Maker record
Unis France
Unis France was a collective mark used on dolls made in France, including dolls produced by the Société française de fabrication de bébés et jouets (SFBJ). It appears on SFBJ dolls from 1916, often alongside a union number, a manufacturer number and a head-mould number. SFBJ dolls included the Bleuette, a jointed doll made from 1905, and models marked 301 and 60. Materials varied by doll; museum examples include biscuit heads, composition and wooden bodies, glass eyes and textile clothing.
- Founded
- 1916
- Countries
- France
- Locations
- Paris, France
- Founders
- Unknown
The story of Unis France
The Société française de fabrication de bébés et jouets (SFBJ) was founded in Paris in March 1899, bringing together established French doll businesses. The Musée du Jouet de Poissy names Émile Jumeau and Salomon Fleischmann as instigators and lists firms and makers including Jumeau, Gaultier, Girard, Gobert and Wertheimer among those united under the new company. Its factory was at Montreuil, at the former Jumeau works, while its head office was in Paris. The company’s mark was registered in 1905.
SFBJ made a wide range of dolls and babies. In 1905 it produced Bleuette for the launch of the children’s magazine La Semaine de Suzette. From 1916, the collective Unis-France mark was stamped on SFBJ dolls. The mark denoted French manufacture and could appear with numbers identifying the toy trade union, the maker and the doll’s head mould. Unis-France was used by makers beyond SFBJ, although many dolls bearing the mark were SFBJ products. Museum records document dolls with biscuit or plastic heads, composition bodies, wood, glass and varied textile clothing. Poissy records SFBJ’s closure in September 1957; a Reims museum object record gives 1899–1963 for an attribution to the company, so the endpoint remains disputed.