New Zealand Sindy was
made in the late 1960s and looks like a put together doll which she
basically is. Pedigree sent Sindy parts to New Zealand to the Lines
Brothers factories, where they were put together. In New Zealand they
presumably used up all the available parts sent to them, so in that part
of the world many Sindy's are found with big pink hard plastic
(unbending) hollow legs, and hard plastic miniature heads and arms.Sindy is 11 1/4 inch or
28,5 cm tall and is marked Made in Hong Kong on her waist.Her head is the same as
the miniature Sindy head and her Hair colours are brunette, blond and
auburn.
Spanish Sindy
In 1974 and 1975 a gauntlet arm Sindy was made in Spain for
the local market by the Florido company. This Sindy is usually called Spanish
Sindy or Florido Sindy. She was made from the same molds as Sindy with the
exception of
the hands. The Florido hands are more beautiful, very finely shaped, with pointed nails
and gracefully bent fingers. Most but not all Florido Sindy have shorter hair then her
UK sisters, in the usual colours, blond, brunette and red. She has stick-in lashes and is
marked 033055X on her head. The torso has no markings.
To the left you will see a Spanish and English gauntlet
Sindy so that you can compare the two and above is a close up of the
hands, you can now see the superb details on the hands of the Spanish
Florido dolls.
martinair gauntlet
Another doll using the gauntlet arm body is the Dutch
MartinAir doll. This doll was made in Hong Kong for presumably the Otto Simon company, who
later sold the
Fleur doll with the same body. It is known that they had a license from
Pedigree to produce Sindy but lost that a few years later and they started to
produce Fleur then. Their
bodies are marked E between the shoulders and are made from a different,
more shiny, orangey vinyl compared to Lovely Lively Sindy, the heads are
slightly smaller and the lips are painted less full. These Sindy dolls are found in the Netherlands only and are either
dressed as a MartinAir stewardess (the brunettes) or in the Volendam traditional
costume ( the blonds). The blond dolls are extremely rare.
martinair straight arms
Another MartinAir doll was produced with the same head wearing the same
uniform but
on another, basic ( Fleur) body. She has pointed breasts and
short unbending arms. All these dolls are hard to find, the faces are unique but the
bodies are common
Fleur bodies.
The dolls have poor quality brunette hair and are marked 033055X
on their head and have stick in lashes.
The same doll as the MartinAir doll was used for the Volendam Sindy,
but the Volendam Sindy was made with blonde hair only and is very rare.
She also was only available in the Netherlands. . Her body is exactly the same as the MatinAir gauntlet doll
pictured above. Pictures below are her little clogs and necklace.
In 1978 Sindy was first brought out in the USA by Marx.
She came as a blond only. ( I have seen a boxed brunette
but don't think it was authentic). Sindy has an active body and a new head mold that will be
used for all Sindy dolls in 1979. Marx Sindy has 2 GEN 1077 033055X on
her head and Made in Hong Kong on her body. Her hair is styled in a
chignon, ballerina style. This doll is very easy to find as it was made
in large numbers, even if she was only sold for a year or 2 in the US as
Marx went out of business in 1979.
1978 African American Sindy
This lovely doll was sold as Gayle, Sindy's friend. She has
the same active body as Sindy, black eyes, black hair and pink lips. Her markings are the same as Sindy's.
She was sold in The USA only and is a very collectable and attractive doll.
