I remember browsing through an American Girl catalog a number of years ago and being a little stumped at what the differences were between the dolls. I’d never seen one in person and from the catalog I was drawn to differences like hair and eye color.
I stumbled on a post with information about face molds and was fascinated that there are only a small number of different face molds that many dolls share. Although dolls have similar looks it hadn’t occurred to me that so many had the same faces.
I took my new found knowledge and browsed through a catalog only to find that I was a poor judge of face molds. Once again I was distracted by hair, eye, and skin color to notice what the differences between the face molds were.
Overtime I figured out the face mold thing and so I’ve always wanted to share basic face mold comparisons for newbies and those of us that love side-by-side comparisons.
Today we will take a close-up look at two dolls that share the same face mold, Josefina (A Historical Character, now in the BeForever line) and Grace (GOTY 2015).
Over the weekend I was at my sister’s house and was wishing so bad I had brought Grace to take pictures side-by-side with the Josefina doll at her house. Instead I decided to get a few pictures of Josefina and place Grace’s next to Josefina’s for comparison.
Let’s take a look at these two dolls!
Josefina came out in 1997 and was the first doll with this face mold.
Over the years 10 other dolls have had the same face mold including Julie, Rebecca and this year Grace.
With a close-up, placing the dolls side by side, it is easier to see the similarities and difference between these two dolls.
- Eyes- different color/ same shape
- Eye brows-different length and texture/ same general placement
- Noses-one has freckles across the bridge/same shape
- Mouth-coloring differences/ same shape
- Cheeks-coloring differences/ same shape
As I said before, ideally the doll’s pictures would have been taken together but instead I have chosen photos where they are at basically the same angle.
It used to really throw me off to see dolls at different angles and perspectives so I’ve included a few different point of views to better see the similarities and differences.
I know the lighting is different in these photos but it a good example that although these two doll have the same face mold they look quite different.
A little trivia-Face molds are known by the first doll to have the mold, so these dolls both share the “Josefina” face mold.
From Josefina, the first doll, to Grace, the most recent, this has been a well loved face mold for American Girl doll fans!
I hope this close up look at Josefina and Grace has been an interesting and fun way to see the face mold they both share!
-Anna
More fun face mold facts-
- Josefina Face Mold by American Girl Wiki
- More about American Girl Face Molds by American Girl Wiki
- All about the different American Girl face molds by Never Grow Up
It’s Josefina, not Josephina or Josephine. It’s Spanish, because she’s Hispanic.
Thanks for the catch Jillian! It’s all fixed now! Wow, that was a silly spelling mistake I made!
McKenna and chrissa have the face mold also. I didn’t know the dolls looked so similar.
Yes, I found at least 10 dolls with this face mold! I didn’t realize their similarities until they were side-by-side!
I am very much partial to the Josefina face mold. I just think it is ADORABLE! I recently purchased my first AG doll (on Ebay!) and she’s a retired Elizabeth doll. I also got Julie shortly after since I seemed to be on an AG rampage (making that first purchase is the hardest, haha.) Beautiful photos as always, and it’s amazing to see how subtle differences in coloring can completely change the look of this doll! I would love to see a redhead Josefina mold in the future. (I guess I could customize one myself, but I’m not quite there yet, lol.) Great post!
Congrats on your new dolls Farrah! I can’t wait to see pics of them on your blog! I love your redhead idea! I haven’t tried customizing either, although I’m thinking about fixing the loose legs of one of my dolls. I am a little nervous to take the head off and remove the fill.