 23x16, the sculptures at 13 1/2". The boxes are hand signed on the bottoms, also shell adorned. Highly detailed and I am certain, pain staking in their construction. I need some information help, legwork, to try to value roughly, even 1 comp wold help, assuming it's apples to apples.  Regards V76

[parlor_panache]

I'm not sure if you've looked already, but Kovels has one comp listed. Unfortunately, it's from 2004, so as far as accuracy goes that's questionable. This is what they have listed on their site...

Price: $100
Pattern or Item: Figurine
Category: Goldscheider
Description: Woman, Gold Decorated, Kathi Urbach, 1940s, 12 1/2 In.
Year Priced: 2004

Hopefully someone will be able to give you more information than this! Good Luck! 🙂

[familycollectiblesstore]

Thank you, Kovels will go on the list! Information gathering I have found, takes a village..  V76

[us-catbird]

HAVE YOU LOOKED UNDER JAPANESE DOLLS OR FIGURINE FIGURES AND SHADOW BOXES

[familycollectiblesstore]

Yes, of course. These are made by hand by Urbach specifically, it's not a typical "doll", a sculpture made with wire and moulded fabric, thank you for taking the time to reply, on with the search! Regards V76

[verybrad]

There is a similarly elaborate geisha figure on Etsy lited at $204.00.  There are a few figures in the liveauctioneers archives.  Most failed to sell but a couple were in the $70.00 range.  There is a pair in a landscape setting with a tree that might be the best comparable but, unfortunately, it did not sell. It had an auction estimate of $100-300.00 even with some damage.  I would think your figures to be at the top range for such things so maybe that $300.00 estimate or a bit higher might be something to consider. 

[familycollectiblesstore]

Thank you VB, for taking the time, my gut is telling me not to let these go for a song just yet, I think I will hold on to them and do more research, I kind of like them, they're different...  V76

[verybrad]

I don't know whether or not you think $300.00 + each is going for a song or not.  I don't think there is all that much demand for these, seeing how many lots were passed on at auctions.  There has to be an upper limit to what is reasonable.   I am not so sure that more research will yield all that much unless you mean waiting for more comparables to pop up over time.  You could also contact an auction house to see if there is interest with an auction estimate.  Lastly, you can always put them out at a price you are comfortable with and see whether or not you get interest.  Unfortunately, I have found that there can be quite a gap between expectations and reality for collectibles these days. 

[familycollectiblesstore]

On the contrary, 300 would be most welcome! I occasionally get a bit..over optimistic...on items, do the research, get back to reality..and still make a tidy profit. These interest me for the fact I can't seem to dig up much. For that reason they interest me. If I make a profit in the meantime, outstanding. Thank you again for your input, V76

[junqee]

Hi there:

I hope your summer is going well; mine is so far but today I was looking at and "dusting" my Favorite fabric doll and thought of your pair in shadow box. 

Do you still have them? 

Are they for sale?

I'm interested if yes.

Donna (from West Albany, NY 12205

[maxine*j]

---

@junqee wrote:

Hi there:

I hope your summer is going well; mine is so far but today I was looking at and "dusting" my Favorite fabric doll and thought of your pair in shadow box. 

Do you still have them? 

Are they for sale?

I'm interested if yes.

Donna (from West Albany, NY 12205

---

Since the original post about the dolls was made nearly two years ago, and since the original poster (OP) has not been online on these boards for nearly three months, you'd do better to contact the OP through eBay's message system.  Just click on the user name, then click on "Send Message" or "Message Me" and send OP an email through eBay.

[mountaingigi]

Since the OP's post is from two years ago, it's best to send a private message rather than revise such an old thread. They may or may not ever see your request.

Just a suggestion.

[maxine*j]

Say, is there an echo in here?

No, wait, make that:  [Cue applause]  Is there an echo in here, Ms Trollmama, madam?

       

[mountaingigi]

lol - we must have been writing our replies at the EXACT same time ...

And thank you for addressing me appropriately.

[familycollectiblesstore]

How funny! I was just perusing older posts and only just now saw this, you were both so funny! And helpful! In any event after all this time and we have been looking diligently have not been able to find many other examples of her work. We still have them, they are so beautiful... and being that apparently there is no tiny part of the internet that contains examples of these I fully believe that these were custom. A smaller piece of her work here in there but nothing even remotely comprable. I'm pessimistically optimistic...😆... that someone will see this post and we'll have all of them formation that I need! One can wish!  V76 .... and as you can see I really have never been able to master the mobile phone photo flip!!