Getting rid of a golliwog doll.

[Rusty Nails]

My s-i-l died recently and we are in the process of clearing her house. She had a collection of old teddy bears, several Stieff, and one large still boxed Golliwog doll.

We are giving all her property to the charity of the Hospice that looked after her at the end, but are a bit worried if it would be OK to give the Gollie to them given the sensitivity to these dolls nowadays. My wife doesn't want to just dump it.

Are we being a bit over-sensitive or should we just be happy if it could raise some money for the Hospice?

 

[glasgowcyclist]

You could always sell it on ebay and give the money to the hospice, if you think the doll's too risky to land them with.

 

[fossala]

I think items like Golliwog dolls are important to retain for posterity but I'd be worried about the sort of person that collect them and wouldn't want to promote it by selling the item on somewhere like ebay.

 

[fossyant]

Oh my, as a kid we had a doll or two at home, but they were very much prised and loved - I never knew as a child at the 'issues'. Golly was just another toy, like all the soft toys.

PC gone mad, just like 'Thomas the Tank Engine'. I can't watch the new thing...

 

[GaGa]

My s-i-l died recently and we are in the process of clearing her house. She had a collection of old teddy bears, several Stieff, and one large still boxed Golliwog doll.

We are giving all her property to the charity of the Hospice that looked after her at the end, but are a bit worried if it would be OK to give the Gollie to them given the sensitivity to these dolls nowadays. My wife doesn't want to just dump it.

Are we being a bit over-sensitive or should we just be happy if it could raise some money for the Hospice?

No doubt someone with the mentality of a sheep will pass some comment about the doll what ever you do with it. Personally I would keep it in memory of your dear departed. They obviously had affection for the doll or they wouldn't have kept it. I'm 68 years old now and I grew up with the Golly's, we loved them. Robinson's jam used to put a paper Golly behind the label on the jar, when you collected 10 paper Golly's you sent them off and received a metal Golly lapel pin. Every time we wen't shopping we'ed try and nick a paper Golly from the jars. I have a small Golly in a Golly mug and its in pride of place on a shelf. One of my best friends is black and he understands why I have a Golly. So give him to the charity shop, someone will buy him and love him, I would in a heartbeat. Good Luck.

 

[fossyant]

No doubt someone with the mentality of a sheep will pass some comment about the doll what ever you do with it. Personally I would keep it in memory of your dear departed. They obviously had affection for the doll or they wouldn't have kept it. I'm 68 years old now and I grew up with the Golly's, we loved them. Robinson's jam used to put a paper Golly behind the label on the jar, when you collected 10 paper Golly's you sent them off and received a metal Golly lapel pin. Every time we wen't shopping we'ed try and nick a paper Golly from the jars. I have a small Golly in a Golly mug and its in pride of place on a shelf. One of my best friends is black and he understands why I have a Golly. So give him to the charity shop, someone will buy him and love him, I would in a heartbeat. Good Luck.

I'm 49, and never thought it as an issue - Robinson's jams especially !

 

[Rusty Nails]

No doubt someone with the mentality of a sheep will pass some comment about the doll what ever you do with it. Personally I would keep it in memory of your dear departed. They obviously had affection for the doll or they wouldn't have kept it. I'm 68 years old now and I grew up with the Golly's, we loved them. Robinson's jam used to put a paper Golly behind the label on the jar, when you collected 10 paper Golly's you sent them off and received a metal Golly lapel pin. Every time we wen't shopping we'ed try and nick a paper Golly from the jars. I have a small Golly in a Golly mug and its in pride of place on a shelf. One of my best friends is black and he understands why I have a Golly. So give him to the charity shop, someone will buy him and love him, I would in a heartbeat. Good Luck.

We have kept a Stieff Paddington Bear for our new granddaughter, and my wife's huge Welsh family bible dating back to the mid 19th century. We aren't great ones for mementos.

 

[fossyant]

I've had to google it, 1988 Robinsons stopped advertising.

Don't get it, as a 70's kid we had Golly and he was part of the teddy club...

There is some weird mixed up shoot these days.

Don't get me started on music streaming - really...

 

[classic33]

Out of curiosity, is it also a Stieff?

 

[srw]

Why don't you ring up the charity and ask them?

If you're donating a number of potentially valuable older items they might appreciate the heads-up so that they can work out how to get maximum value from the donation rather than just stick them in their charity shop for any old cowboy dealer to pick them up for a song.

Alternatively, as someone else has suggested, either bung it on eBay or keep it in memory of a time when casual racism was socially acceptable.

 

[Rocky]

FWIW, I’ve been in this situation. My father had three golliwog dolls and when he died we burnt them. They represented a racist side of him that i didn’t want to be reminded of. We kept other things that bring back happier memories. He was a man of his times but sadly some of those times are best forgotten.

 

[Saluki]

I loved my Golly to rags. He was my favourite toy and was taken everywhere. If you are selling him, I would be very interested as not seen one in decades and would absolutely love another.

 

[Rusty Nails]

Out of curiosity, is it also a Stieff?

I don't think so. It is up in Tamworth and we're not going up again until next Wednesday, so I'll check then.

 

[Rusty Nails]

FWIW, I’ve been in this situation. My father had three golliwog dolls and when he died we burnt them. They represented a racist side of him that i didn’t want to be reminded of. We kept other things that bring back happier memories. He was a man of his times but sadly some of those times are best forgotten.

Luckily my s-i-l was not racist at all and this collection relates to her love of old dolls going back to her childhood.

I forgot to say my wife is keeping her first teddy bear which my wife remembers her playing with as a toddler. It is now almost hairless!

 

[Flying_Monkey]

They are racist caricatures. They were never acceptable to begin with, and while we had the reasonable excuse of not knowing any better as kids, we don't now. And really, the 'wasn't it great?' nostalgia is not harmless fun in this context. Just get rid of it.