i came from russia back in 1975 and can vouch that those are the real stuff.the old russian tradition making those dolls goes centuries back. in russia they are called matreshka. the largest holds-nests in itself next in size and then that one nests yet smaller one and so on. the whole set can have up to 10 dolls depending on the size of the largest one. since they made in different parts of russia, there are some local variations, but the general idea stays the same. i am wondering how those dolls ended up in wi, since the largest concentration of russian speaking people lives back east, especially in new york. that is where you can find the largest variety of matreshkas that is a short foray into the russian ethnography forgot to add that matreshka comes from a common russian female name matrena or matresha which are only village names not common in large cities
What a terrific testimony. When I worked in Milwaukee, I met many Russian Jews that had settled on the east side. I believe I got this at a thrift store. Obviuosly someone did not know its value.