One of the extremely nice things about writing for magazines is the very interesting emails that people send me after they have read my articles. I recently received several inquiries asking me for information about how much boy Izannah Walker dolls are worth. Some of these correspondents were kind enough to share photos of their own Izannah boys with me and ask me my opinion about their dolls, which I was happy to give. If you have also been curious about what Izannah’s boy dolls have sold for, then this post is for you!
The first thing I do if I am trying to determine an approximate value for a particular doll is to look back at previous auction results where similar dolls were sold. In this case boy Izannah Walker dolls. Naturally if you are trying to compare prior prices realized at auction, with a doll you are trying to buy or sell, you will want to look for dolls with similar characteristics such as, pre-patent vs. post-patent, condition, clothing and or other accessories, etc. Because I received emails asking me about both pre-patent and post-patent boys I did get to refamiliarize myself with auction results for both. Below you will find links to the auctions I reviewed. When looking at auction results, remember that you will need to add any buyer’s premium to the hammer price to determine what the doll actually sold for. You could also try searching Ebay and Ruby Lane for past sales, though I don’t believe any of Izannah’s boys have been sold on those sites.
If you would like to look back at my original blog post about the day I met the dolls pictured above, and their very nice owner click here https://izannahwalker.com/2014/07/25/izzybelles-travel-journal-part-3-the-2014-united-federation-of-doll-clubs-convention/
Below you will find links to auctions of Izannah Walker boy dolls:
https://www.theriaults.com/extremely-rare-small-size-american-cloth-folk-doll-izannah-walker
(This is the post patent doll that also sold in the same auction: https://www.theriaults.com/wonderful-american-cloth-doll-izannah-walker-original-paper-patent-label)
This is an example of an 18 inch post patent Izannah Walker boy: https://www.theriaults.com/two-rare-american-pressed-cloth-dolls-izannah-walkerpatent-models
John Thayer is the most well known and most original example of an Izannah Walker boy. He is 15 inches tall and recently sold at the Withington auction of Carol Corson’s collection. You can see some wonderful images of him here: https://www.izannahwalkerchronicles.com/2022/08/john-thayer-antique-izannah-walker-boy.html
This is the Withington’s catalog from the auction, John Thayer was item number 100. : https://withingtonauction.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/October-20-2022-Doll-Catalog.pdf
There was a 17 inch Izannah Walker boy that sold at an Apple Tree Auction for $37,500, but the auction catalog is no longer available online. I’m attaching a photo of him.
The image above is a screen shot of the auction results for this particular Izannah Walker boy. I spent quite a long time searching for the original links to this auction, but unfortunately I could no longer find them available online, so I can’t provide a link to them.
15 inch Izannah Walker Boy Doll with paper label The Maurine Popp Collection of Dolls April 12, 2003 lot 207 $11,750: https://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/auction.php?start=2&limit=90&op=lots&view=90&sort_lot=1&saleno=2196&display=list&noredir=1
and: https://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/2196/lots/207
I hope you have enjoyed looking back at some of these memorable auctions!
For those of you who may be wondering, sweet James the doll who was featured in my three part article in the February, March, and April issues of Antique Doll Collector, did find an extremely wonderful new home ❤
Izannah Walker Journal 