Saturday, 24 March 2012

Why Doll Collectors Love Those Cheap Vintage Barbie Dolls

Doll lovers around the world go wild when they find cheap vintage Barbie dolls. These dolls are searched for at both thrift stores and garage sales. E-bay auctions are also good places to find many of these classic dolls. Barbie dolls are known as being relatively cheap in price. They can usually be purchased new for $10-15.These dolls are not the sought after ones that collectors want. Today's modern Barbie differs greatly from the desirable vintage Barbie dolls.
To the uninitiated doll collector, one Barbie doll might appear to be the same as another. Doll experts and Barbie collectors know that this is not the case. The older Barbie dolls are made of very different materials and many of them had hand painted details. The oldest dolls will have a more solid and heavier feel. The clothing and accessories for the vintage Barbie dolls were very well made and Barbie collectors are always on the lookout for these treasured pieces. The truest vintage Barbies are those from the 1959-1972, but even those dolls made up through the early 1980s are very collectible today.
If you look at an older Barbie doll, you will notice that the earrings and necklaces were made to look like pearls and diamonds. These pieces of doll jewelry looked much like the real deal and were extremely popular when these Barbies were first being produced. Today these tiny bits of fashion accessories command very high prices. One of the reasons that the prices are high is that people were not saving and collecting Barbie dolls in the 1960s. Dolls, accessories, and jewelry pieces were discarded or vacuumed up to be thrown away. This means that only a small amount of dolls and accessories are actually around for collectors to grab. Even though there were millions of dolls made and sold at $3 each, limited numbers can be found today.
Finding cheap vintage Barbie dolls today is as much a thrill as finding a winning lottery ticket. Collectors know that most of these dolls command high prices, so when a bargain Barbie comes along they snap it up instantly. Some of these dolls have wonderful wardrobes that come complete with undergarments, gloves, nightgowns, bathing suits and prom dresses. The list of Barbie clothing pieces is staggering in number and stunning in detail and design. There are even rare clothing items that can fetch prices of $500 and up for a MIB piece. MIB stands for mint in box condition. This means that the dolls or accessories look just as they did when they were first offered for sale 40 or 50 years ago.
For collectors who hunt those elusive mint condition, cheap vintage Barbie dolls, unearthing one of them is a miracle. There are tales of some dedicated doll collectors coming up with some gems at garage and estate sales. Sometimes these vintage dolls can be bought for fewer than 10 dollars and this is a great buy indeed. While these dolls could easily be sold for a substantial profit, the collectors usually just add them to their own personal inventory. All of the older Barbies from 59-72 are becoming extremely difficult to find and collectors know this and prefer to keep them for their own enjoyment.

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