Wow this doll is so awesome! Researching Lenci; this is what I’ve found so far.
“The creator of the Lenci doll was Elena Konig. She was born in 1886 in Germany. Elena was only six when her father died at the age of thirty nine. She had many siblings; her mother had very little money at this time. Elena’s mother was a former Austrian pianist who spoke four languages so she was able to get a long by giving piano and language lessons. Elena was fourteen years old when she and her older sister joined the circus. After five months Elena returned home and moved to Switzerland were she taught Italian and German. At the age of seventeen, she also painted blouses in her aunt’s shop and went on to learn photography and study at the academy of applied arts. She received her diploma for photography in 1907. Soon after she got to know a lot of young artists and started to work with them. Elena met her future husband when she was 21. She married in 1915 and moved to Italy. She had a baby in 1917 and at this time Enrico her husband joined the Italian air force as a pilot. Unfortunately the baby died suddenly. Elena was very lonely at this time so she started making dolls. These first dolls were very simple but Enrico could see potential, she worked with her brother to make molds. Material such as felt was easily accessible. In a short time Elena opened a small cottage industry and during this time she became pregnant again but had a miscarriage, very depressed she stopped making dolls. The war ended and Enrico came home, friends persuaded Elena to show her dolls at a party and a gentleman from the United States who was searching for investment possibilities bought all the dolls she had to take them to the US. Not one doll made it as they were all bought up along the way.” …. written by Christine Rock
read more http://www.members.accesswave.ca/~douglass/mdc/newsletters/Lenci%20Dolls%20Apr.pdf
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