Peg wooden dolls

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Peg wooden dolls are some of the oldest surviving dolls, and were made worldwide. Although the term "peg-wooden" refers to a jointing technique where the arms and/or legs are attached to the body with pegs, this term came to be synonymous with simple lathe turned dolls from the Val Gardena in the Alps.

Sometimes a peg wooden doll's arms or legs are locked together by the jointing system, so if one arm is moved the other will move. An advanced form of peg joints is where the body pegs are "split" and attached separately allowing independent movement.

Peg wooden dolls are Dutch in origin and were imported and sold undressed. Young girls would then make their clothing from scraps of fabric.

Tuck comb dolls are a special style of peg wooden doll, named for their carved hair comb. The head and body is turned as one piece. The hair is usually painted with curled bangs and with a painted comb. Early tuck comb dolls had elongated, graceful proportions, nicely carved details, painted slippers, and sometimes with wood pendant earrings. They are often referred to as "German" Tuck combs, probably because they were sold in the German Nuremberg Toy Market. They are also sometimes incorrectly called Dutch dolls perhaps due to the similarity to the word "German" or "Deutsch".