What is a Golly?

Florence Upton was an illustrator of children's books. She returned to England with her family and settled in London. In 1895, with her mother Bertha who wrote the verse, Florence introduced the little black doll character whom she called 'Golliwogg' in the first of series of thirteen books. These stories told of numerous adventures that 'Golliwogg' and his two friends - the Dutch Dolls followed.
The content of the stories was both entertaining and educational and soon the popularity of each book grew. The 'Golliwogg' character became widely appreciated and was in turn used to promote all manner of merchandise, his smiling face couldn't help but appeal to both child and adult both. Florence never patented her creation and so had no control over hid use. He was soon adopted as the mascot of leading jam and preserves company James Robertson & Sons - and is still used to this day…

We are not able to say exactly how Florence came to create the Golly - there are many speculative versions of his origins - but Florence never documented where he came from or how he was named. We do know that the original doll was given to Florence when she was a very young child and he was left in a toy trunk for many years until Florence, as an adult, re-discovered him. The doll was most probably a hand-made toy using scraps of materials from worn out clothing.

The doll is considered to be the first ever toy produced many many centuries ago. It is only natural that the creator would make a small imitation of the people around him and representing his culture. It is highly likely, therefore, that the original Golly was made for a coloured child in the southern states of America where there is a large black community. His name may have been given to him by his maker or as a made-up gobbledegook name created by Florence.

Sadly over the years his name and appearance have caused a certain amount of controversy amongst those with strong ethnic and racialist views. As a result we now refer to him as Golly so as to not offend. The latter part of his name was in use a long time before Florence wrote her books and it is only in more recent years that it became used as a derogatory term.

Golly was most popular as a nursery toy in England and as people left for other lands so the toy and books carrying his pictures were taken along. In countries such as Canada, America and Australia where a high number of British people settled the Golly is still recognised and collected.
Always with a large smile and shock of clack hair Golly is most often found with other traditional toys such as wooden peg dolls and the Teddy Bear.
Collectors of this character nowadays are those who fondly remember him as a childhood friend and those who are captivated by his cheerful and colourful persona.
Auction houses see very high prices fetched for older pieces of Golly ephemera proving that a lot of loyal fans still credit him with great value - and treasure him!