1910 photo with dolls?

[Janet_W.]

By the way, anyone have any thoughts as to why there are five dolls, rather than four?

Perhaps one of the girls was defiantly posing with her own doll, along with her gift doll.

I seriously doubt the fifth doll was for Alexei; possibly the Kaiser gave him something which was too cumbersome to fit into the photograph, i.e., a rockinghorse, a small horseless carriage, etc.

[Ortino]

I have no idea why the Kaiser would give them five. It is possible that one of the dolls was owned previously by the girls. A boy certainly wouldn't have played with those kinds of dolls--he probably received more elaborate gifts, and as heir, many more of them.

[Romanov_fan]

Yes, that might be why, that it was her own doll. It's trivia, but interesting trivia.

[Sophia_Skymind]

Yeah...I often thought about that. It must be one of the first photos I ever saw of this family, so I had time...

I've always figured that the fifth doll would be the one Nastia is holding in her right hand, whose face is partly hidden and who wears a black coat. The other four look a lot alike in size, hair and dressing.

Or maybe the Kaiser gave Anastasia 2 smaller dolls instead of a larger one, like Olga's? Who knows, maybe the dolls are really alive, and would have thousands of things to say...

...and thanks for the whole picture, I really appreciate it.