Vintage doll eye troubles

This is a rather large vinyl doll from the 1950's or early '60s.
She has arrived to get her eye issues addressed.

Both eyes are pushed in and are quite nasty looking.

So, the usual....off with the head and extract the eye bits out of their sockets.

These type of eyes are sometimes called canister eyes. The eyeballs pivot inside a round canister.
Unfortunately the front pieces of these eyes were made with plastic (most were metal). The plastic front bits are broken on each eye. The one on the right is likely repairable bit the other one.....oh dear!

Here are both eyes taken apart.
There is rust. There is serious grunge. There is an ancient piece of paper that had been stuffed into the eye on the left! Why? Maybe because that eye is missing the weight that made it able to open and close? The weight has broken off and is missing. Maybe someone stuffed paper in to 'help'?


It is time to look for an eye donor perhaps.
The original eyes can be repaired with difficulty but a better result will be had with an eye donor.

And so, with luck, a potential donor is found.
She is of the same vintage and her eyes look great.
She is suffering from an incurable disease so she is an ideal donor.

Her disease?
You see that white powdery coating on her vinyl? That is not dust or mold. That is leaching plasticizer.  Her vinyl is degenerating.
Some doll folks call this 'plastic doll disease'. But it is not a disease. It is a common, irreversible aging problem of plastics. There are other ways plastic ages.....stickiness, weird smells, colour changes......this particular vinyl is doing the powdery coating style of degenerating.

Hopefully her eyes will be salvageable.

Here are her extracted eyes near the bits from the baby doll.
Everything seems to be the same size so I think this will work!
I will give the 'new' eyes a deep cleaning than then try them out.

It works!
The eye transplant was successful.

She got a bit of freshening up of her mouth paint too.