Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 30, 1993 TAG: 9307010493
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WENDI GIBSON RICHERT STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Luckily, when the cost forced him out of boat collecting, Jones stumbled onto a new interest, a less pricey though perhaps unlikely sounding collectible.
Since 1983, Jones has amassed 150 to 200 black dolls from antiques shows and flea markets. His initial interest was piqued at a show in Atlantic City, N.J., where he spotted a black doll among the antiques. He bought it for $25 and knew immediately he wanted to buy more.
"After that, I became more interested in trying to find black dolls, because I realized from that one show that there weren't many black dolls available," said Jones, who also has collected Early American oil paintings since 1978. "[Collecting them] was something that no one was doing, and you could do it inexpensively. And I stayed in it for that very reason."
These days, however, Jones says it is getting more difficult to find the dolls at low prices. For whatever reasons, more folks are collecting them, so their values are beginning to climb.
Since he brought home his first doll - a girl doll made in the 1850s - his collection has grown to include many 19th-century dolls, made by white and black artists.
Some of the dolls, Jones admits, project negative stereotypes. These, he reasons, were the creations of whites looking for a quick buck or a cheap laugh. Still, Jones says he includes them in his collection because they are black and a telling part of American history.
Jones, 51, believes the most authentic - and most valuable - of his collection are black dolls made by black artisans. These dolls were made with love, Jones says.
"Most of the black dolls were made to be played with and loved seven days a week," said Jones, co-owner of Carter & Jones cleaners in Roanoke. "It's a thing of beauty."
Because the dolls were not manufactured in factories, they are far simpler than their mass-produced cousins - which only recently have hit doll markets. In fact, Jones has a hard time finding black mass-produced dolls. But it's the one-of-a-kind dolls that he treasures.
Their uncomplicated designs are the products of scarce resources for blacks in pre-Civil War times. Jones says he's seen some dolls stuffed with cotton with the seeds left in. He has dolls made entirely out of scraps of material, some stuffed with hair or grass and pieced together with any available string.
Jones was so interested in understanding his dolls that in 1988 he and his wife, Pam, went to a series of workshops he dubs "doll school" in Annapolis, Md. "We got a diploma and everything," he said, laughing.
Although the workshops didn't concentrate on black dolls, he did learn how to detect fakes and generics, how to identify dolls by their characteristics, how some dolls are made, their history and what makes them valuable.
And though it taught him how to learn more about the dolls he collects, he realized there was virtually nothing to turn to in researching black dolls. "You couldn't go to the library and look in a book and find out who its maker was," he said. "Most were made by owners in their homes."
These dolls are the ones he appreciates collecting. "Anything that you can find that's made by a black person and you can authenticate it, they're genuine."
He is especially proud of a miniature log cabin carved in 1875 by a man from Port Lock in Virginia's Tidewater area. The cabin still houses the carved furniture and the detailed figures with movable arms. Also, still legible is the craftsman's name and information about his piece penciled on the inside of the roof/lid. "A.A. Spain, with help of wife, Emma."
The writing continues: "Over 800 shingles all made by hand . . . five bottles of glue, took two months to build working evening only."
Most of the other dolls in his collection are worn, torn and tattered. His favorite is a cloth doll stuffed with straw with a papier-mache head. The doll, made around 1818, wears a blue-and-white striped shirt, a red bow tie, white shorts and a faded fabric stick pin of an American flag with 20 stars and 13 stripes.
"At first, nobody understood why I wanted to buy worn dolls . . . " Jones said. He calls himself a "walking contradiction."
"I enjoy sports cars, race cars. I'm into everything." He laughs that his friends probably scratch their heads and wonder what he'll bring home next.
Jones' four children - 20 to 24 years old - are too old to play with the dolls, but he doesn't store his collection in airtight boxes, either. They are displayed all over his home - in every room, in every corner, on every shelf - all different sizes and styles, all worn and most loved.
Jones says he's interested in setting up a Christmastime exhibit of some of the dolls at the Harrison Museum of African American Culture in Roanoke. Museum Director Melody Stovall, who hasn't seen the collection, says the museum also is interested in talking to Jones.
Even though the dolls' prices are beginning to rise, Jones plans to keep collecting. "I don't ever want to sell it. I want to leave it to a museum so somebody else can enjoy it."
"I see myself sticking with it for many more years."
Memo: NOTE: Also ran in Current July 27, 1993.