Jolina Riding

After seeing the lovely face-ups that Urszula has done on the 33cm Jolina dolls over on her blog, I though it might be fun to tackle one myself . . . now whether I ever do is something else.

So off to eBay I went, in the hope of finding one at a low enough price, that it wouldn't matter if I stuffed it up. I was surprised to find one in such a reasonably good condition.

Most of the less expensive ones were naked and many had pen/texta marks on, which I wasn't sure could be removed, but this one was clean and had almost all it's original clothing as well. She wasn't a Jolina Ballerina, as most on eBay seemed to be, but a Zapf Jolina in a riding costume (minus her boots and blouse).

Her face had no marks that I could see and her hair was in pretty good condition as well.

To me it felt like I was getting a bargain, so I purchased her and brought her home. On examining her with her garments removed I discovered she had 5 joints in her arm, wrist (2), elbow (a combination of 1 rotational and 1 hinge) and shoulder, 5 joints in her legs, ankle (2), knee (2) and hip, as well as her neck and torseau. The shoulder and hip joints are similar to the elbow, but not exactly the same.

Not quite sure what she's made of, plastic or hard vinyl, she's so unlike any of my other dolls. The hair is rooted so I'd say the head is vinyl, but the body is much firmer and quite shiny. She can stand and pose really well on her own, which I love.

The only negative I could find is that some of her joints are not very elegant to look at and are a tad more robotic when you see then IRL. Also some of her seams are noticable in places. On the other hand, her measurements are great and quite similar to several of my other dolls, so I can see clothes sharing as never being a problem.

I found this photo while browsing, but don't have any idea who's it is.

I had not seen these dolls anywhere, apart from Urszula's blog: I don't think they were ever for sale in Australia, though it appears they were quite popular in Europe. I tried looking for info regarding the Jolina dolls on the internet, and managed to find a couple of  Youtube videos on Jolina Ballerina, but nothing on this riding doll. Then quite by chance, I found these pics on Pinterest.

After more digging, I discovered the Spanish store, Puppentoys.com had stocked a range of Disney Princesses with the Jolina body; Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Ariel, Snow White and Cinderella, which retailed around £25, however, there aren't any available from the store now.

Actually, none of the Zapf Jolina dolls are at all easy to find, it looks as though they have been discontinued. Urszula thinks these were released around 2010 or 2011. Limited quantities do remain for sale online, but often in used or damaged condition and/or at dramatically marked-up prices. However, if your patient in your search or live in Europe, you may still be lucky to find a doll at a reasonable price, as I did, but that was more a case of being in the right place, at the right time.

If anyone has any further information, I would love to hear from you. :)
Big hugs, X