Help needed identifying 2 African American Dolls

[3sad64]

AFRICAN AMERICAN DOLLS

My friend has 2 dolls and after much searching and going cross eyed we cannot find any image or information about them, so I am calling out for help in my hour of need.

They appear to be from JC Toy Group and at least one (boy) if not both, were made in HK, according to the tag.

There is one girl and one boy. They are African or African American. The boy has a JC Toy Group tag, Regiistration NUmber PA2783-HK, and a illegible name on the back of the head, but appears to say Beezusa. He is 21.65"/55cm. He has soft plastic limbs that can be squashed and a soft polyester fibre body. Moulded eyes (shut) and closed mouth. Not a very pretty or likeable face. Appears to be asleep.

The girl doll is 23.62"/60cm, has movable eyes, short black curly hair,painted teeth and I'd say is a sleeping doll. There is no tag but hand stitching where the tag would have been (same location as the boy, located on the side near waist height) I cannot find anything on the back of her head or anywhere else, unlike the boy. If there was anything there, and there appears to be a VERY 2 letters, then it has long ago worn off.

I'd hazard a guess that these dolls may be from the 1950's era or earlier, but that's just a guess.

We would be grateful if anyone could provide us with any information about these dolls.

I've uploaded some photos that may be of help.

Much hope and grateful appreciation in advance.

[mudshark61369]

@3sad64,

To me that tag reads:

Made In China for 

JC Toys Group   

Miami? Fl?  USA 

because the photo of the tag is out of focus  I can't say for sure so my searches may be off.  Using what I think I read I did a search for JC Toys Miami Fl. and came up with

https://www.jctoys.com

Since the doll seems to be of vintage manufacture you might want to search their site for a contact link or phone number. Some toy companies do have a support person who can answer questions about vintage items.  Also African American is a relatively recent term. Some of the vintage doll Mfr's search sites have filters for "Black" dolls which is how they were called back then.

[3sad64]

Hi there.

Thank you so much for replying to my post. I'm in Australia.

I spent hours checking JC Toy Group website and the usual other Google etc research and couldn't find anything related to these dolls. I even checked under vintage/antique as you suggested. I used different terms..African/African American etc, all to no avail.

The lady who owns these dolls arrived earlier today with a 3rd one. Another girl, no tag, no sign of there having been a tag either. She looks almost identical to the girl doll, but has more of a chocolate colour skin than the really dark almost negroid skin of the 1st girl. She has the same face but for some reason it seems prettier, not as harsh looking. She's identical in length as well. Same with the hands and feet. Nothing on the back of the head or anywhere else. It's all so confusing for someone like me who knows nothing about dolls.

Yes, I couldn't get the camera to focus up close on that label, but it reads as you said.

I sent a email to JC Toys earlier today asking for information. Unfortunately, there wasn't any option to upload any photos when contacting them via their contact page. I couldn't find a normal email address in order to be able to send a email with attachments but gave a very detailed description of each doll in the message. Hopefully that wil be enough for them to be able to identify the dolls.

Once again, thank you very much for taking the time to try and help. I really appreciate it.

Kind regards

Helen.

Melboure

Australia.

[sewbuzyb]

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-berenguer-black-african-1922743563

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/berenguer-20-inch-african-american-1823871538

[sewbuzyb]

https://picclick.com/Vintage-21-Berenguer-Sleeping-Baby-Doll-202485763852.html

[3sad64]

Thank you. Much appreciated. 😊

[3sad64]

Hi again. Since we last messaged, I was able to live chat with JC Toys and get a email address so I could send the inquiry along with photos. Fingers crossed they will be able to identify these dolls. Thank you again for your help.

[micesco-0]

In the early '90s, they were two separate companies or legal entities. The Berjusa dolls were made in Spain and were of higher quality, and thus much more expensive than the Berenguer dolls, which were made in China and far less expensive.  The Berjusa dolls were sold at specialty toy and doll shops; the Berenguer dolls were sold at Toys R Us. Both companies made all vinyl anatomically correct dolls. My understanding is that there was a legal dispute between the two over the issue of the anatomically correct dolls. I believe Berenguer prevailed. Whether that is accurate or not, I think the name you are seeing on the back of the doll's head is "Berjusa." I have never seen such dark skinned Berenguer or Berjusa dolls, nor the red lips or the black curly hair. Believe me, those dolls would be in our collection here, had we ever seen one tp purchase. I am wondering if those dolls were marketed in Australia, but not the U.S. I have seen many Berjusa doll catalogues from the early '90s-late '90s, and there are no black dolls like those. I have seen the J.C. Toys connection over the course of time, but have never seen either a Berjusa or Berenguer doll that was indicated to have been made in Hong Kong. Curioser and curioser. If you sell those dolls, I guess I can't bid on them (?) I have an acquaintance in Bonnet Bay. Perhaps I will ask her if she has an eBay Australia account.

t 

[sewbuzyb]

 🙂 happy to help anytime 🤗