Reader's Digest Australia Feb/Mar 2026

I named him Michael. My father brought me a troll doll in the 60s. I love him, he’s very special.” There was similar enthusiasm back on Tauranga History Online : “I worked for the Pasgaards. I remember pulling trolls from the moulds. My father knew the Pasgaards. We had two of the first troll — one had white sheepskin hair, the other brown. We had lots of trolls and visited the factory. His wife had very black hair and wore red. Our neighbour used to sew and dress hundreds of troll dolls. My grandmotherbrought my troll when I was four. He’s 60 now, his name is Littley.” My curiosity piqued, I discovered a troll collector called Damian Sutton from Katikati. He has about 1,500 trolls and has been collecting them since he was eight. “I’ve loved them all my life”, he told me. He runs the Facebook group Troll Collectors New Zealand, which has over 200 mem- bers. Even though Damian is the largest collector in New Zealand, it was only in the last few years that he learned about the Tauranga Factory. That made me want to find out more about these dolls and their ori- gins, and how they had been made just down the road from my child- hood home. The first troll was created in Den- mark by Thomas Dam (1915‒1989). A baker by trade, Dam turned to carving wooden figurines after the war. His carved trolls for a Christmas window display became so popular PHOTO CREDIT: BUFKA, VIA ADOBE STOCK PHOTO CREDIT: CRISTIAN BORTES FROM CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA, CC BY 2.0 VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Above: Original Dam Troll Dolls at the Childhoodmuseum, London reader ’ s digest 110 february/march 2026 he began to mould them from rub- ber, then PVC. In 1959 he founded Dam Things and dubbed his cre- ations Good Luck Trolls. His trolls had bow legs, pot bellies, wrinkled faces, wild woolly hair, pointy ears, wide grins and four stubby fingers on each hand. “They were so ugly you couldn’t help but l augh ,” Dam reportedly said, “and when you laugh, luck follows.” They became an international sen- sation and a covetable good-luck charm. Dam granted only two licences worldwide: one to a Florida company, and one to Kristian Pasgaard in Tauranga in 1960. By the early 1960s, New Zealand newspa- pers advertised the dolls for 39 shil- lings and sixpence — ‘selling fast’ or ‘while they last’. As I read, I kept picturing our house on Levers Crescent, and our bike rides down to Sulphur Point, amazed that a factory just down the road had been churning out these strange little creatures for the world. Not a lot of people know that troll dolls used to be manufactured in Tauranga. That’s something to boast about. As their popularity grew, most were then exported to Australia. An article in The Export News, pub- lished by the Department of Industries and Commerce, said £20,000 worth of lucky troll dolls had been sent to Australia: “The story of the troll doll demon- strates the willingness of people to accept things strange and new. If the sales pattern followed in the northern hemisphere is an indication of their lasting popularity, lucky trolls will continue to work their spells for some years to come.” NZ DAM trolls were distinct, with New Zealand sheep wool hair, unique colours and outfits, and but- tons of snaps. They were stamped “NZ” on the foot and “Thomas DAM” on the back. When Pasgaard died in 1969, his sons carried on for a few more years before the craze faded. PHOTO CREDIT: MARY GARDEN; THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN’S WEEKLY, 28 AUGUST 1963, PAGE 15. Above: The dolls were marketed as Good Luck Trolls readersdigest.com.au 111 My Story