History of Bobbleheads

By Peter Weilenmann

There are a few books and several articles that discuss the history of bobbleheads. Most agree that the first reference to bobbleheads is in the writer Nikolai Gogol’s Russian story “The Overcoat” in 1842. The main character, Akaky, is described as having neck “like the neck of plaster cats which wag their heads.” Phil Sklar and Brad Novak, of the Bobblehead Hall of Fame say that there is evidence that there were early figures and references to items similar to bobbleheads: “Chinese nodding-head figures are documented in England and Continental Europe as early as the 1760’s and 1770’s and Zoffany’s famous portrait depicting Queen Charlotte in her Dressing Room at Buckingham Palace painted in 1764 shows two such figures in the background.”

But one needs to look at other art forms to see how bobbleheads might have grown into the current cultural phenomenon. First, let’s re-examine what a bobblehead or nodder looks like. It is typically a three-dimensional statue-like collectable piece which has a characteristically oversized head, is connected to the body with a spring or wire which allows it to move and portrays a person or animal. If one would remove the three-dimensional piece of this definition and replace it with two dimensional, one would have a definition like that of a caricature. A caricature is a drawing of a person or thing that distorts or exaggerates features while maintaining the likeness of the person. Some articles have attributed the advent of the caricatures to Leonardo De Vinci, as some of his sketches he drew had exaggerated body parts. Others say it was two Italians, Annibale and Agostino Carracci who coined the Italian words carico and caricare, meaning ‘to load’ or to ‘exaggerate.’ Caricatures have been considered a “fine art” in many cultures with great caricaturists in every century since. They are often created by artists to celebrate, ridicule, poke fun at or send a political message to celebrities and politicians. Many artists have had entire careers drawing caricatures for newspapers, magazines and now web sites. And, when looking at caricatures, they often have large heads. So, while it is hard to find direct evidence that caricatures spurred the growth and popularity or bobbleheads, it could be hypothesized that caricatures at least influenced their development, although caricatures have been more consistently popular over the years while bobblehead popularity has come and gone and then come again.

Starting in the early 1900s, the literature says that 6 to 8-inch ceramic figures of animals were produced in Germany. These toys had spring-connected heads and were called “nodders” or “bobbers” based on the way that their heads would bob on their bodies. These animals were popular. Some literature say that in the 1920s, animals transitioned to humans with a New York basketball player, but this information has not been verified with photos. The interest in bobbleheads waned until the early 1960s when baseball produced several paper-mâché bobbleheads of famous players. But Joe Marasco of Vintage Hockey Bobbing Heads notes that baseball was not the only sport to introduce bobbleheads. Hockey had some as well. He documented 66 different hockey bobbleheads that were produced from 1961 through 1976, including a variety of sizes, Original Six teams, and a variety of other “odd ball and minor league” nodders.

The interest in bobbleheads lasted until the early-to-mid 1970s when interest decreased. Ironically, in the early 1970s, the Esco Company of New Jersey created bobblehead-like 17” statues of celebrities with small run sizes. These typically had an exaggerated head on a body. They looked similar to bobbleheads, but the head did not move. Then, in May 1990, the SF Giants baseball team had a bobblehead giveaway game. And the rest is history. The giveaway was very successful and other teams followed suit. This event, and the decreased manufacturing costs, prompted a strong and rapid resurgence of interest in bobbleheads. The market rose exponentially to include many athletes, cultural figures and celebrities. People could even order their own customized bobblehead. Suddenly, there were bobbleheads everywhere: On TV shows, on sports anchor desks, giant bobblehead of celebrities were made, and of course, there was a continuation of sports team giveaways. One team, the Florida Marlins opened their ballpark with a Bobblehead Museum featuring 588 bobbleheads, representing every team in baseball. The display slightly vibrates so the bobbleheads are perpetually bobbing. In 2016, the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum opened in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Bobbleheads are here to stay!