If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times – I LOVE OUR READERS! Domenica has shared photos of her Pre-Mattel also known as Pleasant Company Samantha collection. Stunning!!
In Domenica’s own words:
I received my doll in 1992 for my 8th birthday, which was also the year I had a tea party for my birthday just like Samantha! As of October of this year, I will have had her for 20 years! I played with my Samantha doll from the time I was 8 until I was about 14. Her hair is obviously pretty worn, but I like to think that it just shows she’s well loved. I made sure to take good care of Samantha and all of her accessories because I wanted to pass her on to my own daughter someday. Lucky for me, I have a daughter who is turning one in a month. Can’t wait until she’s 8 so I can give her my beloved doll and take her to pick out her very own at AG Place!
As for my collection, I only lost a few items along the way (which is really saying something for a girl with two younger sisters!). I lost her nightgown, kimono slippers, and her “Meet Samantha” hair bow. I have all of the items seen here, including the linens to Samantha’s wicker table, the lemonade set and various Pleasant Company items like Samantha’s paper dolls, the hair care kit, trading cards, books, etc. All items were purchased between 1992-1996. Anyway, I wanted to share my collection since Samantha has been retired!
My Samantha doll in her cranberry dress.
Winter cape (dark navy plaid), kimono, and sailor dress
Tea dress, original “Meet Samantha” dress, and school dress
Samantha and her accessories
Winter cape with hat, muff, and ankle warmers, Wizard of Oz book, summertime accessories (minus the butterflies)
Summertime accessories, Samantha’s doll
Samantha’s trunk, school desk, commode, wicker set, and bed.
Thanks again to Domenica for sharing her priceless collection with us!
Wow!
I’ve always loved Samantha, and I wished I had been able to get some of her collection. Thanks for showing us her stuff, Domenica!
Your Samantha is beautiful! Wish I knew about AG’s then, I think the Pleasant Company dolls are gallons of more beautiful then the newer dolls (no offense, I have all mattel dolls)!!!
I too have pre Mattel Samantha and I also have a pre Mattel Samantha with a modern head after she visited the Doll hospital, she came to me with no hair.
This is such a wonderful post and I am thrilled to have seen it! What a post to wake up to!
Wow… what an amazing collection
Char,
Can i do a review of the Our Generation doll that i have(to put on Doll Diaries)?
nice, i have a plesant company Molly.
Erin – sure. Just email it to me at share@dolldiaries.com
thanks!
Hey, I remember getting those catalogs back in the day from Pleasant Company. I also remember watching Samantha’s movie when it premiered on TV. Nice collection!
Char
i emailed it to you
I loved this! Samantha was and will always be my favorite HC! Right now I am working on getting all her things! I have already sent her to the Doll Hospital. She is beautiful yet she was a 1986 doll so I asked if I could keep the head. Her body had been switched in the 90s, her limbs were so losse and her hai had been cut. The only thing in good shape was the head. I also have bought her nightiime collection, Christmas collection, and her playdress and pinafore, and I found her table and chairs, steamer trunk, desk and partystuff+ school bag, lunchbox, Lida and Clara dolls, 2004 doll box, summer ammusements(1987 original), and her plaid cape and Glaiters all at a thrift shop! They had all Nellies stuff so I had them preserve it for me to get latter because I did not have enough money. Most the stuff was in original boxes. Now all I need is a few outfits(which they had) her caddy and all her books and I will have her whole collection! They even had a stack of AG catolouges from 1986-2009! It’s like I found the AG place of my dreams! They even had all the GOTYS collections and Kirstens+lots of Felicity stuff!
Woah! That’s a lot of Samantha stuff you got there! Wish I had all of that =P
I love Pleasant Company stuff though! I wish they still had the company, not Matel!
My Stepahnie doll (myAG) is a Pleasant Company doll. Is it my imagination, or are they fatter and their heads bigger?
Wow! I didn’t know that Mattel is now making the American Girl dolls.My daughter(now 26) recieved her Samantha when she was 10 for Christmas that year.I made all her doll’s clothes from a pattern I purchased from Pleasant Co. I also made her a matching dress from a pattern they used to sell. Her Grandfather made her a beautiful bed and matching wardrobe for Samantha’s clothes.My daughter spent countless hours playing with her doll. She took very good care of her and has her put away . Hopefully someday she will have a daughter to pass her on to.
i have a Pleasant Company Samantha doll i got her off e-bay a few years ago and her hair looks pretty worn too but i still love her very much!!
when i got my samantha doll i looked just like her!! my hair was long and i had bangs and my hair and eyes are brown too!! so she was sort of like a JLY doll to me!! i don’t really look like her any more though!!
I also have a pre-mattel Samantha doll. I am now a grown up but still love my AG dolls. My Samantha collection is just the doll and a few dresses. I also have Kit and an American Girl of Today which is now known as Just Like You. I have furniture for Kit and some of the retired AGof Today furniture. I have the old yellow bunkbeds. Anyway, I really enjoyed seeing your collection. Even though I am older now, I still play with my dolls. I make all the crafts for them from this website. I have all of the books for Kit and Samantha and I still read them in the summer. I would love to see some ideas of a good way to make a doll display for dolls and furniture. I want to do something with them so that they can be part of my craft room. They are part of my past and I want to always keep them nice. If anyone has ideas, please share with me.
I have a Mattel Samantha that I got right before she was retired. Samantha has always been one of my favorite dolls, although I only have5 outfits and her meet accessories. Thanks for sharing these photos! Your lucky to have this collection. Love it!
Samantha- I would love to find something like that at a thrift store! You’re very lucky!
Oh. My. Golly. That is so cool! You’re so lucky! I wanted Samantha so bad but I don’t have her!
I have a Pre-mattel samantha her legs are loose and she is really dirty she also has an ink stain on her arm too. What should I do? Should I take her to the doll hospital? if so what should I have done to her?
She has lost all her value so send her to the Hospital.
Samantha will always have a part in almost every girl or doll lovers heart. (forever mine) I loved her books more than all of the rest. Her movie with my favorite actress Annasophia Robb is so true to the characters of the books and Samantha. Only if Eddie Ryland would become nice or admit he likes Samantha. Haha I’m such a geek. In conclusion Samantha will always be the best
Nell, send her to a doll hospital and have her legs and body replaced.
my sister has a pleasant Addy.maybe I will show pics
Wow, I didn’t know Samantha used to have so much stuff! That’s really awesome!
By the way, please click my name and check out my blog!
Its a snow day here! : D
Nice blog, Katelyn.
Samantha’s collection is so beautiful. I love her furniture, specially her bed: it’s so elegant. I wish AG would release another girl from Samantha’s era. I miss her stuff.
Awsome collection. It’s cool how you have had your Samantha for almost 20 years. This year I would have had my Molly for 10. My collection is still going strong and like you (and alot of other readers on here) I hope to one day share my dolls with my own daughter. I wish AG would bring Samantha back. I am still kicking myself for not getting her and Nellie when I had the chance. At the time they was retiring her I went through a phase where I thought I was getting to old for dolls. Last time I make that mistake.
Olivia- Its okay, you’re not alone. I did the same thing!
That is a great collection
I have the Samantha doll but I never got the chance to collect anything. I love the doll, era, and wish I could have gotten her collection.
I have the original Pleasant Company Samantha and Molly dolls from the 1980′s too, they have the white bodies the dolls were made with back then…..the only downside is that most of the AG doll clothing made today don’t fit my dolls because the older doll bodies are shaped differently (a little wider and larger) than the AG dolls from Mattel today….I love my Samantha and Molly dolls, their hair is a lighter brown shade than the newer Samantha & Molly versions and their eyelashes curl and are long! The older Pleasant Company dolls were also manufactured by the GOTZ doll/toy company in Germany when they first came out. Have to admit though that I love the newer AG dolls too! I have the older catalogs from the 80′s and early 90′s and it’s fun to look through them and see what the collections were back then (at the time only the Samantha, Molly and Kirsten dolls were available), since most of those items are retired the catalogs are a great reference item too. Felicity was released in 1991 if I recall correctly and that’s when the dolls transitioned from the white bodies to tan bodies and the Felicity doll debuted with the new body style/color. The original Felicity is a beautiful doll too with bright red hair and vivid green eyes, her face is fuller than the later Felicity version. Thanks for sharing your photos/collection and it’s nice to see that I’m not the only one who held onto her doll too!