African American Doll Xavier Roberts' Little People Soft Sculpture 1981 VTG MINT

Xavier Roberts' 1981 "The Little People" Soft Sculpture African American Doll, Athena Caroline - One of the few African American dolls created in 1981. Athena Caroline was "born" in 1981 at Babyland General Hospital, Cleveland, Georgia (located north of Atlanta, GA about 80 miles). Xavier Roberts converted an old clinic into a facility from which to sell his dolls, originally called The Little People. " In the late 70's this facility was presented as a birthing, nursery, and adoption center for all of its "Little People and subsequent Cabbage Patch Kids. Today, a new Babyland General Hospital in Cleveland, Georgia has been voted one of the Travel Channel's Top 10 Toylands.

It is situated on 650 acres in the North Georgia Mountains. History of Xavier Roberts' "The Little People"... Xavier Roberts produced the "Little People" from 1976 - 1981 (Athena Caroline was created in 1981) in an old renovated medical clinic in Cleveland Georgia dubbed "Baby Land General". The dolls were entirely soft sculpture-each was an original one-of-a-kind creation.

Guests were greeted by employees dressed in full hospital garb. Rooms were filled with incubators and the wonderful "Mother Cabbage" cabbage patch of newborn babies just waiting for a little shot of'Imagicillin'. New'moms' and'dads' were given a lovingly swaddled "Little Person" to love, cherish, and adopt as their very own.

Coleco kept the same style as the Xavier Roberts' originals, except for using vinyl heads on their dolls. They renamed these dolls "Cabbage Patch Kids".

How to Authenticate Little People.... They are entirely soft sculpture. They will measure between 18" - 22" tall - Athena Caroline is 20 tall.

They will not have original boxes-they left Baby Land General hospital in their parents' arms. The Little People made after 1985 have "Little People", "Babyland General", and "Cabbage Patch Kids" on them. Most original soft-sculptured Little People have a tag attached on the right side of the body which gave bathing instructions from the Babyland General Hospital. Athena Caroline's bathing instruction tag is shown in Photos 3 & 4. The large thumb is a signature feature of Little People dolls handmade personally by Xavier Roberts. Athena Caroline's thumb is shown in Photo 10. They will be signed by Xavier Roberts, hand signed or stamped. Athena Caroline's stamped signed Xavier Roberts' signature is shown in Photo 9. Athena Caroline's original cardboard name tag is still secure on her outfit - See Photo 2. Athena Caroline's outfit is the original one in which she departed Babyland General (including her cotton diaper). As these soft sculpture dolls were created to replicate that of a newborn, the dolls were presented to their parents without shoes or socks, thus the reason for Athena Caroline's bare feet.

How I Obtained Athena Caroline.... In the early 1980's I was part of the Marketing Department at an Atlanta financial institution that entered into an agreement with Babyland General to offer a choice of Xavier Roberts' soft sculpture "Little People" dolls as a "premium" for opening a deposit account. A number of these dolls from which new account holders could choose were inventoried in the Marketing Department of this bank. At the conclusion of this promotion, Athena Caroline had not been selected, thus my opportunity to obtain her. New owners were provided details on how to contact Babyland General in order to obtain the doll's adoption papers and birth certificate.

Unfortunately, I did not follow through with contacting Babyland General to obtain her adoption papers and birth certificate; however, recently I contacted the Adoption Department at Babyland General and sought advice on what could be done to possibly obtain Athena's birth certificate. Since acquisition of Athena Caroline, I have had her carefully stored.

She has never been displayed. She has never been played with. Additionally, Athena Caroline has been professionally evaluated and appraised.

It is with this information I created this copy and rated Athena Caroline to be in MINT condition. The item "African American Doll Xavier Roberts' Little People Soft Sculpture 1981 VTG MINT" is in sale since Saturday, April 6, 2019. This item is in the category "Dolls & Bears\Dolls\By Brand, Company, Character\Cabbage Patch\Vintage (Pre-1990)". The seller is "cjstreasures_2" and is located in Overbrook, Oklahoma.

This item can be shipped to United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Denmark, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Czech republic, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Estonia, Australia, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, Slovenia, Japan, China, Sweden, South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, Belgium, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Bahamas, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Saudi arabia, Ukraine, United arab emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Croatia, Malaysia, Chile, Colombia, Costa rica, Panama, Trinidad and tobago, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Antigua and barbuda, Aruba, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Saint kitts and nevis, Saint lucia, Montserrat, Turks and caicos islands, Barbados, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Brunei darussalam, Bolivia, Egypt, French guiana, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Guadeloupe, Iceland, Jersey, Jordan, Cambodia, Cayman islands, Liechtenstein, Sri lanka, Luxembourg, Monaco, Macao, Martinique, Maldives, Nicaragua, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Reunion, Uruguay, Russian federation.

Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
Material: Soft Sculpture
Doll Size: 20 in
Type: Doll
Ethnicity: African American
Brand: The Little People by Xavier Roberts
Doll Gender: Girl Doll