Collection Close Up: Madame Alexander Dionne Quintuplet (with Hair)
Amazingly, in one week, I won two of my Grail items on eBay. For years, I’ve been searching around for the perfect 1930’s Dionne quintuplet to add to my Madame Alexander collection. When I say perfect, I don’t mean I was looking for something so minty fresh it looked like it had just left the Alexander Doll Company. Of course, I wanted a Dionne with a pretty face and good limbs with no cracks for a good price. But, the main thing I wanted, was for the doll to have character, for it to call to me. And somehow, within the span of three days, two Madame Alexander Dionne Quints did that!
The first one I purchased isn’t actually here yet, so we’ll revisit that later. But the second Dionne is here! I am waiting for both to arrive to do a real photoshoot, but until then, here’s a photo or two to tide you over!
I suspect this Dionne quintuplet is Annette, because her dress looks like it could have been yellow at one time. However, I’m not sure and don’t think I’ll ever be sure. There’s a possibility Annette has, according to a few internet sources, a human hair wig. I’m still looking for a good resource on the Madame Alexander Quintuplets, as they released a lot of different versions from 1935-1939.
Annette is composition and 8″ tall. She has beautiful hand painted brown eyes. There are a few scratches on her face, but nothing very noticeable, considering she’s roughly 80 years old!
I’m beyond thrilled to have added this Dionne Quintuplet to my Madame Alexander collection. I can hardly believe another one, slightly different, is on the way to join her!
Have you added a grail item to you collection recently? Let us know in the comment area!
Confessions of a Doll Collectors Daughter 
Marie replied:
How sweet! I can’t remember which of my Alexander doll books or doll magazine has information on the Quints (and the books are in storage and most magazines I’ve given away), but maybe someone in the Madame Alexander Club knows. I just vaguely remember seeing an in-depth article…oh about 15 years ago (in a book, magazine or THE REVIEW published by the club…so big help, I know). Have you seen this webpage on the Quints? http://www.dollinfo.com/Store/dolls/MAXDionnes.htm
January 22, 2016 at 11:14 pm. Permalink.
kewpie83 replied:
Thanks for the link. The set on that site has molded hair, so it’s a little different from this this doll. I know there has to be a book or something out there. Ideally, I’d like to find something that has promotional photos. They have to exist. Fingers crossed! I’m going to reach out to a few Madame Alexander groups on Facebook. Maybe they’ll know of the article you mentioned!
January 23, 2016 at 11:44 am. Permalink.
Iphis of Scyros replied:
You know, the museum has a full set of the Dionne Quintuplet dolls. If I have a chance tomorrow, I’ll see if I can take them out and get some photos to compare to yours…though there’s no guarantee that the museum catalog has any idea which is which, so maybe that wouldn’t be very helpful. 😛 I’ll check the reference library and see if there are any books that cover them. (I know we have general doll collecting books, and a book on Nancy Ann Storybook dolls (because there are tons of those in the collection), but I’m not sure if there’s a Madame Alexander book down there.)
January 23, 2016 at 7:46 pm. Permalink.
kewpie83 replied:
That would be great if you could check. Most of the Madame Alexander books I’ve seen are mostly text, which isn’t helpful. I’m hoping someone has published something that has photos of not just one or two quint sets, but all of them released.
January 23, 2016 at 10:18 pm. Permalink.
Iphis of Scyros replied:
We probably don’t have anything that detailed, but I’ll see what there is. (Even if there isn’t time to get the dolls out for a few photos, the books in the library can be checked out by staff, so I presume that as a long-time volunteer, I can check them out, too.)
January 24, 2016 at 8:23 am. Permalink.
Iphis of Scyros replied:
Unfortunately, it turned out that none of the books had anything much on Madame Alexander at all. 😦 (One of the books specifically said the reason it didn’t cover much in the way of Alexander dolls was because the author had just done a whole book on the Alexander dolls. But without access to that book, that’s not very helpful information, I’m afraid.)
I looked at the Dionne dolls in the collection, but they’re very different from yours; both the full set and the lone doll have molded hair. The full set is listed in the computer as being from 1935, but I’m not sure if the date is accurate, or if they just put the earliest known date as the right date. I get the feeling their clothes were handmade at some point between the 1930s and when they were donated to the museum. The lone doll has inset eyes, but still has molded hair. I’ve uploaded photos of both to my main blog, since it’s got fewer media demands than my doll blog. The picture of the full set is here: https://39yearslame.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=1495
If that attachment page URL works, it *should* have an arrow at the bottom to go to the other image. If it doesn’t work, replace the ? and everything after it with 2016/01/full-set-dionne-quints.jpg and that’ll take you right to the image itself. (The other being called lone-dionne-quint.jpg.) I’d just give multiple URLs, but I don’t want to get flagged as spam. 😛
Sorry I wasn’t able to provide any useful information. I hope you’ve had better luck than I did.
January 25, 2016 at 3:29 pm. Permalink.
Great Russian Gifts replied:
What an adorable doll. I remember seeing similar ones at one of my local antique toy stores not so long ago. How cute and special the dolls in the old times used to be
January 25, 2016 at 12:48 pm. Permalink.
jSarie replied:
Wow, what a great find – congratulations on bringing home a grail doll! And thanks for sharing her!
February 6, 2016 at 10:01 am. Permalink.
Collection Close Up: Madame Alexander Dionne Quint (no hair) | Confessions of a Doll Collectors Daughter replied:
[…] I purchased a 1930’s Dionne Quintuplet on eBay. (My second of the year– see the first here.) Made from 1935-1939, the Dionne Quintuplet dolls were big business for Madame Alexander and other […]
March 16, 2016 at 6:20 pm. Permalink.
Esther Powelll replied:
I have the exact quint 8″ Alexander with wig painted eyes same outfit
shoes and socks had her for years can’t tell the color of her dress pink
or lavender would like to sell her am 91yrs old must get rid of my dolls.
May 29, 2018 at 1:04 pm. Permalink.
kewpie83 replied:
You must have a wonderful collection, Esther! If you’re looking for top dollar, I’m not the perfect buyer. You may want to see about putting your collection up on a site like Ruby Lane or, if you’re on Facebook, there are groups for people to buy/sell dolls. For the MA Quints, I would try: https://www.facebook.com/groups/534082556718834/
But if you’re just looking for a good home for them, I’m always here! 😉
June 2, 2018 at 10:10 am. Permalink.