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he Dominion Toy Manufacturing Company was established in Toronto in 1911 and began making dolls and teddy bears. Aaron Cone, its founder, was also a partner in the Ideal Toy Company of New York and had designed many of the Ideal character dolls.
In the early years, Dominion produced dolls with lifelike heads and, for the most part, very primitive bodies with large metal disks in the joints. In the twenties, it offered a range of dolls, some inexpensive and others beautifully made and dressed, including dolls that walked and talked. A few years later, in 1932, the company folded.
Several companies were founded in Toronto in 1917 in response to the sudden shortage of dolls caused by the war in Europe. Among them were Commercial Toy and the Bisco Doll Company, both of which lasted only a year or two. Another company with a short life span, the C. & W. Doll & Pottery, was established in 1919 to make dolls with a pottery head. It closed its doors in 1921. Dolls bearing the name of any of these early companies are quite rare today.
The Florentine Statuary Company manufactured dolls from 1917 to 1932. The Reliable Toy Company, established in 1920, was by far the most successful. It produced dolls until the 1990s.
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