Can you find these Cold War matryoshka?

March 17, 2016 11:42 AM

In 2006 or so I bought a set of nesting dolls at a Salvation Army store in San Francisco. There were 5-6 dolls and they were all Cold War leaders: Gorbachev, Thatcher, Reagan, etc. I thought they were the coolest thing on earth, but gave them to someone as a gift. I'd love to find the same set again and buy them again. There's no chance of contacting the person I gave them to. I keep searching eBay and googling but can't find them. Can you help?
posted by bendy to Grab Bag (10 answers total)

Best answer: These?
posted by Mchelly at 12:05 PM on March 17, 2016 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Those are the same idea, but not the same ones. Keeping those in mind.
posted by bendy at 12:20 PM on March 17, 2016

These are available in every touristy store in Eastern Europe for about $5. Not that that helps much.
posted by dripdripdrop at 1:11 PM on March 17, 2016 [4 favorites]

Best answer: To elaborate on dripdripdrop's comment, they're a common enough theme in Matryoshka dolls, which are generally still hand-painted, that you'd be hard-pressed to find anything but something in the generally same style as the ones you had.

If you want the same order of people, that's one thing, but if you're looking for a specific artistic style, that'll be a lot harder to match.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:14 PM on March 17, 2016 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Here's one general overview of Matryoshka dolls, which categorizes the ones you had as "Market Russian Matryoshka Dolls"

These are generally of the lowest quality and have little or nothing to do with Russian culture. An example are the sets based on political figures: the Gorbachev Russian leaders sets produced during the peak of glasnost and the current sets of President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. These are "collectibles" created to be collected by "collectors," driven by the market demand. nesting dolls of basketball and football teams, Disney characters, and Whinnie-the-Pooh, and Pokemon are "market dolls." For example, Harry Potter dolls are quite popular.

Even the "Factory and Souvenir Quality Matryoshka Dolls Factory and Souvenir quality Russian dolls" are hand-painted, so each is always unique. If someone makes enough, they'll have their own distinct style and get close to replicating the pattern each time, but that's the closest you'll get to matching one set with another.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:21 PM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Yeah, what you need is someone in a Slavic country to walk into a store and buy one for you. Or try your nearest Russian grocery or bookstore, where if they don't have it they definitely have a guy who can send them one (there's usually one in most US cities, with lots in NYC.)
posted by SMPA at 2:26 PM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Ooh, or try the nearest university that teaches Russian. Half of the faculty will have some kind of Matryoshka on their shelves, and lots of friends in St. Petersburg.
posted by SMPA at 2:28 PM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Shopgoodwill.com often has matryoshka dolls of Russian leaders up for auction. There is a Lenin-to-Yeltsin set available right now.
posted by BicycleFace at 9:00 PM on March 17, 2016

Best answer: I've seen them for sale with the vendors at our local Ukrakian festival, as well as our German Christmas market place in Baltimore. Not Goodwill prices, and more elaborate than the etsy example. They are around as new items as well, but are pricier.
posted by childofTethys at 9:08 PM on March 17, 2016

Response by poster: Thanks for all the good suggestions. I see a lot of sets that are all Russian leaders, but it's harder to find sets that include Reagan and Thatcher... I know someone who travels to Russia frequently, but if I can find them myself that would be better. I'll check out local resources.
posted by bendy at 1:10 AM on March 18, 2016