While dolls representing mythical troll creatures likely date back to ancient times, modern troll dolls were born in 1959, when Danish woodcutter Thomas Dam (pronounced like "Don") created a wooden troll to give his young daughter for
Christmas. Once he saw the toy’s popularity among other children in Gjøl, Denmark, Dam began making more and eventually formed a company called Dam Things, established to produce the dolls in hard rubber and, later, vinyl. Dam’s plastic trolls were still high quality
toys, using real glass for eyes and Icelandic sheep’s wool dyed white, black, or orange for hair.
Dam’s Good Luck Trolls were inspired by Scandinavian folk tales about ugly little creatures who played tricks on humans, though he transformed their wrinkly faces and oversized ears into beings that were cute and playful rather than scary. The dolls were made in sizes ranging from just two-and-a-half inches tall up to 10 inches, with squat bodies and inset, brightly colored hair that stood on end. Some troll dolls came in thematic outfits made from felt, including Caveman, Hawaiian, Scuba, Clown, Sailor, Viking, and Santa Claus trolls, while others were shaped like
animals, such as monkeys, lions, and giraffes.
After arriving in the United States in the early 1960s, troll dolls became one of the decade’s biggest toy fads. When pilot Betty Miller became the first woman to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean in April 1963, leaving from Oakland, California, and ending her trip in Brisbane, Australia, her only companion was a troll doll from the Dammit line sold by Dam Things. The doll was eventually photographed with Miller when she met President
John F. Kennedy at the White House.
By 1964, more than $100,000 worth of troll dolls were sold in the U.S. every month, along with spinoff merchandise like bed sheets, beanbags,
T-shirts,
jewelry, paper stationery, and key chains. However, due to a copyrighting error in the United States, the products were quickly copied by...
While dolls representing mythical troll creatures likely date back to ancient times, modern troll dolls were born in 1959, when Danish woodcutter Thomas Dam (pronounced like "Don") created a wooden troll to give his young daughter for
Christmas. Once he saw the toy’s popularity among other children in Gjøl, Denmark, Dam began making more and eventually formed a company called Dam Things, established to produce the dolls in hard rubber and, later, vinyl. Dam’s plastic trolls were still high quality
toys, using real glass for eyes and Icelandic sheep’s wool dyed white, black, or orange for hair.
Dam’s Good Luck Trolls were inspired by Scandinavian folk tales about ugly little creatures who played tricks on humans, though he transformed their wrinkly faces and oversized ears into beings that were cute and playful rather than scary. The dolls were made in sizes ranging from just two-and-a-half inches tall up to 10 inches, with squat bodies and inset, brightly colored hair that stood on end. Some troll dolls came in thematic outfits made from felt, including Caveman, Hawaiian, Scuba, Clown, Sailor, Viking, and Santa Claus trolls, while others were shaped like
animals, such as monkeys, lions, and giraffes.
After arriving in the United States in the early 1960s, troll dolls became one of the decade’s biggest toy fads. When pilot Betty Miller became the first woman to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean in April 1963, leaving from Oakland, California, and ending her trip in Brisbane, Australia, her only companion was a troll doll from the Dammit line sold by Dam Things. The doll was eventually photographed with Miller when she met President
John F. Kennedy at the White House.
By 1964, more than $100,000 worth of troll dolls were sold in the U.S. every month, along with spinoff merchandise like bed sheets, beanbags,
T-shirts,
jewelry, paper stationery, and key chains. However, due to a copyrighting error in the United States, the products were quickly copied by cheap imitators like Fauni Trolls and Lucky Shnooks, becoming part of the public domain. Many knockoff troll dolls were unmarked, making it difficult to identify their source. Meanwhile, Dam Things arranged a licensing agreement in the U.S. with Uneeda Doll, which would manufacture official troll dolls under the name Wish-Niks.
While interest in troll dolls died down by the late 1960s, the toys became popular again among a new generation of children in the 1980s. In 1983, advertising executive Eva Stark began importing dolls from Dam Things and reintroduced them at New York’s Toy Fair under the new name Norfin. Again, many companies knocked off the designs, such as Ace’s Treasure Trolls featuring a
rhinestone gem in place of a belly button, or Hasbro’s weapon-bearing Original Battle Trolls.
However, in 1994, Congress passed the Uruguay Round Amendment Act (URAA), which updated U.S. copyright law to better meet the requirements set forth a century before at the Berne Convention. For many products like troll dolls, which had been first copyrighted outside the U.S., the new law helped restore exclusive rights to their original copyright owners.
In 1996, Uneeda filed suit against Troll Company, (a subsidiary of Dam Things) in order to keep selling troll dolls, but the courts found in favor of Dam Thing’s copyright. Troll Company later sued Urban Outfitters for producing Turf Trolls in 2008, forcing the company to remove the products and settle out of court.
DIC Entertainment received a license to produce troll dolls in 2005 for a line of toys using the original Good Luck Troll brand as well as a separate line of fashion dolls and accessories under the name Trollz. Just two years later, DIC sued Troll Company claiming it had not properly stamped out counterfeiting efforts, thus undermining DIC’s sales, and Troll Company countersued, claiming DIC misrepresented its abilities to fund and market a successful toy rollout in order to promote its modern spinoff, Trollz. Finally, in 2013, Dam Things sold the worldwide rights to troll dolls, with the exception of Scandinavia, to DreamWorks Animation.
Today, some of the most sought troll-doll varieties include animal trolls, black trolls, moon trolls, trolls over 12” tall, and a rare version with two heads. The original troll dolls made by Dam Things from the 1950s and '60s, especially with hair and costumes in good condition, are also highly desirable.
