A vintage troll doll? Why would a Long Island flipper write about a troll? Awhile back, we posted a blog describing why I am also known as the Long Island Picker, not just Flipper. In case you missed it, check it out here. We are veering away from Long Island and real estate and following up on one of his more interesting finds. Yes, a vintage troll doll!

A vintage 1964 troll doll.

With the Troll movie being a hit and Trolls are gaining in popularity again we found this discovery of a troll doll particularly interesting! We never realized Trolls had history before our childhood.

Trolls were actually created in 1964 by Thomas Dam who was trying to make a Christmas gift for his daughter. He created a troll doll out of his own imagination. Naturally, other children wanted one and so he began producing dolls under the company name “Good Luck Trolls”. The dolls became popular throughout Europe and soon made it’s way over to the US in the 1960’s. The troll dolls became one of the biggest toy fads in the US especially from 1963-1965. The popularity was reborn in the 1990’s In 2003, Toy Industry Association named troll dolls to its Century of Toys List, a list of the 100 most memorable and most creative toys of the 20th century. The troll brand was re-licensed to another company in 2005 but the campaign to re-market the trolls was unsuccessful. Dream Works Animation acquired the intellectual property for the Trolls franchise from the Dam Family in 2005 and produced the Trolls movie, based on the Trolls dolls. The dolls has regained in popularity once again.

While the Troll I found seems to NOT be an original Dam troll, it is still a vintage and interesting based on its history. The doll was made in 1967 and was a knockoff. A copyright error allowed other manufactures to create cheaper knockoffs and imitations flooded the market. Thus, this Troll came into play!