Golden Leaf Gallery

I don’t know what year I first stumbled on the Golden Leaf Gallery, but it was originally at the top of the stairs to the rear of the building where is now located on the ground floor. Craig helps me select the right doll for three occasions every year — my daughter’s birthday (a beautiful princess doll), Christmas (a Santa or unique holiday doll like a tiny Nutcracker) or for Easter, a doll depicting nature, like a frog or an owl inside a hollow tree. This year, she got dolls from the frog princess story, told in Russian — you can view it by copying this link to your browser. Enjoy, Craig! Merry Christmas!
My daughter now has over 50 nesting dolls, most of them, (and the most unique ones) are from the Golden Leaf.

This is one of those stores that you can tell is a labor of love. Now located on the ground floor of the Park Place center (blue awning) in Estes Park, the cozy space attracts a lot of window shoppers. The owner, who is the only employee I’ve ever seen in this store, is this quiet, unassuming guy who lets you browse on your own. He’ll help you find whatever you need as soon as you have a question, and has a plethora of extra unique stock of nesting dolls in the back. So, if you’re eying that Beatles nesting doll circa the White Album, but were really looking for more of an Abbey Road feel, just tell the owner, and he probably has what you want lurking in the back.
As entertaining as the Russian-​interpreted pop-​culture dolls are, (who doesn’t want a doll depicting Elvis’ expanding waistline, or the Monika Lewinsky scandal), the true gem here are the dolls that are painted as works of art. I have gotten countless dolls here, from cute and affordable, (yet still handmade and well crafted) to expensive and unique. My favorite find is my five-​piece set of Russian composers, (not the Russian 5), made by an ex-​cosmonaut fed up with anti-​female sentiment. I wouldn’t have known there was such a unique history behind my doll if the owner wasn’t so incredibly well-​versed in every maker’s history and tendencies.
In addition to interesting cultural dolls there are breathtaking religious iconography dolls as well. These often are very unique, in that some makers carve dolls instead of paint them, which typically is on religious dolls for some reason, and is a really unique effect. This store also has handcrafted Russian wood boxes, crystal and paintings. They fit a wide budget, ($ 10-​$ 3000 and up), with sets with three dolls, upwards of 50. This is a great place for a really memorable and meaningful gift. There are lots of opportunities to get someone a snow globe that says «Estes Park» but not so many opportunities to get them something fun, whimsical, handmade and beautiful.