9 1/2″ Porcelain Andy by Maryanne Oldenburg. Andy was the first issue in the Yesterday’s Dream Collection and produced by Knowles Fine China. The doll was sold through Ashton Drake Galleries which provided the following story line for Andy:
“When I grow up…”
“Journey back to days when locomotives passed through quiet rural towns across the country and meet “Andy,” a little boy with big dreams. “Andy” loves to watch the steam engines pull into the local station. Some day-if his wish comes true-he’ll sit in the engineer’s seat, blow the whistle, and run the train along the railroads.
In the meantime, though, it’s just as much fun to pretend. “Andy” steps into his striped overalls, pulls his brimmed conductor’s cap snugly onto his head, and asks Mom to fasten his clasps and knot his red bandana. Then he runs to his toy shelf and reaches for his favorite wooden toy engine Grandpa mad especially for him. He sits on the floor in a playful, cross-legged position and glances up with a smile. Holding the train for all to see “Andy ” shouts in a youthful but authoritative voice,” All aboard!”
The brochure goes on to say:
Maryanne Oldenberg’s Yesterday’s Dreams collection of nostalgic child character dolls depicts some of the early aspirations that triggered the exciting growth of our nation. For the premiere issue in the series, Ms. Oldenberg brings us a character that is a rarity in dollmaking history-the railroad engineer. She has taken great care to make sure “Andy” plays the role as realistically as possible. His lifelike sculpting and animated pose, scrupulous hand-painted, clever costume detailing, and appropriate toy make him worthy of classification with-in the respected genre of character dolls.”
I purchased the doll from Ashton Drake Galleries in 1990.
