It’s rare to find the smaller DAM trolls (especially those made in 1980’s) with the soft Icelandic wool hair, most smaller trolls have the synthetic hair. However, the Lingenberry Gang trolls all have the soft Icelandic wool hair & plastic eyes. They were imported from DAM in Denmark by E.F.S. Marketing Co © 1984 (under the registered name of Adopt a NORFIN). The first ones also came packaged in a very colorful cardboard box.

   These early Lingenberry Gang trolls came with a distinctive felt bag/pouch that had a black snap which was attached to an elastic strap and slung over their shoulder. Girls (#250)  had the longer hair and wore a felt dress that snapped in the back. Boys (#251) had shorter cropped hair and came with a felt jacket that was opened in the front and wore felt pants with a black snap in the front. The original brochure shows five different face types that were used. Both sexes were marked on the bottom of their feet;

 

Right foot-

© 1984

Left foot-

Made in Denmark by DAM  25

 

NOTE: I’ve been informed that the number on the left foot is a “7” in front of the 25

Picture above shows side and front views of “Lingenberry” cardboard box. Back of box had the story of, “The Magic Troll Seeds” and also specifically marked as either BOY 251 or GIRL 250 at the bottom of the story. However, it is possible that Lingenberry trolls produced later (which had the brown eyes), came with a blue “Norfin” hang tag (instead of the box, as shown in photo of boy above with the blue hang tag).

 

A copy of the lovely “Magic Troll Seed” story printed on the back of the “Lingenberry” box is shown below;

 

   As of 2011, the price range for these unique trolls seems to be anywhere from $ 47.00 to $200.00 depending on condition of the hair, original clothing and if the troll still has its original box or hang tag. Lingenberry Trolls with their original boxes are VERY hard to find., especially boxes that are undamaged.

 

    It should be mentioned that each of the different “face” types have a number embedded on the right side of their head, but the hair needs to be removed to see the number. A scan of the original 1984 brochure from E.F.S. Marketing Assoc shows only FIVE different face types, yet one of the Lingenberry heads has a # 6. While replacing the hair on a “pouty” face Ling the # 2 was found on the head, which is interesting since most of the heads with this face type has the # 3 on their heads. I must also mention that heads with NO #’s have also appeared. Should anyone stumble across Lingenberry troll heads that do not correspond to the numbers shown in my table below please DO let me know, as I am very interested in trying to verify the numbering system. The table below shows what I’ve found thus far as a consistent and positive number identification for the five faces used for the DAM Lingenberry’s;

Four mint Lingengberry’s pose together. Also a nice picture of Thomas Dam’s Lingenberry boy & girl with salt & pepper Icelandic wool hair © 1984 wandering outside (. . . Hot on the trail of their magic troll seeds, of course . . .)

Pictures above show positive identification of THREE different face types. A little hard to get a clear picture due to the glue, but left to right they are–  #3: sad (pouty) face, #5: face with open mouth smile and #6: happy face with dimples. It is interesting to note that on most DAM’s boy trolls usually have pointy ears and girls have the rounded ears. However, it is curious that with the Lingenberry trolls, the ears are “rounded” on both sexes, probably because the faces were designed to be interchangeable. The short cropped hair of the boys (as well as outfit) and the long hair of the girls (with their dress) are the only way to distinguish their genders.

   It is unfortunate that the original (orange) eyes often seem to have faded pupils (see photo of boy below), this usually is a sign that the eye’s shaft (inside the head) is cracked or has broken off. The picture of the girl shows the original orange eyes in perfect condition. Some of these Lingenberry’s also came with opaque brown eyes (see comparison photo showing the two eye colors side by side).

 

This page was last updated; 1 July 2018