Troll dolls

There is a children’s movie coming out this weekend that features Trolls. These little people or things with the tall hair may seem new to this generation, but if you are of a certain age, such as myself, you will remember these Trolls actually made their appearance in the United States in the 1960s and were recently inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame.

These dolls were originally known as Dam dolls because they were created and produced by a Danish fisherman and woodcarver named Thomas Dam in 1959. Dam wanted to make a doll for his daughter for Christmas and the result was the Good Luck Troll. People in his village saw his daughter’s wooden doll and wanted one for their children. Dam began making the dolls in plastic and his company was born. These funny looking little dolls with the crazy upright hair became very popular in Europe before coming to the U.S.

Many cheap imitations were also produced because of a copyright flaw in Dam’s paperwork. His trolls had wool hair and glass eyes and were of a higher quality than other versions. The company he created has been making Trolls since 1959 although they struggled at times and lost their patent that was restored in 2003.

The Trolls have evolved and faded in and out of popularity over the years. Hasbro even introduced Battle Trolls, trying to make them popular with boys. There have been Dread Heads and even some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Trolls. There was even a Troll doll in Toy Story 2. Trolls even appeared in video games and cartoons in the 1990s.

Dreamworks purchased the intellectual property of the Trolls from the Dam family to produce their new movie and introduce the loveable little dolls to a new generation. The Trolls were considered to be good luck trolls when they were first produced and I am pretty sure they are going to bring lots of good luck and revenue to Dreamworks through the movie and all the licensed merchandise and toys that will come from it all.

As you can imagine, original Dam Troll dolls are bringing pretty high prices on eBay right now, especially collections or unusual ones like the Troll doll version of KISS. Russ Trolls and Wishnik Trolls seem to be bringing good prices as well but not as good as the original 1960s Dam Trolls. Happy Collecting!

Jillinda Falen has been buying and collecting antiques for more than 31 years. She is a licensed realtor and estate liquidation specialist. You can contact her through the Houston Home Journal or via email at jcfalen@gmail.com.

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