Have you searched Google books? It is such an awesome way to find interesting obscure information...some books are completely online...FULL TEXT! I highly, HIGHLY recommend it!
Well, i was searching for info on my grandmother's 1920s porcelain doll that i found in my mom's garage this past weekend (see the end of this post for what i found on the doll) and when i was finished i decided to search for "sagacity" in Google books....did you know that "sagacity" is mentioned 10 times in: An essay concerning human understanding, Volume 1 By John Locke??
I'm not sure the copywrite law on this, but this is from the book mentioned above and i want to share it b/c i think it is quite important and interesting regarding individual's miscarriages of reasoning. I find it interesting b/c of so many "debates" and "discussions" that have been facilitated over the past year by the instantaneousness (is this a word?) of Facebook and e-mail and other online discussion forums. It's a little funny formatted b/c Google Books has the actual book text scanned and I asked for the plain text version.
from p. 325:
"3. Besides the want of determined ideas, Reas0nine. .and of sagacity, and exercise in finding out, and laying in order, intermediate ideas : there are three miscarriages, that men are guilty of, in reference to their reason, whereby this faculty is hindered in them from that service it might do, and was designed for.
Y 3 ~ And And he that reflects upon the actions and discourses of mankind, will find their defects in this kind very frequent, and very observable.
1. The first is of those who seldom reason at all, but do and think according to the example of others, whether parents, neighbours, ministers, or who else they are pleased to make choice of to have an implicit faith in, for the saving of themselves the pains and trouble of thinking and examining for themselves.2. The second is of those who put passion in the place of reason, and, being resolved that shall govern their actions and arguments, neither use their own, nor hearken to other people's reason, any farther than it suits their humour, interest, or party ; aad these one may observe commonly content themselves with words, which have 110 distinct ideas to them, though in other matters, that they come with an unbiassed indifferency to, they want not abilities to talk and hear.reason, where they have no secret inclination, that hinders them from being intractable to it.3. The third sort is of those who readily and sincerely fellow reason ; but, for want of having that, which one may call large, sound, round-about sense, havft not a full view of all that relates to the question, and may b£ of moment to decide it. We are all short-sighted, and very often see but one side of a matter; our views are not extended to all that has a connexion with it. From this defect 1 think no man is free. We see but in part, and we know but in part, and therefore it is no wonder \ve conclude not right from ou* partial views. This might instruct the proudest esteemer of-his own parts-, how Useful it is to talk and consult with others, even such as conre short of him in capacity, qtrickness, and penetration: for, since no one sees all, and we generally have different prospects of the same thing, according to bur different, as I may say, positions to it; it is net incongruous to think, nor beneath any man to try, n'he* ther another may not have notions of things, which-h«*t escaped him, and which his reason wouki make use of, if they eame into his mind. The faculty of reasoning seldom or never deceive* those who trust to Jt; ifs consequences, sequences, from what it builds on", are evident and certain ; but that which it oftenest, if not only, misleads (is \nf is, that the principles froni which we conclude, the grounds upon which we bottom our reasariirig, are but a part, something is left out, which should go info the reckoning, to make it just and exact.. Here we inay imagine a vast and, almost infinite advantage, that angels and separate spirits may have over us; who, in their several degrees of elevation above us, may be endowed with more comprehensive faculties : and some of them, perhaps, having perfect and exact views of all finite beings, that come under their consideration, can, as it were, in tlie twinkling of an eye, collect together all their scattered and almost boundless relations'. A inihd so furnishedi what rea'son has it to acquiesce in the certainty of its conclusions !"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Doll Info:Here's what I have found so far:
Memo's bride doll was made by Armand Marseille in Germany. It is a "bisque" doll which means: "Unglazed porcelain; usually molded into shape then baked in high temperatures in a "kiln" to form doll heads and doll body parts. Most German and French dolls from the late 1800s and very early 1900s had heads made of bisque." Dolls are categorized by the material their head is made from rather than the whole doll, so it could have a bisque head and another type of body. I believe the body is bisque as well, which appears to be farily uncommon. But it also could be a composition body which means: Composition is generally a mixture of glue mixed with sawdust.
I figured this out by he markings on the back of its head is stamped "390 A7M" and the hair is covering it, but I found some similar ones online, it also says "Armand Marseille Germany" above those letters. The stamp means the model number of the head mold, and from what I can find, it seems that 390 was common but perhaps the A7M as a variation was not as common. The heads were made separately from the bodies and seem a little more valuable than the body. But i'm sure the complete doll is worth more together rather than separating the head. I can't find one made by Marseille in a bride's dress, but i'm still searching.
Here's an article about bisque dolls.
http://collectdolls.about.com/od/dollprofiles/p/bisquedolls.htmHere's a listing from an auction held in 2004:
Armand Marseille bisque head character doll with brown wig, sleeping brown glass eyes, painted and feathered brows, applied lashes, open mouth with four upper teeth on a fully jointed composition body, overpainted, dressed in white dress and matching bonnet. Incised marks Armand Marseille// Germany// 390//A 7 M H 62 cm $600-700
HOWEVER, i read a more recent article that said Marseille dolls are not as valuable due to the prevalance of eBay.
I'm still researching but was pretty excited I narrowed in on this info. I think its only worth a couple hundred dollars but Chris said, "Hey if it were a bottle of wine worth a couple of hundred, would we let Quinn play with it?" and I said "We wouldn't let her play w wine at all!"
