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From Ellis Island to eBay, it's a doll world

Posted Dec 15th 2008 6:06PM by Marjorie Backman (RSS feed)
Filed under: eBay (EBAY), Mattel, Inc (MAT)

Move over, American Girl dolls and corporate parent Mattel (NYSE: MAT). Ellis Island dolls are vying for the collectible budget of hyphenated Americans with a unique version of Americana through various online channels.

What may have been the first wave of Ellis Island dolls surfaced as early as 1992 after the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation let Lenox, today known as Lenox Group (OTCBB: LENX), create a limited edition of six dolls to mark the centennial of Ellis Island. With porcelain heads, hands and legs and costumes, the dolls each measured 1.5 feet tall or slightly smaller and portrayed immigrants of various nationalities, such as "Eva," from Germany, "Stefan" of Poland and "Katrina" of Russia. Artist Pat Thompson served as designer for three of the dolls, which originally cost $152 a piece.

While Lenox Group has created many art ceramics, collectibles and figurines over its 120-year history, since November 23 it has been reorganizing under Chapter 11.

Continue reading From Ellis Island to eBay, it's a doll world

Lenox Group gets another involved player in reorganization fray

Posted Mar 15th 2007 4:51PM by Zac Bissonnette (RSS feed)
Filed under: Deals, Management, Insiders, Industry, Competitive Strategy, Private Equity, Scandals, Columns

Lenox Group Inc. (NYSE:LNX), the makers of gift-ware, silver, and china products under brands including Department 56 and Lenox, is a company in serious trouble. After the resignation of disgraced former CEO Susan Engel in January, shares of the company sank as low as $2.86, but have since made a recovery to more than $5 per share, still well off the 52-week high of more than $14.

In the months leading up to the bad quarter and simultaneous departure of Ms. Engel, the company had attracted the attention of Winmark (NASDAQ:WINA) CEO and private investor John L. Morgan. He acquired more than 5% of the shares of the company and, in a letter to the Board of Directors, he called for changes in the company. When the Board offered him a seat, he declined, saying that he needed to play a more active role in the company's turnaround. In a letter attached to a 13-D filing, he wrote:

Continue reading Lenox Group gets another involved player in reorganization fray