How can I tell if my troll is a real DAM?

There will probably come a time where you run across a troll that looks a lot like a Dam troll, but you aren't sure. When you have collected for a long time, you start to be able to tell on sight whether it is an actual Dam or not, but sometimes there may be something a bit off that makes you wonder if it is a real Dam, or a copy cat.

The Dam Stamp

One of the ways you can tell, is whether it has the Dam stamp on the bottom of the foot, the back, under the chin, or on the belly if it is an animal. Dam trolls made by Scandia House sometimes have a (c) 64 on their backs. If you see a Dam stamp that is of normal depth (if there is an extremely shallow stamp will be addressed later), than it is a Dam. But the caveat to this is:

NOT ALL DAM TROLLS HAVE A DAM STAMP

This is especially true for animal trolls. Usually a normal Dam troll will have some sort of stamp, but some Dam animals do not have a stamp at all. This does not mean they are fakes - some were just simply made without one.

The Body

If you see a troll without a stamp, there are some tell tale signs you can look for in the body to tell whether it is a real Dam.

Below is pictured a real Dam lion (to the left) and a lion troll that looks a lot like a Dam lion, but in fact is not (to the right).

1) Is the body the same as a real Dam?

Comparing trolls that you are uncertain of to trolls that are know are definitely real Dams is always a good place to start. When you get these two lions side by side, you can see that the body of the non-Dam is smaller, and shorter in length. Though this may be a little harder to do if you only have a photo, you can still look as closely as you can.

2) Is the type of mohair used typical?

With this non-Dam lion, a different type of sheep's wool was used than the usual Icelandic mohair that Dam uses.

3) Are the details shallow, or as deep as usual?
(biggest tell tale!)

Trolls have wrinkles - that is one of their charming qualities. Their Dam stamps are also either engraved, or embossed. If the wrinkles and the Dam stamp are shallow, or not as detailed as they usually might be, it might be a fake. The reason for this is due to how molds are made.

When someone wants to make a Dam look-a-like, they typically take a Dam troll, and cover it with whatever material they are going to use to create the mold (there are several options, such as rubber, clay, wax, etc.). It is practically impossible to get the material down into all the little indentions of their wrinkles and stamp (and if the material does, it most likely breaks off and stays in the wrinkle when the material is removed). Because of this, the mold will not be as finely detailed as the original troll.

For the non-Dam lion, you can definitely tell that the maker made the mold for it using a real Dam lion, for on the bottom of his back two feet (where there are not stamps), they are perfectly smooth, but his front feet have slight scraped indentions (where the maker tried to scrape the Dam stamps away in the mold). The foot pictured below is the foot where the ("Made in Denmark" in a circle with "Gjol" in the middle) stamp is usually found. If you enlarge the photo, you can see the scrapes where the maker removed the stamp, and ever so faintly, you can see the shallow impression "mark" of "Denmark" (he missed a spot). I put a black box around where you can see it, but it may be so faint that it is hard to see in the photo.

(click to enlarge)

4) Does it have weird airbrushing?

This one is only sort of helpful. There is a lot of different airbrushing out there, and different color variations of trolls (such as say, a blue elephant) that are so uncommon to pretty much have never been seen before, do turn up. But if you see a troll that has something so atypical to a Dam troll, such as red airbrushed lips, you might want to take a closer look at it and see if it has any other tale tell signs of being a copy cat.

5) Does it have an obvious seam going around the troll?

Many times fakes are not as good of workmanship. Sloppy castings cause for conspicuous seams where the two halves of the mold come together. Now, there is a small Dam troll from the early 1960's that sometimes has an obvious seam, and pencil toppers will sometimes have a seam, but the vast majority (if not all of the rest) of Dam trolls do not.

Lion Trolls

Lion trolls, along with the Giraffe trolls, are the most common of the animal trolls. I find their wonderful, wide smiles and playful expressions incredibly endearing :-).

The lion in the middle is a Limited Edition Lion. Dam had ceased making animals. In the 90's, Dam briefly produced a limited number (only 400 each) of 4 animal trolls (lion, large horse, elephant, & cow) that were based on their old, 1960's animal molds. They were only sold to Fan Club members at the time. They are slightly different than the older animals - the only one that had real mohair was the horse (the others had fun fur), and their airbrushing is slightly different. The L.E. lion has a shorter mane than the older lions as well. L.E. animals came with a round, gold tag with the DAM logo on one side, and "Limited Edition" on the other.

The lion at the top is not technically a Dam troll, but the Dam lion was used to create his mold. He is a very neat lion, even though he is not a true Dam.

Body Types

I have found that there are two body types in the Lion troll - they are very similar, but they do have their differences. Both body types though have an articulated head, and have mohair on both their heads and the tips of their tails.

Type 1 (white haired lion): higher rump (like a puppy in play), with a higher flagged tail. I have noticed this body type is often the lighter color of lion, with orange airbrushing on the paws.

Type 2 (brown haired lion): body is lower to the ground, with a more relaxed position for the tail. L.E. Lions are of this mold.

Type 1: Back feet are closer together, front feet more apart. His feet are also in a staggered position, more so with the front feet, as if he has just taken a step.

Type 2: Both front and back feet are generally spaced evenly apart.

(Further illustrating the difference in the feet)

Type 1: The head is more tilted to the side and up.
Type 2: The head is more straight forward.


*The Type 1 lion that I own is of harder vinyl, whereas the others (Type 2) are of softer vinyl. The general rule is that trolls produced in Europe were made of softer vinyl - so it makes me wonder if there are differences in body type because Type 1 might have been made in America, and Type 2 might have been made in Europe. I am not sure of this, but it is my hypothesis ;-).

Dam Stamp

Right paw: "DAM Patent"
Left paw: "Made in Denmark" (in a circle)
"Gjol" (in the middle)

*Not every Dam lion has a foot stamp.

Lovable Uglies Lion troll

The small lion in the middle is a lion troll made by Lovable Uglies, and produced in Japan. They have a rabbit fur mane and tail puff, and were made of thinner plastic. They have red lips, and a black nose. They came with red, heart-shaped tags.

Little Lady Fairy Twilight

New Little Lady Fairy! I am thinking the photo does not show the glitter of her wings...might take another...

Little Lady Fairies Krystal & Azure

I've been slowly working on creating some Little Lady Fairies, and I've just completed my first two from this batch - I'm very excited about them! They turned out so wonderfully :-)!

Little Lady Fairy Krystal

(She has such beautifully silky hair!)

Little Lady Fairy Azure

(Its hard to see, but she's holding a stylized Swarovski crystal flower)

Fairy Krystal will go up for adoption on eBay on Monday, Oct. 12, but I haven't quite decided whether Azure will join her.

More Little Lady Fairies to come!

Names to go with faces

Here is a list of names that go with particular face and body molds (the ones that I know). Names weren't really given in association with faces/bodies until the Norfin era (besides the Iggynormous), so very vintage trolls aren't really listed. The same can be said for newer trolls. For newer trolls, names are given for the character, not necessarily the troll itself. There are many, many characters out there, new and old (which at some point I'll probably create a list for that too - just watch), but in the mean time, this is just for names that are associated with certain faces and body types.

Not all faces are listed at the moment - I haven't ever found a name for a few from the same Norfin era. My favorites are the 8.5" trolls that look up (with whites under their eyes).
Example:

There is a male and female version. I heard that this face was not as popular back when in America, so it was produced more in Europe. Since Norfin was based in America, maybe that's why. Or maybe not :-).

I've listed them by size:

Henry

Greta

Livvy

Grandpa & Grandma


Erik & Erika

George (& Georgette)

(I unfortunately do not have Georgette -
she is the same as George, just with longer hair,
and no scarf)
(And this is technically Christmas George ;-) )

Hector

(dressed in Forest clothing)

Ingrid

Ivan

Lars

Olga

(dressed as the Gypsy character)

Heather

Hanna & Hans

Sven & Inge

Hilda & Thor

Little Sister/Brother
or
Playmates


Little Tykes

Tiny Ones

Toddlers = standing
Infants = sitting
Newborns = laying down

Monkey Trolls

Dam Monkey trolls are rather uncommon (I dislike to use the word "rare" too much, since it is used without discretion often on eBay. I try to only apply it to things that are truly rare - as in there are only a few in existence), and extremely exciting to find for the Dam collector.

Monkeys come in two sizes: adults, who are about 7.5 inches tall (measured to the top of their foreheads), and babies, who are about 3 inches tall. The adult male monkey is more common than the other two, and the adult female is the most uncommon.

Since girl monkeys are so hard to come by, sometimes people like to redo boys into girls. The way you can tell if it is a real girl monkey is whether she has slits on the sides of her face. Boys (adults and babies) have slits in their vinyl on the sides of their faces for the mohair of their sideburns. Girls do not have slits.

In my opinion, the more wrinkled the troll face, the better! Monkeys have the most wonderfully detailed faces!


Monkey trolls are also known for their detailed hands. They are the only other troll besides the vintage tailed troll to have fingernails. They also have wrinkles for the knuckles, which is unique. The adult monkeys are the only ones to have these characteristics though - the baby monkeys do not have hand details.

Original attire

The baby boy's original costume is felt briefs, and a sailor hat (which my little guy doesn't have - its the first thing that goes missing). They have short, fluffy mohair, and little sideburns:

Girl baby monkeys are definitely rare. I have only heard of one person who actually has one; Stuart, one of our resident Monkey troll connoisseurs. He was very sweet and let me use a few of his photos :-). The girl in red on the left is the real girl, the one on the right he thinks started out life as a boy.
Girl baby monkey's original costume is a felt dress, and they have long mohair:

(photo used by permission)

Adult girl monkeys original costume is a red and white striped jumper, with a collar that folds down, and a white skirt. They have long mohair:

The adult boy's original costume is a blue and white striped jumper, with a collar that folds down, and a sailor's hat with red pom pom. The hat is commonly missing. They have short, fluffy mohair, and sideburns:

Raul's Monkey trolls

My boy monkey pictured above is holding up a Rauls Swinging Monkey Troll. Rauls' animal trolls are either covered in rabbit fur, or have it for hair. They also usually have a string from which they can be hung, and are made of more squishy vinyl. Below is Rauls' sitting monkey troll. The swinging monkey is about 3 inches tall, and the sitting monkey is about 4 inches.

How sweet is that expression?

Monkey's Dam Stamp/Engraving:

Those addictive Monkeys!

Dam monkeys have such wonderful character, it is really easy to fall in love with them! Some collectors have become connoisseurs of the monkey troll, such as Stuart or Vicky in England. Below is a photo of some of Stuart's fabulous monkey collection. Look at all the varying skin tones and mohair! The monkey in the middle, on the second row wearing burlap overalls is the extremely rare young monkey troll! There are only a very small handful of these trolls out there. How neat!! It seems like fate that Stuart should have him :-). Also notice the little swinging Rauls monkey at the bottom.


(used with permission)
To see more of Stuart's awesome Monkey Troll collection, go to his Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/trollcatch22/

New bald headed trolls from Dam

The Dam company just released the bald troll about a year or two ago, and like most collectors I was luke warm on the idea. But then Okinawa came out, with his long goatee to offset his bald head, and big bushy salt 'n pepper tail, and I just can't get enough! That bald head is just so darn cute now! It just begs for kisses. And look at him. He's just such a cheerful fellow!

Aww, look at 'im!

You just have to rub that head...