Sue Coffee Annalee Doll Dealer

This page is dedicated to "All Annalee Collectors". Please send articles on how you started collecting Annalee Dolls, Annalee traditions, interesting stories concerning Annalees and of course, photos. Please include with your correspondence that you are giving Sue Coffee permission to publish your submissions on www.suecoffee.com or in the Sue Coffee Annalee Email Newsletter. Thank You, Sue

   "HOW I STARTED COLLECTING"
            "ANNALEE TRADITIONS "
"STORIES
            "PHOTOS"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"My collection of Annalee dolls does not have the same beginning as so many other collectors. My collection started with the passing of my Mother who had only just started her collection. She would buy one or two each year at Xmas and she was also given a couple by close friends.
With her passing they became mine. I thought this would be a good suggestion to give to my sons, for something they could give me each year, without breaking the bank, and they might enjoy picking them out and I would love to get more.
Living on the West coast I was truly disappointed to find out that the department store that had once carried them no longer did. I think the boys were alittle disappointed too. But that very next spring, while my husband was in New Hampshire taking a Fly Tying class, he came across a catalog and a couple of Spring dolls. One was a Duck in Rain Gear with an umbrella, and the other was a Bunny with a Pea Pod. Soon a "monster" was created...
I quickly became totally enchanted with all of the dolls. I have numerous exclusives, Society dolls since 1990, and a lot of each of the holidays. I decorate for Valentines, St. Patricks, Easter, Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and of course my favorite - Christmas. The boys are now young men, but still give me a doll or two each year. I sometimes get them for Mother's day, my birthday, and of course Xmas. I have gotten a couple of duplicates but the more the merrier...
I was fortunate enough to attend a Doll Society Summer Social one year and met the wonderful woman we are all so thankful for, Annalee. I missed meeting Sue, but I am so thankful I have had the opportunity to talk with her in the past and become one of her customers.
I have given Annalee dolls, as baby shower gifts, birthday gifts, and wedding gifts. I have lost count of how many dolls I have and I am running out of room to display them all, but that won't stop me from collecting more each season.
My heartfelt thanks to Annalee for starting these cuties, and to Sue Coffee for her devotion to the Annalee Doll line, and her friends..the Collectors....
Your Friend in Collecting Annalee Dolls
Krisl Richland, WA"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My family of 8 started going to the lake in Moultonboro, New Hampshire in 1974. We found the Annalee factory store that year and I have been going to the lake for the last 34 years and collecting Annalee dolls since then. I must have at least 150 Christmas dolls and being the first generation Irish girl that I am, I must have at least as many St. Patricks dolls. I do have quite a few Easter dolls, but I prefer the mouse dolls over the bunnies. We also have 5 of the annual dolls in the glass globes starting with Anny Oakley, Johnny Appleseed, Mark Twain, Robin Hood. It is a shame that I don't have a special room for all these dolls but I have gotten my daughters and friends on starting collections as well. I have had the pleasure of meeting Annalee Thorndike on many occasions since she had a summer home in Moultonboro and was always willing to share her history with me before her passing away. I have lost some interest in collecting since they started making the dolls in China, but I know I will be back again this summer to add to my collection.
Mary in CT

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I started collecting the Christmas dolls after I saw the 36" Mr.& Mrs. Santa at a friends home. My children were very young at the time, 30 years ago and I thought they would enjoy them plus collecting them would establish a family tradition that our family would look forward to each Christmas season. Before I knew it, my collection grew to over 100, a few being Easter Rabbits, Valentines bunnies, mice, Halloween and Thanksgiving as well. My favorite of all is the 36" Monk I purchased years ago....He is always on my fireplace hearth at Christmas and it wouldn't be the same without him. Thank you Annalee for all the smiles you've given my family and myself through your wonderful dolls.
Sincerely,
Bonnie C. 3/08
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Growing up my mom had a red and white striped Annalee Christmas stocking with a little gray mouse in the toe. My Aunt had one also. Every year my grandmother would send our packages and stocking stuffers for my mom & my aunt. They would stuff their stockings with the stocking stuffers. They would always call each other on the phone shortly after the package arrived from my grandmother. Then the fun began. Neither one could wait until Christmas to open their stocking stuffers. My mom would sneak and open one. Then she would call my aunt to see if she opened the square package and my aunt would ask my mom if she had opened the long skinny package and share what they had received. It was usually the same item but a different color or style. This would go on up until Christmas. It was their version of the 12 days of Christmas. My mom passed away 9 years ago.

This July while listening to a local radio station I became inspired. They were celebrating Christmas in July. This meant every other song played that day was a Christmas song. I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas was playing and I thought it would be great to get Annalee Christmas Stockings for my children (ages 10, 12 and 14 years old) and my husband & I. A little ironic because we never get snow in the valley. We LOVE the snow and only dream and visit up north for the White Christmas feeling. I found Sue Coffee on the internet and was able to find 5 different stockings for everyone in my family. I gave the kids their stockings the day after Thanksgiving and shared Grammie's Christmas Stocking story with them. They thought it was awesome and loved their new stockings & the story! In addition I purchased mice figurines for all my nieces and nephews making special cards sharing the stocking story. It was our Christmas inspiration from Christmas' past. Everyone enjoyed their mice figures and each year we can remember and share happy memories of my mom and my kids' grammie for years to come. Now we can look forward to getting out our stockings and make and share the same kind of memories my mom & her sister did.

Mesa, AZ 2/08
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now that our oldest is really starting to get excited about the holidays, we have introduced the Annalee Christmas Elves. She and her younger sister each received a 5" Snowflake Annalee Elf the first Sunday of December to mark the beginning of Advent. We placed a boot under each of their windows with a letter to Santa attached. The next morning the Christmas Elves magically appeared in the boots. Every day my oldest daughter would search for the Elves as we would relocate them somewhere in our house in whimsical positions. To acknowledge each additional week of Advent, we put the boots along with the Annalee elves under their windows. The next morning, the elves would appear holding a little toy in their arms. Our three year old truly loved this magical event!

The biggest treat for me was when a 30" Annalee Christmas Elf magically appeared and set up our Christmas tree one morning. This Annalee Elf not only surprised the children with a tree and lights - it surprised their mommy! The Annalee Elf was a huge hit with my littlest - see picture. I loved moving him around the house each night and he loves to hang from our ceiling fans!
Rebecca - New York, NY 1/08
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* If a doll was made prior to 1987, then the date on the Annalee tag is ONLY the copyright date, not the actual year it was made.

* Early Annalee Dolls did not have the internal wire for positioning. Chip, Annalee's husband created the internal wire body making them mobile, henceforth - Annalee Mobilitee Dolls.

* I recommend a TACKY GLUE called "Aleene's" for repairing Annalee Dolls. It is not affected by temperature changes, like the hot glue.