A Pair of Beach Babes

As noted before on this blog, I also collect antique dolls as well as bathing beauty figurines and sometimes my two collections overlap.  This pair of all-bisque chubby toddlers are dressed in their original net bathing suits, trimmed with matching ribbon.  Of pink precolored bisque, the girl, thanks to her molded hair bow, is 3.25 inches tall, compared to her 3-inch tall brother.  They are jointed at the shoulders and were made by Hertwig and Company of Germany.

Sea of Love

Come with me, my love

To the sea, the sea of love

I want to tell you how much I love you

Philip Baptiste (Phil Phillips) and George Khoury, 1959

The marvelous mechanical valentine features a big-eyed bathing belle trying to keep her valentine wishes high and dry as she paddles through a pond.

Captioned "Water sports for Love," the card was printed in Germany.  By rotating the paper wheel on the card's back, you can move the lass's limbs so that she appears to be swimming the breaststroke.  

Her pose recalls that of Miss Ondine, the mechanical "poupee nageuse" (swimming doll) patented by Elie Martin in 1878.