Doll Markings: The DEP Jumeau
Date: 08/24/98
The Jumeau Co., founded by Pierre Francois Jumeau in 1840, was considered the most prestigious of the doll manufacturers of the time. Extravagantly costumed dolls with finely sculptured and beautifully painted heads won the company many awards in the doll world. Today, dolls with Jumeau-marked heads are highly prized possessions and command high prices at auction houses. However, what of a doll with a Jumeau body and a head marked DEP? Is this, too, a Jumeau?
Between 1890 and 1910, Jumeau imported heads from German dollmakers, attached them to French-made bodies, and often placed them in boxes labeled Original Jumeau. More than one German manufacturer provided heads to the French company, but Simon & Halbig supplied by far the largest number. And these heads were marked DEP, which is an abbreviation for deponiertes Geschmacksmuster and means German Registration Trademark. Though these were truly lovely dolls, they have never been considered quite the same superior quality of the dolls produced solely by Jumeau.
These dolls were commissioned, assembled, costumed, boxed, labeled, and sold by the Jumeau Company. All of which might tend to convince one that, yes, these are Jumeaus. But for the fact that these dolls display the lovely and haunting Simon & Halbig faces, they were a production of the Jumeau Company. It is difficult, however, to discount something as important as a face. And so these dolls are designated as DEP Jumeau, a rather beautiful marriage of the two.
