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/

Vintage Tailed Trolls

Dam's rare 1960's Tailed trolls came in 3 different sizes. The most common is the largest size, 6 inches (7 inches to the tops of his large ears). More rare is the smallest, 2.5 inches, and the most rare is the middle size, 3.5 inches. They all originally had long mohair, and mohair on the end of their tails. It is very common to find a vintage tailed troll that no longer has his mohair on his tail. For the large and medium sizes, I have only seen amber eyes, but for the smallest, he came in a variety of eye colors (mine has blue eyes :-) ). A very distinctive characteristic of a tailed troll is that they have detailed fingernails on both their hands and their feet (except for the medium size - for some reason he doesn't!). The only other troll to have fingernails is the rare and highly sought after Monkey troll.

The large and medium size originally came dressed in a burlap outfit with string belt. Charms were strung on the belt, the most common being a red, felt "fig leaf." The small size came au naturel.

(Neat advertisement showing all three sizes of Tailed troll when they first came out)

Foot imprints:
(click on image to see larger)

Elusive Alligator Trolls

You can't talk about troll collecting without mentioning the elusive Alligator trolls. They have only ever really been seen in photos, and only one of each size is in known existence. There are two sizes (6 inch and 3 inch), and are thought to have been made in Florida (for the Gators). The above photo is one I have framed above my computer desk in my Studio - it is a photo insert (well, mine is a copy that I bought of the photo ;-) ) that was the background of a magnetic dartboard found at Pat's Pub (I'm not sure where the pub is located...). Not much is known about these awesome trolls, and the owner is rather secretive of his identity. The photos below were two common photos of the alligator trolls that made their rounds through excited emails. They are considered to be one of the "Holy Grails" of the troll collecting world.

(aren't they neat? :-) )

Foot Pillow

Lol, Kitty was hanging out with my Big Boy after I had taken his picture - and had her head on his foot. Kitty seems to like him (she likes his outstretched hands - they're good for face rubbins). Usually, I keep him out of reach of the kitties, but this was just so cute I had to take a photo of it. Then of course she lifted her head as soon as the flash went off. Shoot... ;-)

Playmates (or Little Brothers/Sisters)

Playmates are Dam trolls that are about 5 inches. They have been made since the late 1960's, and have had a large variety of faces. For older Playmates, they even had different body types.

When it comes to collecting, it can sometimes be a little confusing to know when a certain Playmate was made. Dates are funny - the date listed on trolls is the date the mold for the troll was made, not necessarily the troll itself. For Dam trolls in general, you can sometimes even have two different dates on a troll (one for the head, and the other for the body), though this is not the case for Playmates.

You can usually tell around when a Playmate (all Dam trolls really, but I find especially with the 5 inch Playmates) was made by what type of stamp is on the bottom of their foot. One example I posted shows 4 generations of the same faced Playmate, and how the stamp changed for each one. On the example I wrote out what each stamp says since it was outrageously hard to get my camera to take a legible photo of them :-/.

1)Made in the 1960's/70's : they tend to have a foot stamp with the date obliterated by another round, deeper stamp that I suppose was supposed to have the date on it. If you can read the deeper, circular stamp, it appears to be backwards.

2)Made in the 1980's/90's.

3)Made after the year 2001, but not for very long.

4)Made after 2005.

Another way to tell when the Playmate was made is how their body is constructed. I made another example showing an older version (bigger hands that often turn out or in, and often one hand will be held out, and stockier legs) vs a more newer version (arms always stick straight out, slightly thinner arms and legs). The older Playmates are also made of softer vinyl, whereas their newer counterparts are harder.

Little Sisters and Brothers

The older Playmates are also called Little Sisters and Brothers. I personally love them - there are some faces they did not continue to make, which is such a shame! They are so full of character! Long Standing Goal: collect every older Playmate face :-). They also came in felt outfits with rivets holding them together in the front. Unlike their descendants (who are very common), the Little Sisters and Brothers are not as easy to find (especially still clothed in their distinctive, riveted original outfits). Also unlike later Playmates, they came in two genders (later Playmates came only in little, non-riveted dresses).

Here are two clips from an ordering magazine showing the variety of faces and body types they came in: