Article published Mar 18, 2008
They'll knock your socks off
BY MELINDA MORALES
mmorales@visalia.gannett.com
Some members of the Doll Nuts of Central Valley collect because they see the dolls as works of art. Others collect because the dolls have faces that are expressive or capture their interest. Either way, many members of the club have collected hundreds of dolls, from Barbies to sock monkeys, and they have no intention of stopping.
"I guess some people think we're crazy," club member Cleo Groff, 82, said.
And that explains it all.
Groff said she has more than 700 pieces in her collection, but that includes Steiff and Gund bears, too. Groff has been collecting the dolls for 28 years and has dolls as old as she is. Her favorite is a 28-inch numbered German bisque doll made by famed dollmaker J.D. Kestner. She wears a white dress and bonnet, has long, brown curls and has "sleep" eyes that open and close. Groff said she was made in 1925.
"This is probably a carryover from my childhood," she said. Groff is preparing to move to Oklahoma to be nearer to her daughter, but does she plan to lighten up before leaving?
"Oh, no, never," she said. In fact, she said she hopes to start a new doll club there.
Sandi Mekeel, club president, has only been collecting for about 10 years but her collection already numbers in the hundreds. She said Barbie was her first love and she has dozens of Barbie dolls, along with Ken, Skipper and Midge and all with original clothes.
"For many collectors it's usually a visual thing and that attracts them to looking a little deeper, and learning more," she said. "You just get them dressed, put them away, and that's the end of it. It's a piece of art."
At the club's last meeting in February, club member Lois Arcia did a short presentation on sock monkeys, which she said are getting to be very collectible.
"Sock monkeys are considered a folk-art form," she said. "Some of them were done way back in the 1930s through 1950s, so some of those are very old."
Arcia originally started collecting Cabbage Patch dolls and even ran an adoption center in Fresno at one time. She was drawn to them by their facial expressions.
"I just love the character faces, the funny things about them that make me laugh and smile," she said. "That's why I love the sock monkeys so much. When you get a whole group of them together, I mean it's something else!" ~End
