Established in 1927 in New York City, Eugenia Poir produced special cloth dolls under the direction of her partner Alvin Gray. The company was also part of The French Dollmakers. The dolls were initially designed and produced in France and are primarily between 16 and 23.5 inches tall. However, the company stopped its operations in 1935. The dolls were made of cloth, usually with pressed felt or cotton cloth and bodies. These were also articulated in the neck, hip, and shoulder areas and also had a distinguishable protruding section at the front and rear of the lower torso. Their facial features were painted and they had sideways eyes.

Another distinctive feature of his felt dolls were their dotted eyebrows. The upper part lashes were made from real lashes while the lower ones were painted. The mouth was also shaped like a heart on its felt face. All cotton versions had top and bottom painted tabs with single-stroke painted eyebrows. He still had the same side painted eyes that they looked at, but the difference can be seen from his height, as the cotton ones were 17 or 18 inches. A front-to-back seam in the center of the doll’s body is another indicator of Gre-Poir’s cotton doll version.

Cotton wrist disc joints were also found in the articulated areas of the neck, hip, and shoulders. Most of the dolls came with mitten-like hands with some stitching on the fingers. Gre-Poir dolls were stuffed with excelsior or straw and their hair could be blonde wigs or red mohair. Her hair came in various styles, such as curly, bob, and wavy. The dolls wore socks with three stripes on the top in some of the models and these were combined with Mary Jane shoes.

Most of the dolls also had cardboard or cloth hang tags labeled “French Doll Makers” that had the imprinted mark “French Doll Makers / Doll Name / My hair can be washed / I can dry clean.” Another interesting addition to her doll series were the smoking and musical dresser dolls that wore fashionable clothes and stylish accessories.

Those who are interested in collecting Gre-Poir dolls may have to search the internet and at auctions to find these rare collectibles. These fabric and felt dolls need special care and perhaps due to their natural fiber materials, they made Gre-Poir’s creations one of the most difficult dolls to find today.