Clélia dolls, created in 1924 by Maria Clelia Olivero and Almigar Brogi, obtained authorization from Walt Disney Mickey Mouse S.A. in 1938 to manufacture reproductions of the film’s title characters in France. The result is a Snow White doll and 2 sets of the seven dwarfs, available in two different sizes. It seems that the company in Cœuilly-Champigny made the dolls by hand, as different colors are found on the clothes of the same dwarf. A reproduction of the gnomes can be found on the cover of Le Bon Marché’s winter 1938-39 Christmas catalog, and the invoice below tells us that the toys were still being sent to boutiques in seaside resorts in the summer of 1939. We also learn that Snow White was invoiced to the retailer at 54 francs ex VAT and to the end customer at 89 francs incl. VAT, and that each dwarf was sold at 30 francs ex VAT and 49 francs incl. VAT in the store. It seems that a more refined Snow White doll was sold for 81 francs ex VAT by the manufacturer and 135 francs in the store. Taking inflation into account, it would cost around 60 euros in 2022. Production of the dolls ceased definitively after the Second World War.
According to a Danish booklet, the dwarfs were sold in Denmark with a different Snow White.
