Goodbye Patch
1972 is the very last time that we see Patch in the Pedigree trade
catalogue and in the Sindy style booklet. The Patch shown is a
Canterbury Patch and the style booklet used a brand new reference for
this doll (the trade catalogue used the original Patch reference). Patch
is shown in her original Dungarees but minus her headscarf, however we
cannot confirm whether this is indeed how she was sold, or whether she
was actually wearing the dungarees variant outfit that we have shown in
1971, or her 'Babydoll' outfit from 1970.
If you have any more information on Patch in her final few years we would love to hear from you.
We know a "specially produced" Patch was sold by the Debenhams department store. There are differing accounts as to when she was sold. Colette Mansell in the “The History of Sindy” says she was sold from 1971 to 1973 (Page 90). 12S Magazine says she was sold in 1972 and 1973 (Issue Number 9, page 11). Thus we are showing her here on the 1972 page, and presumably she was sold until her stocks ran out.
Colette Mansell wrote that Patch was sold exclusively by Debenhams in her final years. But, the Pedigree literature for those years does not say that she could only be purchased from Debenhams. Therefore all we can say on this, is that she was probably still sold in toy stores (even if they were just selling old stock), and was also being sold by Debenhams. Perhaps the word 'exclusive' related not to the point of sale, but rather to the product in that she was just sold in her panties in a Debenhams branded box. It's also possible that at least some of these dolls were a little different (see below).
What we can certainly surmise is that Pedigree were planning to drop Patch from their Sindy range, and the deal with
Debenhams enabled them to find another avenue to get rid of their large stock of original Patch outfits.
Patch (Ref 9GPS2) (Boxed doll outfit?)
Here is Patch dressed exactly in the last outfit that is shown in the
Pedigree trade catalogue and in the Sindy style booklet for 1972. We do
not know if she was actually available for sale and if this was what she
was wearing (see above).
She was shown wearing her 'Dungarees' (see 1966
Patch) but without her headscarf. She was wearing a pair of her red
shoes.
Debenhams Patch (Ref X006)
Shown above is a mint Debenhams Patch. She was sold for 70 pence, about £8.55 at 2022 prices.
The box makes no mention of where the doll was made, but it makes it clear that this was a Patch specially produced for the Debenhams Group.
This Patch has the same body markings as the later Canterbury Patches. She has made in England on her neck and 047001 on her back. However, her hair is coarse like the first Made in England Patches from 1966, and her face appears slimmer and more petite. She looks a little smaller than the Canterbury Patch, but she has the same measurements, so perhaps this is just an effect of her hairstyle. However, the colours of her face paint are very different to the usual Canterbury Patch. She has pale pink lips and cheeks and paler blue eyes. The paint has a very matte finish making her face look almost like porcelain. Please see the comparison photos below with a Canterbury Patch on the left and the Debenhams girl on the right.
We don't know if these differences are enough to say with certainty that this is a different doll commissioned by Debenhams. Perhaps the Debenhams girls were made on a separate production line which accounts for these variations, but she is different.
We have seen boxed Debenhams dolls with curlier hair, but we don't have any information about the texture of their hair or clarity on their face paint. And, it is also possible that the last of the unsold Canterbury Patches could have been shifted via Debenhams.
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Although Colette Mansell in the “The History of Sindy” said that the
Debenhams' Patch were sold “dressed in various familiar Patch outfits”
(page 90), this is not true. They came wearing just their white cotton pants.
The packaging (shown right) made it clear that you were buying an undressed doll, despite the picture on the front of the box.
The Debenhams box was very
distinctive in that it was a yellow box with opening end flaps. Although it was a Debenhams styled box, the box still has the look of a Pedigree Patch box about it. It uses Patch's familiar name logo and echoes Sindy's original catchphrase with “a doll who's fun to dress!”.
A number of her original outfits were shown on the back of the box and
as you can see were offered at special prices "whilst stocks last", attempting also to try to clear the very last of
the Patch outfits.