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December, 2018 The Antique Shoppe Page 31
AVON also popular for sentimental
But Small World items are
Continued on Page 25 reasons.

Another early ad had promoted Small World as “Loveable. Maggie Richardson’s aunt
Collectible.” was Mary Blair, who designed
By the mid-1970s, Avon had stopped selling Small World the original figures for Disney’s
products. But the company that had first created products for “It’s a Small World” ride. She
children in 1914 had retired what amounted to a new set of said Blair wasn’t involved in
collectibles. Avon’s designs, but believes
In recent years, Avon has scaled Avon employees were inspired
back the variety of its children’s by Blair’s work.
products. That can make classic Six Small World Figures Richardson is a fan. “I love the
collectibles, such as Small World, Courtesy of Ghost of the Doll Avon Small World collection and
all the more valuable. Small World own several myself,” she said in an e-mail.
treasures are showing up more and The love of Avon Small World extends to
more on eBay and Amazon. On the United Kingdom. Collectibles there show up on Etsy.com, an Ebay-like site.
average, Small World dolls sell for British artist Sarah Louise Hicks, a fan of vintage items and advertising,
between $10 and $20 on eBay - has several websites devoted to toys and advertisements of the past. At one of
more if they are in mint condition them, Ghost of the Doll, Hicks wrote her thoughts about Small World:
and include the original box in mint “I love absolutely everything about this line! The products are cute and the
condition. packaging design is colorful and stylish, in a way only found on products of
The items also have historical this era. I especially love the circular design found on the backs of most boxes.
significance. In fact, I love the packaging as much as the products!”
The Hagley Museum and Library The boxes contain images of each doll in its native atmosphere. Gigi’s box,
in Wilmington, Delaware has a for example, features a French poodle, a Parisian café and the Eiffel Tower.
considerable collection of Avon’s At her site (http://www.ghostofthedoll.co.uk/retromusings/small-world-by-
history. avon), Hicks highlights the entire collection with photos.
“The bulk of the Avon Archive “I was lucky enough to buy a small collection of six of the eight dolly bottles
consists of catalogues and shortly after falling in love with them ([They] don’t come up for sale much here
brochures,” wrote Lynn Catanese, in the UK),” she wrote in a Facebook message.
1972 Catalog Page
the longtime chief curator of the Courtesy of the Hagley Museum and Library The age of the Internet and social media has brought the world’s citizens into
museum’s library collections, in an e-mail in closer contact. One of the results has been connecting to a product that did the
June, 2018. (Catanese died July 1, 2018.) same almost 50 years ago.
From Small World, Hagley’s collections include the Gigi doll. It really is a Small World.

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