Peddler Dolls

In the United States, peddler dolls are rare and when these are found,
 they are most usually a type of pincushion doll.

       A rare peddler doll at the National Gallery of Art from 1860 was painted by an American artist, Mina Lowry, for the museum in 1936. This particular version has a china head and a basket full of sewing notions. Most peddler dolls in the United States carry notions because at the center of their basket is a pin cushion. However, in Western Europe, peddler dolls carry all kinds of trinkets, most usually according to a theme of wares for sale.

       From antiquity, peddlers filled the gaps in the formal market economy by providing consumers with the convenience of door-to-door service. They operated alongside town markets and fairs where they often purchased surplus stocks which were subsequently resold to consumers. Peddlers were able to distribute goods to the more geographically isolated communities such as those who lived in mountainous regions of Europe. They also called on consumers who, for whatever reason, found it difficult to attend town markets. Thus, peddlers played an important role in linking these consumers and regions to wider trade routes. Some peddlers worked as agents or traveling salesmen for larger manufacturers, thus were the precursor to the modern traveling salesman.

       In the United States, there was an upsurge in the number of peddlers in the late 18th century and this may have peaked in the decades just before the American Civil War. However, their numbers began to decline by the 19th-century. Advances in industrial mass production and freight transportation as a result of the war laid the groundwork for the beginnings of modern retail and distribution networks, which gradually eroded much of the need for traveling salesmen. The rise of popular mail order catalogues (e.g. Montgomery Ward began in 1872) offered another way for people in rural or other remote areas to obtain items not readily available in local stores or markets. A relatively short-lived upsurge in the number of peddlers was witnessed in the period following the second World War, when the wartime manufacturing boom came to an abrupt end, and returning soldiers finding themselves unable to secure suitable work, turned to peddling which generally offered a decent income.

 

Left, peddlers in Belgian selling milk by the roadside. Center, old-fashioned peddler selling
 baskets. Right, peddler in Vietnam.

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