Homosassa: Naber Kids’s history spans the globe

Thousands of dolls were produced in Homosassa until 2005, and still are popular on eBay.

Matthew Beck

Through the course of many years, Harald Naber has created many one-of-a-kind Naber Kids dolls. Although he ceased making them in 2005, they are still a hot commodity for collectors.

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Matthew Beck

Harald Naber, a native of Rothenberg, Germany says about his creations, “The dolls are so homely that only a mother can love them.”

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The 400 characters are known as Naber Kids, and Harald Naber is the daddy of them all.

“The dolls are so homely that only a mother can love them,” said Naber on a recent visit to Homosassa from his native Rothenberg in southwest Germany.

The dolls’ expressions are emotional. Some are joyful, some are secretive. One or two may be pouting or even getting ready to pitch a tantrum.

“I laugh when I carve them,” Naber said. “You look at a piece of wood. You know that the character is already inside that you want to bring out so you only remove the unnecessary part that doesn’t belong there. Then this character emerges and he gets funnier and funnier the more you cut him out of the wood.”

In a life filled with adventure, Naber tells how a German coal miner became an Alaskan bush pilot and then a Homosassa doll maker.

In 1967 at the age of 29, Naber left Germany.

“I wanted to just explore the world and I saw on a TV show in Germany about Alaska,” Naber said.

Naber learned to fly. The flight instructor taught him a philosophical lesson.

“Never concentrate on what you don’t want to hit. Always direct your mind where you want to go. This lesson followed me all of my life,” Naber said. “Concentrate on the positive, where you want to go.”

Naber met Betty Jo Strickler in Anchorage. The couple married in 1969, and started a fur business.

Hunters from “the lower 48” asked for Eskimo dolls to take back to their wives.

“The Eskimo did not make dolls in that part of Alaska,” Naber said. “The Eskimo — they always go fishing. I thought maybe I should try to make an Eskimo doll. I bought a four-by-four at a builder’s supply.”

The first effort did not impress him.

“I carved the ugliest thing you have ever laid your eyes on,” Naber said.

Naber put it on consignment.

“The first day it was gone.”

Naber thought he was on to something and made more dolls. They sold quickly for $30 apiece.

He molded dolls from polyurethane to cut down on carving. He called them Nunivak Dolls from Nunivak Island. But Naber ran into trouble.

“Eskimos have attorneys,” he said. “They said the Eskimos did not make it on Nunivak and it wasn’t even manufactured on Nunivak.”

He changed the name to Nuni Dolls. By 1975, Naber sold his company. The Nabers went to Florida, where Betty Jo had family.

In 1980, he started Naber Dolls in Alaska, then moved to Homosassa in 1985. He took his dolls to the Home Shopping Network in St. Petersburg. The dolls got their chance at the worst time slot: 4 a.m.

“Who buys at 4 o’clock in the morning dolls?” Naber asked. “They sold! People must go to sleep with their credit card in their hand.”

The next time, Naber sold 250 dolls in 60 seconds. He opened a factory in Rooks Industrial Park with 50 employees. Women earned money sewing doll clothes as piecework. He later built his doll factory on U.S. 19.

Sadly, Betty Jo passed away in 2000. Naber kept making dolls until 2005. He stays upbeat.

“I’m always at the next phase of my life,” he said. “That’s how I have so much fun.”