In 1994, Sophia's Heritage began distributing dolls made by Engel Puppen ("Angel Dolls") and Engel Kinder ("Angel Children") a German doll manufacturer in business since 1976. The particular doll distributed by Sophia's Heritage, the Dorothea model, had been one among many made by Engel Puppen, but which went on to find a new audience though Sophia's Heritage.

ENGEL PUPPEN AND ENGEL KINDER DOLLS: THE CENTER DOLL HAS THE DOROTHEA FACE MOLD

The dolls were initially sold as the 16"-17" soft-bodied non-articulated version originally made by Engel Puppen. Along with the name "Sophia's Heritage," they came with historical clothing and historical themes. But the dolls were later remodeled and given 18" articulated bodies to appeal to modern tastes, and to be more in line with popular cloth-and-vinyl dolls such as American Girl. The historical themes were eliminated, and currently the dolls are sold online through the website My Doll's Life under the name of Sophia's Modern Girl.

There are four dolls in the Sophia's Modern Girl collection: blonde and blue-eyed Sophia, auburn and blue-eyed Carly, brunette and brown-eyed Catherine (all with light skin) and black-haired, brown-eyed Julia (with medium skin).

CARLY, SOPHIA, AND CATHERINE

The dolls are of fair quality, with long kanekalon wigs (all with the same side-part style and not quite as nice as American Girl doll wigs) and intricate detail on their vinyl; their fingernails and toenails in particular are painted to look life-like and natural.

They have sweet, innocent expressions that appear wide-eyed with wonder, and their cloth bodies are well put together for stability in standing or posing. They are packaged with a light vanilla scent which some may find pleasant (or not). Perhaps their only real drawback is their sometimes uneven, "flittery" eyes that can be indicative of lower-end dolls, though the dolls themselves do not feel especially low-end.

Sophia's dolls are very comparable in size to American Girl dolls (18" - 18 1/2") and their cloth bodies closely match AG's measurements, though they tend to have straight, tube-like torsos as opposed to AG's more naturally-shaped bodies. Their arms and legs are slightly thinner, but they can easily share clothes with AG dolls and other 18" dolls. Their hands are somewhat smaller, and their feet are significantly narrower.

SOPHIA'S MODERN GIRL JULIA AND AMERICAN GIRL #42

My Doll's Life sells a fairly large assortment (if not the largest assortment) of moderately priced Sophia's brand clothing, shoes, accessories, furniture, food sets, pets, and vehicles geared to fit Sophia dolls as well as most other 18" dolls.
 

The dolls themselves sell for between $60 and $70 new, though they can be found on the secondary market for as low as $20. Classic Engel dolls can also be found on the secondary market for around $20 -$30.