Welcome to the Troll Cathedral part 2

I still can't help myself in my unending quest looking for troll dolls.

I will search yard sales, ebay, thrift shops and flea markets for unwanted trolls.

Even my husband has gotten in on the act.

I think, because he is a guy, it is the art of the hunt that he finds appealing.

Wishniks as they were called in the 1960s and were very popular. They regained popularity in the 80's under the names of norfins, Russ trolls and treasure trolls.

They were originally created in 1959 by a Danish fisherman named Thomas Dam. The original name for these dolls were called "Dam trolls". They easily became popular and due to a copyright error , knock-offs were made and entered the US market. As many as ten different manufacturers such as mattel, Uneeda, Hasbro, Russ berries and others, created them.

All of them being cute but they did vary in looks by the different manufacturers.

By 2003, after many years of court battles, the Dam family of Denmark finally restored their original US copyright to be known as the official manufacturer once again.

Schilling, a toy manufacturer located in Rowley, was a distributor of "the original good luck trolls". They sold all kinds of troll related items such as a troll music box, a troll tea set and a troll jack-in-the-box. I have these items.

*In my quest for trolls, I found an original Dam troll in a resale shop in Salem, MA.

My husband and I rented the movie "Toy Story 3". We laughed like hell were they had a scene that featured trolls. They were unlucky orphans that were fated to go over a cliff in a train. Luckily for the "orphans", Buzz Lightyear saved the day.

We later found out that Dreamworks Animation production company who made the toy story movies is now working on a film based on troll dolls.

And I'll bet there will be another troll resurgence.

My father made me a "special beach hat". He glued a troll on top of a dunkin donuts baseball cap. He figured this would be a hit since it was a combo of two things that I "loved".

And I did love it!

However.

Nobody would sit next to me on the beach whenever I wore this hat.

I think they were just jealous.

Don't you?