American Girl is an American line of 18-inch (46 cm) dolls released on May 5, 1986 by Pleasant Company. The dolls portray eight- to twelve-year-old girls of a variety of ethnicities, faiths, and social classes from different time periods throughout history.

The Samantha doll represents a wealthy Victorian orphan.

Samantha was given to my daughter in 1991 so she has to have been manufactured in 1991 or before.  We have unable to definitively determine the date of manufacture.