I think for many of us that love Izannah Walker’s dolls that the “holy grail” we would love to find is one of her rarer than rare black dolls. There is currently only one lone known example. She was acquired from the Izannah Walker family by Maureen Popp who was a doll dealer, and Izannah Walker collector. Next she moved on to the collection of Richard Wright. When his collection was sold the doll was acquisitioned by the Rosalie Whyle Museum of Doll Art. She was then sold by Theariault’s at their “Rosalie – A Life of Dolls” Part 2 auction held on January 11-12, 2025. Donna Kaonis wrote an article about this amazing doll in the September 1993 issue of Antique Doll World.
I was very strongly influenced by Izannah’s single remaining black doll when I made Thankful. As most of you probably already know, I make my reproductions using molds I have taken from actual antique Izannah Walker dolls. The mold I used for Thankful is “Isadora” which is the closest in appearance that I have to Izannah’s original black doll.
I will be offering my 19 inch tall Thankful for sale tomorrow evening, at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard time.
These are a pair of “getting ready” shots from Thankful’s photo shoot this afternoon. You can view all of her more decorous photos, and read about her clothing details tomorrow evening.
If you’d like to read more about Izannah Walker’s original black doll here are some of my previous posts about black Izannah dolls and a link to Theariault’s “Rosalie part 2” auction:
Theriault’s Auction https://www.theriaults.com/events/listing/66322/extremely-rare-american-brown-complexioned-cloth-doll-by-izannah-walker
Izannah Walker Journal 