Skip to main content

Time to Let Go

 I got my first Barbie doll when I was two and half. I asked Mrs. Claus for a "Boobie doll" for Christmas and never looked back. By the time I was in late high school I had accumulated more than 150 dolls of all stripes. Through the years my family was happy to support my doll love and bought me the 1970s Barbie Townhouse, the Barbie airplane, a Barbie McDonald's... You name it, I had it. During high school and college my mom and I became diehard Barbie collectible fans. I got the first Mackies when they came out and began to collect the limited edition dolls in earnest.

A family friend who was cleaning out her parents' house found her 1960-61 dolls and gave me the chance to add them to my collection. That led me down the rabbit hole of vintage dolls and outfits.

When I went to college my mom continued to grow my collection and we would scope out rare dolls at doll shows across the state. After college I worked for a short time at a local historical society and got the chance to put together a Barbie Through the Years exhibit built on my dolls, toys, and doll clothes. At that point, it became one of the best attended exhibits at the museum and connected us to the local fashion doll club. 

By the time I started grad school I knew it was time to focus on other preoccupations and put the dolls away. More than 20 years later, having moved many, many boxes of Barbies across the country I have decided it is time to part with much of my collection. About ten years ago I donated close to 200 pink box dolls to a local Children's hospital. What I have left are 200+ mostly collectors/limited edition NRFB dolls that I am going to sell. I figured with the new Barbie movie, there has never been a better time to reach out to the Barbie fan.

This blog is where I will post pictures of the dolls that are for sale. Ebay, here I come...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Barbie goes to France

When I was around 8 years old we went on a family vacation to visit relatives in Minneapolis. While we were there, we visited the largest department store I had ever been to up to that point. It had a full toy department which was a candy store to my doll-loving eyes. It was the first time I had ever seen limited edition Barbie dolls and Parisian Barbie captured my imagination. I was smitten!! But as much as I begged and gave puppy-dog eyes to my parents, I didn't get Parisian Barbie that day. I bought the doll pictured below on the secondary market a dozen years later (and yes, I paid siginficantly more money that it originally sold for) But I love this doll and would be hard pressed to sell it. Over the years, Mattel released more French and Parisian Barbies including these two: Released ten years apart, the second edition Parisian Barbie is an obvious recreation of the 1980 doll. The French doll came seven years later in 1997. These two versions never held the same fascination f...
Post a Comment
Read more

Barbie @ the Design Museum in London

 In December I had the chance to visit the Design Museum in London for their Barbie Exhibit. I had purchased tickets nine months earlier when I knew I was going to be in the city for the holidays. I took a boomer and a tween (Grandma and granddaughter) with me to see the show. Both are deeply lovely individuals, but neither are big on Barbies. Grandma had just missed the Barbie trend as a girl and granddaughter is firmly in the Harry Potter world. Seeing the exhibit through their eyes, and answering their questions, gave me a better insight into the day than if I'd attended with die-hard Barbie lovers. First, the exhibit is beautiful! No wonder, considering it was put on by the Design Museum. The layout, the colors, and the flow of the space were gorgeous. The rich, vibrant tones that back up every room allowed the artifacts on display to sing, without feeling overwhelmed by an onslaught of Barbie pink. The ability to focus on specific individual dolls while still telling a collec...
Post a Comment
Read more