La Gutta Percha La Gutta Percha

La Gutta Percha
by Michael Canadas
and thankfully, to this
very day, in a far away land, grows a great, lush, flowering tree
with beautiful, glistening foliage. For centuries, the native
people of the Malay Peninsula knew of the tree’s magical
properties, but it would be the Western world that would truly
benefit from nature’s “white gold” – the sap that poured from
the noble evergreen known as Isonandra Gutta. For those of you
Once upon a time
Two Leverd ladies in fine, late-1860s promenade gowns
take time to pose with their freshly picked spring flowers.
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familiar with gutta percha, typically black, or
dark brown items instantly come to mind. You
may find it strange to imagine the raw sap
harvested from the gutta tree is in fact, milky
white in its natural state! Through heat processing
of the sap, it turns a deep, rich color. The use of
gutta percha is associated with many different
forms of scientific and decorative objects, created
throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries. Such items include ornate mourning
jewelry, underwater-cable insulation,
daguerreotype cases, dental implements,
furniture and even golf balls! Some say the use of
gutta percha revolutionized the game of golf and
telecommunications during the nineteenth
century would have been non-existent without it.
The process of evaporating the milky fluid
harvested from the immense tree, then
coagulating the latex produced gutta percha.
Shaping it into inelastic bricks for export was the
final step in the process. The manufacturer would
simply buy bricks of gutta percha and with little
effort, soften the material in hot water – it
remained firm, but not brittle when it cooled. The
forerunner to our modern-day latex, gutta percha
could also be processed so that it resembled the
color of maple wood. It could easily be given a
colorant or paint finish – even gold leafing –
resulting in what many artisans thought was
an easy to use, pliable and moldable
material that accepted a high-definition
form, from that molding. Its uses were
deemed – unlimited.
In the mid-nineteenth century,
France was at the forefront of the
luxury-goods renaissance spreading
throughout the world and any new
material would have been of great
interest to the myriad realms of
manufacturing, including the toy
business.
The doll world, then and now,
always seems to have its eyes
peeled for the latest trends, so it
absolutely follows that gutta
percha would find its way into
France’s burgeoning doll industry.
All that was required of those
French start up doll makers was a
heating stove, a pot of water and a
mold. Voila – one could be in business!
However, one also had to have at hand
the eighty francs per brick of gutta percha!
We in the doll world consider the Huret
sisters to be the first to use gutta percha in
their doll enterprise when they designed and
Note how the lambskin
wig follows the shape of
the recessed hairline.
Leverd examples are
known for their
magnificent hairstyles,
if they are lucky
enough to have
retained them.
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Details of the shaped, recessed
hairline-a trademark feature of
the Leverd dolls.
This body, although unmarked,
completely follows the Leverd-patented
body and head.
This image of the body’s reverse
illustrates the remarkable condition,
plus the prominently marked head.
It is obvious that the thin leather was
stretched and glued over the gutta percha
base components, rather than stitched.
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patented a thoughtful, articulated, hollow doll
body from the material. From a successful
business family, which included handcrafting of
all sorts of useful goods – from locks to exquisite
iron furniture, the sisters stepped into the world
of doll making and they literally helped launch
an entire market that simply did not exist before.
Many young entrepreneurs looking for success
found Paris to be a city of vast opportunity.
During the reign of Emperor Napoleon III, at one
point the city counted over two hundred doll
makers and assemblers. Fine boutiques were set
up to supply the world with the most fashionable
articles de Paris and it was indeed Paris, in which
the firm of Leverd et Cie appeared in those ranks
while incorporating bisque, wax, and gutta percha
to create some of the most splendid fashion dolls
that would grace the Second Empire.
The firm of Leverd et Cie., (later known as
La Gutta Percha) created masterpieces which for
many years have been incorrectly attributed to
the Austrian, Josef Kubelka. It is through the
tireless effort of one of the world’s leading
researchers, namely François Theimer along with
his wife Danielle, that insight has been brought to
many obscure inventors and manufacturers,
thereby providing proper attributions.
It was during the year 1852, in which Alexandre
Leverd went into partnership with Louis Joseph
Arthur Decourdemanche. Advertising they
specialized in rubber products, offerings included
components such as hoses, washers, belts and
seals, plus all types of molded objects including
soles for ladies’ shoes made of gutta percha, along
with a multitude of additional items, also made
from the exotic substance.
There has existed in modern times, a debate
concerning whether gutta percha was, when
initially used, at all supple and flexible. It seems to
this writer, if gutta percha was used in the creation
of soles for shoes, it must have been somewhat
supple. Furthermore, how strange for today’s
collectors to imagine a gutta percha doll’s body of
a similar texture to that of a modern vinyl doll!
A. Leverd & Cie. was first located at 218 rue
Faubourg Saint Martin and later moved to the
fashionable Boulevard des Italiens. The company
enjoyed success, participated in expositions and
won a silver medal at the 1855 Exposition
Universelle. Additional medals were taken in
1860 and 1867. A new partner, Nicolas Joliet,
bought into the firm in 1867 – also the year the
name of the firm was changed to La GuttaPercha. Already known in the doll-making world,
Nicolas Joliet was able to buy into the Leverd
firm with funds from the sale of his patent for a
The tiny molded and painted teeth of the
Leverd are easy to miss upon first glance.
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The character-like modeling
of the Leverd doll’s face
lends her an extremely
unique personality.
The leather covered, gutta
percha body is capable of
countless poses!
Both the Leverd stamp and
the sticker from the
boutique, Maison Bail, with
its fashionable address-a
stone’s throw from the
Louvre, enhance both the
value and mystique of this
very rare doll.
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The wear to the body caused by the moving joint allows us the opportunity to see
the layers of linen and gutta percha utilized in the body’s manufacture.
doll with two faces. (The sale was made to BRU Jne. et Cie and we all know that Bru
did in fact utilize the patent for the creation of both two-faced ladies and bebes.)
In 1869, A. Leverd company filed its third patent and according to research by Mr.
Theimer, and I paraphrase; The dolls which have been made up to the present time are
merely very imperfect reproductions of nature, both in terms of shape and movement
of the main limbs... among materials used to make them is gutta percha, which when
used alone loses its suppleness and elasticity after a time… it can become brittle and
break if hit or dropped. To make less fragile toys we have to use a very great
thickness, which adds useless and costly weight.
The basis of the patent was to remedy the above problem by pressing a thin layer
of gutta percha between two pieces of fabric, lending the doll body much more
strength and durability. The firm’s patent claimed, that with imaginative use of the
technique, their dolls were “veritable artistic statuettes” capable of assuming “
all kinds of positions”.
There is one aspect of the bodies’ creation that seems to be left out of the patent
description, because there is no mention of the outer layer of kid leather that was
stretched over the gutta percha/fabric components. No doubt, that “skin” gave the
body additional strength and if the gutta percha did fracture (and it did), it was
discreetly held in place by the leather.
The movements afforded by the Leverd body design are smooth and very life-like,
with lovely body proportions. However, when undressed, the way the doll sits is
somewhat un-lady like and could have proven quite a shock to mothers and little girls!
The bisque arms of the doll are high quality, but of standard stock, unlike the
bisque heads that are unique to the Leverd firm alone. Also in use by the company
was a standard style leather body for their largest models, as gutta percha proved too
cumbersome for them and was simply not cost effective. The leather body would
have been easily attainable and was fitted with either bisque, wood or leather arms.
Today, doll collectors refer to the maker of a doll according to the company that
made the heads, as opposed to the converse practice in use when the dolls were
initially manufactured/ assembled. Interestingly, most doll-related patents are for
bodies, usually concentrating on articulation. After all, there were many suppliers of
heads that a maker/assembler working in the 1860s and 1870s could choose from.
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Although attributed to Kubelka for decades, we now
know this magnificent twenty-six inch doll to be a
product of the A. Leverd firm.
Note the detailed ear modeling of this large
Leverd model. This image also allows an
excellent view of the shaped hairline.
A. Leverd & Cie was one of the few firms in business at that time, which had their own
heads created for their exclusive use. There are three known head styles and all share
the feature of a realistic hair line. That marvelous illusion is achieved by modeling the
head in such a way that a shaped wig, or inserted hair, fits below the plane of the
forehead and temples. So rather than the wig sitting on top of the bisque, it appears to
be actually growing out of the doll’s head! The wig can be made of animal skin as in the
case of their patent subject, but many examples feature a wax skullcap with implanted
hair – even the most simple head style has a very lavish mohair wig.
Dolls created by A. Leverd & Cie/La Gutta Percha are not always marked and that
fact contributes to their misattribution. We must offer thanks to those dedicated
individuals who were willing to spend countless hours sorting through incredible
amounts of material, so that today, we collectors are able to refer to our dolls by their
proper names.
It is impossible to speculate about the number of dolls produced by Leverd
throughout the company’s existence and just what percentage of revenue the dolls
contributed to the company’s coffers overall. One fact is crystal clear, however,
Leverd’s masterful works are among the greatest rarities of the doll world. The dolls
created by Leverd are also a tribute to the wonders of Mother Nature – their bodies
utilized a gift from a tree that grew in a far away land. Their heads – born from the
plain earth and given life by fire… painted by artists that simply wanted to create a
toy to captivate a child’s imagination… captivate, as they have mine, one hundred
and forty five years later.
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