Lady Viking Troll

Vintage Lady Vikings are not very common, so when I saw this poor, little hairless darling, I jumped at the chance to get her! She arrived smelling musty, and a bit dirty, but with gorgeous uncracked eyes and a sweet smile. After a bath, new clothes, and a trip to Ashley's hair salon, she is amazingly lovely! Luckily, it was just her outfit that was musty. I couldn't be happier!

The boys like her too :-)

(Flanked by new Dam Viking, and older Dam Viking Bank)

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...

Lingenberry Trolls

Some of my favorite trolls are the Lingdenberry trolls. I just think they're fun :-). Body type: 6 inches tall, only the head is articulated, foot engraving #725, and they are in a walking pose. They wear felt clothing (dress for the girls, open jacket and pants for the boys), and have a felt satchel with elastic strap (where they keep their Lingenberries :-) ). It is not uncommon to find a Lingenberry troll that has lost his satchel along the way.

They come in 5 different faces:


They originally came in a wonderfully illustrated box, on the back of which has a really cute story about trolls searching for Lingenberries. The box is very hard to find. I think the illustrations are just lovely, and so in the Dam company style!

Back

(click on image to enlarge for easier reading)

Front


Sides


Top

Here is a fabulous image created by Debra Gewand. She is an artist who creates, among other things, lovely custom clip art. She created this wonderful border using clip art that she created from the drawings on the original box. On her website, she has a great page dedicated to Lingenberry trolls:

http://www.dagoriginaldesigns.com/index_files/page0018.htm

(used with permission)

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)

Does rehairing my troll lower its value?

A lot of collectors come across trolls that wear their age and mistreatment on their sleeve, so to speak. And the question inevitably arises: Will it lower the value of the troll as a collectible if parts of it are replaced?

The answer is yes and no. Yes, a troll with its original hair, eyes, and outfit is more valuable than a troll who does not have their original pieces. On the flip side, if they are a hot mess (like my first tailed troll, that I have pictured above) that decreases their value. You can only improve a troll's value by fixing it back up again.

Also, how much a troll is worth is very dependent on the collector and their preferences. Some collectors prefer their trolls to be original, and others may go for trolls that have been redone. I personally love original trolls that are pristine, but I love remaking 3 inchers into my Little Ladies :-)

My first tailed troll was an absolute mess when he first arrived to me. I was so sad! I finally had my first tailed troll, and he was, well, ugly. (Now most non-troll collectors would think its ugly anyway, but I think tailed trolls have the most wonderful character, and are some of the most handsome). I sent him off to Timm (this was before I was doing my own fixer uppers) for some TLC (rehairing and a slight clean up). When he arrived back home again, I was AMAZED at his transformation! It was like he was a completely different troll! Timm had even gone out of his way to replace one of his eyes that had rusted with another vintage one that he happened to have laying around (that was just so nice of him!). He went from disgusting to gorgeous. If I were to resell him (which I never would - he's still my favorite tailed troll, even though he's the least original of the bunch), I would get much more for him than if I were to have left him the way he was.

It all boils down to one essential thing...the very root of any sort of collecting: its what ever makes YOU happy. That's what collecting is all about :-)

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? :-) )