NADDA Doll Show Haul
The National Antique Doll Dealers Associations annual doll show was this weekend-- here's our thoughts!
The annual National Antique Doll Dealers Association doll show was held May 15, 2025. Held in Rosemont, IL, this traveling show hasn’t been to the Windy City in quite a few years. So, when my mom and I saw that a new show was visiting the area, we jumped at the chance to go and maybe do a little shopping!
The National Antique Doll Dealers Association, also known as NADDA, was founded in 1986, intent on creating a collective of ethical dealers and appraisers, making it easier for collectors to trust those who they may be purchasing from. They also mediate if a conflict comes up between a member of NADDA and a customer.
From the NADDA website, “The primary purpose of NADDA is to assure collectors that NADDA members subscribe to a code of ethics in selling, buying, and appraising. It is the intention of the organization to build a foundation of honesty, knowledge, and integrity so that collectors may work with members with confidence. NADDA dealers follow strict guidelines, and they stand behind their services.”
If the website is accurate, there are about fifty dealers currently in this organization. This weekend, around 18 of them were selling at the annual NADDA doll show. Situated in the heart of Rosemont, IL, the show took place on the fifth level of the Sheraton Chicago O’Hare. Since it’s a traveling show, it was a brand new experience for my mom and me and introduced us to many sellers and dolls we never get the chance to see at our local shows.
The oldest doll in my collection is probably my Nippon era bisque Hilda doll, made during the first great world war, World War I, sometime between 1914 and 1918. I found my Hilda, a Japanese recast of the popular German made Kestner doll, at a doll show many years ago. We talk about her in this haul video from January 2019’s Naperville Doll Show.
After I saw her come to one doll show after another, I eventually decided she was meant to be mine. To this day, she’s one of the few bisque dolls that I’ve ever felt like adding to my collection. While beautiful in their craftsmanship and historically interesting, they’re just not so much my taste. My mom, on the other hand, has more of an affection for them, adding a few every couple of years to her collection. Never the minty fresh ones, as they’re a lot of money, but cute ones, nonetheless.
As the organization is themed around antique doll dealers, many of the dolls we saw at the show were older German and French bisque dolls, elegant French lady dolls, a selection of composition dolls and other antiques dolls that I couldn’t name. This show had an interesting layout. Dealers sold from their hotel rooms.
Each room had a large front window in the front of the room, alongside the hallway, so walking the fifth floor was like walking through a mall filled with beautifully decorated doll shop windows. I loved it!
The dealers were equally impressive. Besides bringing beautiful dolls, they were all so nice and inviting! Sometimes antique doll dealers can come off as not very friendly, but the people at this show were all so nice, especially when I mentioned that my aim in covering the show was to keep the hobby alive and help bring new blood into it, as the antique doll collectors’ market doesn’t seem to be growing. One seller mentioned that while selling dolls is nice, the best part of the show was seeing old friends, which I found to be a great sentiment.
I posted a full album of photos on Confessions of a Doll Collector’s Daughters Facebook page. I plan on posting all my doll show photos there for folks to view for upcoming shows.
While the number of dealers was slim, my mom and I saw so many dolls that were new to us. It was nice to see what vendors from out of town had on display. And such nice examples of dolls! Beautiful pieces were on display for sale within each room. As you might expect, the prices reflected the quality and rarity of many of the dolls, which, unfortunately, priced me out of 99% of the show, but it was nice seeing everything in person.
The room I was most excited to see was Alan Scott Pate’s antique Japanese dolls, known as ningyo. I’ve followed his collection through books and social media for years now and adore everything about that genre of doll. Japanese dolls and culture have been something I’ve had an affinity for most of my life and the dolls he had on display were incredible. He brought a Ichimatsu ningyo in the size and look of the friendship dolls created back in 1927 that I would have loved to bring into my collection, but alas, it was way out of my price range ($12,000.00). Sad, but expected on a single mom of two girls under four’s budget! I’m still very much determined to get one one day, though!!!!
I have a few Ichimatsu ningyo’s in my collection and Alan was kind enough to share some insight on when they were made, because, while I can rattle of a ton of history about, say, Skipper dolls, I don’t know much about the origins of the Japanese dolls I have. He shared that my style doll, the one most available at the shows in Illinois, were made starting after 1933, when they were taking to soften or make the Ichimatsu face prettier. The earlier faces were still gorgeous, but they made the faces after 1933 more childlike.
I actually went into the show determined to leave with a doll from that collection, as I never see dolls like Alan collects at any of our local area dolls shows and, even without being a member of this organization, he seems like a trustworthy, knowledgeable seller. I was willing to drop a little more than usual to get a nice example of a Ichimatsu ningyo, a childlike Japanese doll, but it wasn’t meant to be this time around.
I did ask what the most affordable doll was in the room, a beautiful Ichimatsu ningyo boy from the 1920’s (perfect for me, as many of my vintage dolls are from the 1920’s to the 1950’s) with the dark almond eyes and sculpted hair, seen front and center in the photo above with the trio of boy dolls. He was gorgeous! He was also about $400 more than ideally I wanted to spend, so alas, he stayed there. I did let Alan know that if he found something that was more within my budget to reach out, which is something I’ve never done before, because I really, really, really want a nice (doesn’t have to be perfect) example of a Ichimatsu girl and boy (and a friendship doll sized one, if I can manage one day) for my collection.
Sidenote: Alan also hosts a ningyo tour in Japan I would LOVE to go on one day. It sounds amazing, celebrating both antique, traditional dolls to more modern dolls. It’s definitely a bucket list item for me! Did I come off as a desperate fan girl? Maybe. Hopefully not! But my list of grail dolls is short— practically nonexistent— short of some of these antique Japanese dolls and a few select dolls. Even if I only get one of each ningyo, I’ll be a happy doll collector!
So, what did we get at the NADDA show? Well, I got, well, nada— pun intended! The Japanese dolls were the only thing I wanted. (I guess I did leave with one thing— a $20.00 hotel parking receipt!) My mom, however, did pick up a couple things. Not what she expected or ideally wanted, but two dolls found a new home. My mom, Barbee0913 on YouTube, brought home a vintage Saucy Walker, as well as a German bisque doll. Both are cute and in great shape. Our full haul video is below. Check it out and like/subscribe for more doll content!
Overall, I’m really happy we got to experience the National Antique Doll Dealers Association Doll Show. If it comes back again, we’ll definitely be attending. My favorite part was seeing the beautiful Japanese dolls in person, as well as talking with all the dealers and learning more about their history with dolls.
Have you gone to a NADDA doll show? What did you think? Let us know in the comments!