History of Bobble Dolls

Nodding-head figures also called bobblehead or wobbler dolls are collectibles that appeared in England and Europe in the 1760's with a significant increase in numbers in the 1780's with bobblehead production in Germany in 1901. The first literary reference to bobbleheads was in Nikolai Gogol's 1842 story "The Overcoat." By 1920, bobbleheads appeared in the United States with sports a popular subject and in 1964 the popularity of bobbleheads increased with the production of a Beatles wobbler collection with the single John Lennon bobblehead selling in 2014 for $2,575.00 and in the realm of government and justice a bobblehead of Chief Justice William Rehnquist commanded a judicial winning bid of $2,900.00 in 2014 — a higher cost than the John Lennon nodder. In 2010, the set of NBC's Meet the Press was redesigned and included bobble figures of presidents Bill Clinton and John F. Kennedy. The heads of bobbles are typically oversized which gives wobbler dolls an engaging look (much like the effect of the proportionately wider eyes of a child) and when tapped that playful motion tends to lighten moods and increase positive endorphins (neurotransmitters produced in the CNS and pituitary gland). The head of a wobbler doll is connected to the body by a spring or other device that responds to a light tap or movement causing the head to bobble, hence, its name.