How to Identify Ideal Dolls

Identifying an Ideal Doll

• 1

  Study photos and descriptions of the Ideal dolls you're interested in. If you're looking for collectibles at an estate sale or a flea market, it will help you spot a Toni Doll or a Snoozie Smiles if you already know what they look like. Because Ideal dolls come in different models with many different outfits and hairstyles, the appearance is only an initial guide: Definite identification will require more steps.

• 2

  Check for markings. Ideal, like many doll-makers, placed distinct identifying marks on most models of their dolls. For example, the Toni dolls from the early 1950s -- the biggest-selling doll of the time, according to vintagedollcollector.com -- come with different clothes and eye colors, but they're all marked "IDEAL DOLL" on the backs of their heads, under their nylon hair. Below that, on the back of the doll, are different numbers for different size dolls: P-90 for the 14-inch doll, P-91 for the 16-inch and P-93 for the 21-inch. Different Ideal dolls have different markings -- the 1918 Dough Boy has "Ideal" inside a diamond mark on its back, for instance -- so you may have to research a specific doll type to know exactly what mark to look for.

• 3

  Look up the markings in doll-collecting guides or websites. If you find Ideal markings on a doll that you don't recognize, you can use reference guides to Ideal markings to narrow down the list of possibilities. Most markings are found on the back of the head or the back of the torso, and the "Ideal" name is part of most of the marks.