It is quite possible that Bobblehead toys have been around over a thousand years, though they don’t seem as if they can be that old. However, in 1842 Nikolai Gogol wrote a short story called “The Overcoat”, in which he describes a toy “like the neck of plaster cats in Germany and bobbleheads have gone on to become some of the most popular collector’s items, especially in the world of sports like baseball, hockey, and basketball which wag their heads.” After that, ceramic animals with bobbing heads began to emerge

The first bobblehead to create an interest in sports bobblehead characters was produced in the 1920′s of a New York Knicks basketball player. After that, interest in the toy began to fade until the 1960′s when Bobblehead Dolls were created for Major League Baseball teams. These bobbleheads were only made of paper-mache and did not resemble any specific players, but they once again grabbed the public’s attention and in 1960, for the World Series, bobblehead dolls of specific team members were created.
By the 1970s bobbleheads were being created from more sturdy materials that better stood the test of time as collector’s items. The 1970s saw bobbleheads created from ceramic materials of sports characters as well as cartoon characters. These were very popular toys and collectors’ items for a few years before interest in the product again began to wane– that is, until the late 1990s.

In the 1990s bobbleheads began being produced using plastic instead of ceramic. This not only made them less likely to break, but also made them cheaper to produce and, because they were so inexpensive to create, in 1999 the San Francisco Giants gave away 35,000 Willie Mays dolls during one of their games. With this action, the Giants renewed public interest in the world of bobbleheads and bobbleheads expanded further beyond just the world of sports and cartoons.

Today, bobblehead more closely resemble the person they are supposed to be representing and come in many different sizes. They can be purchased as custom bobbleheads, as piggy banks, as computer setters, and many other ways you can possibly conceive of. They can even be customized. They may not be popular toys, but it seems the collectors have not lost interest again.