Donna's Children
43 years
Making and restoring porcelain dolls since 1983, with a shop attached. They examine the doll, send you an estimate, and start nothing without approval. Restring American Girl dolls using factory methods, which is a specific enough claim to be worth something.
Getting hold of them
- donnaschildrendolls@gmail.com
- Their own site
- You can walk in at
Email is the way in. They do not take cold calls.
If it gets lost
Not stated
This is a blank on their page, not an answer from them. We have never asked anybody in this trade the question. Of the 185 businesses we have read, 4 have written anything down about losing an item: 2 say it is insured, 2 say the risk is yours. The other 181 are silent, and silence is not a policy either way.
If you would rather not have to phrase it
“Before I send it, can I ask what happens if it gets lost or damaged while it’s with you? I’m not trying to catch you out, it just can’t be replaced. Whatever the answer is, could you put it in an email so I’ve got it in writing?”
“No, we don’t cover it” is a fine answer to get. It tells you to insure the mail yourself for the full amount, both ways.
Nobody has told us who covers the outward leg. Ask, because that is the half people forget.
If it is lost or damaged
Their website does not say what happens if your item is lost or damaged while they have it.
Ask before you post anything you could not replace. Only four of the businesses we hold publish an answer to this.
What they take on
- Full restoration and rebuilds
- Mending and seams
- Cleaning on its own
- Eyes and noses
- Joints
Works in mohair.
What they won’t do
The part every other directory leaves out. None of this is a criticism. It is how you avoid three wasted weeks.
- Won't quote from photos. Needs it in hand first
Their exact words on what they refuse
Quoted from their own pages, unedited, because a paraphrase of a refusal is the kind of thing you find out was wrong three weeks in.
- “We repair only what is necessary, keeping your doll as original as possible.”
Getting it there
- Takes work by mail
- You can bring it in
- Comes back standard
Money
- Will not quote until it is in their hands. Looking at it costs nothing
Anything else they say
- Also sells doll bodies and parts.
- Wig work covers washing, setting and restyling mohair or human hair.