photo by Marcus Frazier

Shirley Mobley shows off one of her many dolls she has collected over the years and stores in her Natchez home.

Natchez lady one doll of a collector

By Adam Koob (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Monday, January 12, 2009

NATCHEZ — When The Dart landed on Shirley Mobley’s Dixie Drive home, she was watching soap operas.

And while Mobley wasn’t doing much, her closets were teaming with glassy-eyed life.

For years, Mobley said she isn’t really sure how long, Mobley has been collecting dolls.

Most of them are porcelain, but she isn’t particular.

“I have all kinds,” Mobley said. “I don’t even know where to start.”

But to say Mobley has all kinds is a bit of an understatement.

She has one that looks like an Eskimo baby, one that plays music and doubles as a pillow, one of Princess Diana and one that’s more than 40 years old and walks.

“I got this right after she died,” Mobley said pulling the protective netting from the late princess’s glass face.

And those are just the human-based dolls.

Some are a weird cross-species of animal heads on human bodies.

There are a few with cat and cow heads on human bodies.

As Mobley pulls box after box out of her closet, their glassy eyes fixate on the ceiling.

Mobley said she’s not even sure how many she has.

But she’s pretty sure it’s more than 100.

And not only isn’t she sure how many she has, she’s not entirely sure why she has so many.

Years ago, after her children learned of a doll her grandmother gave her as a child, they assumed she collected dolls.

That first doll is now more than 70 years old.

“For some reason my children though I collected dolls,” she said. “And they just kept giving me more dolls.”

So for countless birthdays and Christmases Mobley got more and more dolls.

A few years ago it just got to be too much.

“I just said ‘OK, that’s enough, no more dolls,’” she said. “It was just too many.”

While she’d eventually like to build an enormous display case for them, they’re just boxed up in her closets for now.

But out of the whole odd collection, there’s one that’s near to her heart.

It’s the one her grandmother gave her.

Mobley said while most modern dolls are made of porcelain, her antique doll is made of chalk.

“It’s very rare,” she said.

So rare, in fact, that when a woman tried to buy it from her, Mobley wouldn’t even consider hearing her price. “It’s just not for sale.”