The Dionne Quintuplets

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The slide show below shows each doll before and after getting new irises. Many old compo dolls are spoiled because their eyes turn milky or cloudy. Irises can be changed and the doll brought back to it's original beauty.

either the 

I purchased this very rare set of 24"Dionne Quintuplets one at a time from ebay during 2018. Some kind of miracle kept them all together until I could purchase them all! Although I did buy them from a Canadian, I don't think she had them very long. They were probably an estate find. I feel they are back in Canada where they rightfully belong!

For those of you who don't know the story, when these quintuplets were born in 1934, they were the first known set of quintuplets to survive. The Canadian government took over the babies and made them into a three ring circus. They were kept behind two way mirrors so that tourists could "observe them." Hopefully the little girls were never aware of this horrible infringement on their privacy. The parents who did need help because they already had a large family, were allowed to visit!!! However, having now read several books about the quints, including some they wrote themselves, it was a very good thing they were raised by doctors and nurses. It appears that life after they joined the family when they were nine, was quite miserable. 

If that wasn't bad enough,  either the Canadian government in their infinite wisdom, or the father who became quite mercenary, and despite the fact that there were several very excellent doll factories right in Canada in the 1930's, gave exclusive rights for the thousands of sets of dolls that were sold, plus all the other paraphernalia to the Madame Alexander Company based in New York. 

Two of the Dionne Quintuplets, now 85 years old are still living in eastern Canada. So the dolls, depending on the exact year they were manufactured are now almost 85 years old.
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It is very easy to find small versions of the Quint dolls. They were made in all kinds of sizes. But the large ones like this are very hard to find as a set. You may see them for sale one at a time but I haven't discovered anyone who has the complete set of 24" quints. If you know of someone who has, I would love to communicate with them.

BELOW: Single Dionne Quintuplet doll restored by Sweet Potato Pie Nursery. One of my favourite dolls. Oh, ok, they're ALL my favourites. Lol.​
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ABOVE and BELOW:
Five 24" quints after restoration of eyes as well as my smaller 10" set of quints in the above picture. In excellent original condition but I did have new little coloured dresses made for them. Each large quint holds her "Dolly". Also pictured above, original Buttercup Baby, original Princess Beatrix and in the mirror, original Miracle Baby, all featured in the page "My Composition dolls in the menu.

Before and After Repair on Eyes
I couldn't deal with the cloudy eyes on these quints, so I sent the heads to the excellent restorer in the USA, Mark Hartley. Here are some before and after pictures. 

Those of you who are familiar with these dolls will know that, as in real life, there had to be some way to tell the quints apart so of course, they chose colours. Annette-yellow, Cecile-green, Emilie-lavender, Marie-blue and Yvonne-pink. However, sometimes the dolls were dressed in all beige or all white with just coloured ribbons on their bonnets and writing on their bibs to tell them apart .Plus they each have a very cute little pin with their names engraved. That's how these quints are dressed. Several of their dresses still have the "Madame Alexander" name on their tag. This smaller set is all original but needed some restringing.