Dawn Doll

Dawn dolls were small fashion dolls that were made by Topper between 1970 and 1973. The dolls were smaller than Barbie dolls, slightly over 6" in height.

The dolls were popular (they topped sales of Barbie for a while), but the company that manufactured them, Topper, went out of business in 1973. They were reissued in the late 1990's to 2003 by Checkerboard.

Mattel's Rockflowers, produced in 1971, were in direct competition with Dawn. In England, Palitoy had a doll of similar size known as the Pippa doll.

The basic Dawn dolls were made of vinyl, were jointed at the necks, hips, and shoulders, with their knees being able to bend with a bending mechanism. The waists also twisted for posing. The dolls had painted eyes and 'real' eyelashes. Special types of dolls included 'dancing' dolls (where one moved the arm and the doll 'danced'), Head to Toe dolls which featured short hair and three wigs (possibly inspired by the Crissy doll), and Majorette dolls which spun a small glow-in-the-dark baton. Another, rarer, type of Dawn dolls were the Flower Fantasy dolls, which had the dolls standing in the middle of a plastic flower pot.

Dawn, like Barbie, was the main doll of the line. Dawn's friends included Angie, Dale, Glori, Fancy Feet, Jessica, Kip, and Longlocks. There were four boy dolls as well: Gary, Van, Kevin and Ron. Dawn also had friends who modeled for a modeling agency: Daphne, Dinah, Denise, Maureen and Melanie.

Cars, Purses, Cases, and special Clothes were all made for Dawn dolls. They also had a fashion show stage, a sofa phone, a beauty pageant stage, and an apartment.