New American Girl collectors might not know how to distinguish the American Girl molds from each other just yet, but learning how to tell face molds apart is important to figure out how to tell dolls apart!
I made a post like this over six years ago, but AmericanGirl101 asked me to do an updated version, so I just did it!
There are a total of 17 face molds used by American Girl. Here's the list of all of them!
The Classic Mold is the first mold ever made by American Girl. It was introduced in 1986 and first used on Samantha, Kirsten and Molly. It’s the most common mold, and 77 dolls have this mold. It is mostly used on light skinned dolls, although there are a few medium skinned dolls with this mold in the Truly Me line.
All the dolls that have this face mold: Felicity, Caroline, Kirsten, Samantha, Kit, Ruthie, Molly, Emily, Maryellen, Courtney, Lindsey, Kailey, Nicki, Mia, Gwen, Lanie, Saige, Isabelle, Tenney, #2, #3, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23, #24, #25, #27, #29 #32, #33, #34, #35, #36, #37, #38, #39, #41, #42, #43, #44, #48, #49, #51, #52, #55, #56, #57, #59, #60, #61, #63, #65, #69, #70, #71, #78, #81, #87, #88, #92
The Addy Mold is the second mold made by American Girl. It was introduced in 1993 and first used on Addy to accurately depict her African-American features. It has been used on other dark-skinned dolls in the Truly Me line and a total of ten dolls have this face mold. No other character besides Addy has this mold.
The Asian Mold, or the #4 mold, is the third mold made by American Girl. It was introduced in 1995 and first used on Truly Me #4. No other dolls used this mold and when the doll retired in 2011, the mold became completely retired. However, due to her exclusive face mold, this doll is sought after by collectors.
The Josefina Mold is the fourth mold made by American Girl. It was introduced in 1997 and first used on Josefina. It was originally made to depict Josefina's Mexican heritage, however, both white and Latina character dolls use this mold, as well as several Truly Me dolls of varying skin tones. 22 dolls have this mold.
All the dolls that have this face mold- Josefina, Nellie, Elizabeth, Julie, Rebecca, Marisol, Chrissa, McKenna, Grace, Lea, Luciana, Blaire, Kira, #28, #53, #66, #68, #80, #82, #83, #86, #89, #90
The Kaya Mold is the fifth mold made by American Girl. It was introduced in 2002 for Kaya. In Kaya's Nez Perce Native American tribe, showing teeth was rude, so her mold was the only one with a closed mouth until 2017, when boy dolls were introduced.
Kaya was the only doll to ever have this mold until Logan used it in 2017. Logan's use of this mold was controversial upon his release as he is white and has no Native American heritage, but it was probably due to the fact that the Truly Me boy molds weren't ready yet.
The Jess Mold is the sixth mold made by American Girl. It was introduced in 2006 and first used on Jess, who is half-Japanese. American Girl quickly adopted this mold for their Asian character dolls and used it for several Truly Me dolls as well with light and medium skin tones. Nine dolls have this mold.
The Modified Jess Mold is the seventh mold made by American Girl. It was introduced in 2007 and first used on Ivy. The mold is just like the Jess mold, but with different eye sockets. 3 dolls have this version.
The Sonali Mold is the eighth mold made by American Girl. It was introduced in 2009 and first used on Sonali. Sonali is Indian, however, all the other character dolls that use the Sonali mold are African-American. American Girl has also used this mold for several medium and dark skinned Truly Me dolls. 9 dolls have this mold.
The Marie-Grace Mold is the ninth mold made by American Girl. It was introduced in 2011 and was been only used on Marie-Grace. After Marie-Grace’s retirement in 2014, the mold was retired as well.
The Nanea mold is the tenth mold made by American Girl. It was introduced in 2017 and has only been used on Nanea Mitchell so far. This mold was made to highlight Nanea's Native Hawaiian features.
In 2017, American Girl released four Truly Me boy dolls, Truly Me #74, #75, #76 and #77. These dolls all had unique molds with closed mouths to distinguish themselves from the girl dolls.
Truly Me 74 has a modified Classic mold.
Truly Me 75 has a modified Jess mold.
Truly Me 76 had a modified Sonali mold before his retirement in 2021.
Truly Me 77 has a modified Addy mold.
The Joss Mold is the fifteenth mold made by American Girl. It was introduced in 2020 and first used on Joss. This mold was made so Joss, who wears a hearing aid in her right ear, can wear her hearing aid without having to drill a hole in the doll's skin like a normal American Girl hearing aid. After Joss used this mold, Maritza used it as well in 2021.
The Makena Mold is the sixteenth mold made by American Girl. It was introduced in 2021 and first used on Makena, who is African-American. This mold was designed to have an alternative to the Addy mold and the Sonali mold for African-American and darker skinned dolls. So far, only Makena has this mold.
The Corinne Mold is the seventeenth mold made by American Girl. It was introduced in 2022 and first used on Corinne, who is of Chinese heritage. This mold was designed to have an alternative to the Jess mold for Asian dolls. An interesting thing about this mold is that it has bigger eye sockets than a normal American Girl doll head. So far, only Corinne has this mold.
What's your favorite face mold?