Up until two years ago, I was a casual collector of Integrity dolls. Since I broke up with Barbie 12 years ago, I’d only been seeing the 16” girls. But the occasional Fashion Royalty model did catch my eye, especially the younger NU Face girls. I eventually broke down and purchased Pretty Calculated Erin, followed by her partner in crime, Urban Outfitting Nadja. A number of factors attracted me to these dolls, including their hilarious back stories (no one weaves a soap opera like Integrity does), many non-Caucasian sculpts, and, of course, those clothes. The detail, fit, and accessories remain, IMHO, unsurpassed. And the price for what you get is very good. In time, Colette and Ayumi joined the crowd, and I fell for a few Vanessas and her sister, Veronique. But I kept the group to around a dozen.
The W Club (Named for the prodigy doll-designer turned human-designer Jason Wu) is open each year to the public, and it is the best deal in Dolldom. For a modest membership fee, collectors are privy to a host of perks and exclusive dolls. Members may choose a variety of price levels, ranging from $50 for basic membership, perks, and coupons, to more expensive packages that include exclusive club dolls. This brochure will give you all the details. (And read them thoroughly before purchasing. It can get complicated distinguishing among the many options available to you.) A video brochure is available here.
Fashion Explorer Vanessa Perrin – 2014 W Club Doll
Membership in the W Club made me a full-fledged Integrity collector. There are many exclusives to choose from throughout the year, and if I don’t like one, I usually fall for the next one. I hear the online community (available only to members) is very entertaining and informative (although I generally don’t participate due to other demands on my time). Members also get first dibs on attending the Integrity Convention, which I’ve now been to twice. There is a members-only event at the convention, which generally features kick-ass dolls (an industry term).
High Visibility Agness Van Weiss – 2014 W Club doll
So even for the mildly curious, I highly recommend trying out the W Club for a year. For only $50, you are entitled to some cool perks, including $20 toward a club doll. So even if nothing tickles your fancy, you won’t be out too much.
Below is a peek at this year’s first (of many) club dolls, available for purchase with club membership until Feb. 16, when the open membership period ends. I will likely pass on Poppy and the dude, although I admit that he would be a hilarious addition to my group. I will definitely get Agnes, as I have a newfound appreciation for Fashion Royalty’s “bitchy” girls. For the longest time, I couldn’t understand what collectors saw in these sour faces. But now they make me laugh, and they are typically dressed in the sharpest outfits. (Although I will admit that this Agnes’ dress doesn’t do too much for me. Still, cool accessories.)
So there’s my testimonial. If you decide to join, welcome to the club!
Baroness Agnes Van Weiss – 2015 W Club dollGroovy Galore Poppy Parker – 2015 W Club dollVice Effect Ollie Lawson – 2015 W Club doll
If you’ve ever been lucky enough to attend a doll convention, you know how incredibly fun it can be. Let’s face it: Not many people “get” doll collectors. They are a creative, eccentric, artistic group that speaks a language only a very few people can understand. My husband looks at me like I have two heads when I start going on about NRFB v. MIB dolls, frankendollies, BW v. AR bodies, resin v. vinyl, 1:4 v. 1:6 scale, repaints, and the size of male BJD genitalia (c’mon, you know you’ve looked). Pretty much anyone other than another fashion doll collector would think you are speaking in another language. And, let’s face it—you are.
2009 Tonner Doll Convention breakout event with obligatory table balloons
Conventions afford hard-core doll collectors the rare opportunity to be surrounded by people who not only understand their language, but understand them. It’s the one place in the world where you are not the “weird one,” because, I guarantee it, there is someone there who is even weirder than you. (I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been at a convention looking disdainfully at a fellow collector hyperventilating over a doll that I think looks like a minion of Satan. Thank God I’m not that weird, I think. And then, of course, an hour later I am panting even harder over my own quirky discovery in the sales room. Glass houses and all that.)
You see a cute BJD, I see a doll with encephalitis
Being able to let your freak flag fly is not cheap—even if for only a weekend. Once you add up the cost of registration, transportation, companion dolls, break-out events, and salesroom purchases, you’re easily looking at several thousand dollars. Ours is not a cheap hobby. Like many people, my budget requires me to be creative when it comes to being able to afford to attend a convention. Over the years, I’ve gotten better at it, and, although it’s still not cheap, I am usually able to attend one such event each year. Here are some tips I’ve learned through a decade of attending doll conventions:
1) Out with the old, in with the new: Limits on income and space prevent most of us from buying and keeping every doll we want. If you really want to attend a convention, take a look at your collection and ask yourself what you may be able to live without to fund your adventure. Lack of space often means that many of us must store at least some of our collection out of sight. Ask yourself how long it’s been since you’ve played with or even looked at a particular doll. Is it time for her to move on? And, of course, all the more reason if you can get a good price for her. My general rule is that if a doll hasn’t been redressed for a year (with some exceptions for the ones I keep “pristine”), it’s probably time for her to move on.
So how badly do you want me?
2) Prostitute yourself: Oh, how I envy you seamstresses, repainters, and crafters who create objects so beautiful that other people actually want to buy them. If that’s your bag, and you want to attend a convention this year, break out the paints, fabrics, beads, and do-dads. Update your website, open a store on Etsy, and market the hell out of yourself. It’s a small community. Word about good artists spreads fast.
Conventions filled with like-minded doll obsessives are the best place to sell your wares.
3) Split expenses: Don’t go it alone. Convention-going is double the fun when you share it with friends. Save the cost of a pricey airline ticket by taking a road trip and splitting the cost of gas. Halve the price of your hotel room by sharing it with a fellow fanatic. You aren’t going to spend much time in your room anyway. And it’s only for three days, at the most, so if you find you really can’t stand the other person, you won’t be stuck with him for long.
My Modern Doll roomie. She didn’t snore.
4) Don’t eat: Let’s face it: We could all stand to lose some weight. Conventions are often held at geographically desirable locations that take advantage of that desirability by hiking dining costs. So pack sandwiches, bring munchies, drink from a refillable water bottle. Steal leftover food on your way out of breakout events and bring it back to your room to eat later. (Yes, it’s tacky, but you can sacrifice a little dignity to be able to buy another doll, right? Besides, it will just go to waste anyway.)
5) DO NOT BUY EVERY DOLL YOU SEE! Just because a doll is sitting in the middle of the table, just because you “won the right to buy” a $300 doll, just because there are only 50 companion dolls available, and you are sure to be the envy of all your friends if you get one—does not mean you should whip out your credit card. I can’t tell you how many centerpiece or companion dolls I purchased in the heat of the moment only to open them back up after the convention and say to myself, “What the hell was I thinking?” Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
Hypocrite.
Now when I am presented with the “right to buy” (kudos to the marketer who thought up that idea), I ask myself two questions: 1) Do I like it enough to keep it in my personal collection indefinitely? And, if the answer is “no,” 2) What is it likely to fetch on the secondary market? While the first question may be difficult to answer, the second can be much more so. How much do you know about this line of dolls? What makes this doll “special”? Is it a rare sculpt? An usual outfit? How well do you know your market? Is the doll likely to “cause a stir” among other collectors? Which brings me to…
How can you resist all this cuteness?
6) Buy low, sell high: You know who they are. The woman at the table next to you snapping photos of her souvenir doll barely out of the box and posting them to Ebay within ten seconds flat for an eye-popping “Buy It Now” price. The guy sitting next to you taking photos of the centerpiece doll from every possible angle and offering it up on a doll board before even getting it back to his room. These people are often decried by many in the doll community as opportunists, and they definitely are. And I say more power to them. There are always a few people out there who need to have the first of an exclusive doll on the second-hand market, and they will pay top dollar for it. If a convention-goer who has put out a couple grand for her weekend wants to recoup some of that expense by reselling a doll that doesn’t particularly appeal to her, why the hell not?
What do you mean, you sold my event doll???
But while some people do manage to recoup some convention costs this way, many others do not. Buying low and selling high is difficult in any market. You have to be able to make a pretty sound prediction of what your potential buyers are willing to pay. Price it too low, and you may see subsequent sellers obtain much higher prices. Price it too high, and it will linger on Ebay indefinitely. The better you know the manufacturer and the market, the better you will be at this. If you don’t have good market insight, you’ll end up paying top dollar for a doll you don’t even like only to sell it two months later at half the price.
I think it’s safe to say that this strategy does not apply to all doll manufacturers’ conventions. If you’ve seen a dollmaker in years past liquidating its leftover convention product five months after the fact, it’s a safe bet its convention dolls won’t increase in value. But if you’ve seen dolls from a specific company’s convention consistently soar in price on the secondary market long after the convention’s end, you may have a chance.
How much would YOU pay?
I was able to make this happen for me. Last year’s Integrity convention was in Orlando, an hour away from my home. Without transportation costs, my overall cost to attend the convention was limited to the registration fee and breakout events. I know that Integrity convention dolls have a history of soaring in price immediately after they are released. And so I offered on Ebay any doll that didn’t appeal to me, but that I thought would be highly desirable to other collectors willing to pay a significant mark-up. In the end, I sold nine convention dolls at enough of a mark-up to cover all of my convention costs as well as seven dolls that I kept for myself.
If you do decide to try to recoup your costs this way, keep in mind that taking photos and writing up descriptions, trying to beat the other opportunists to Ebay and doll boards, and carrying out multiple virtual transactions at once can interfere with your ability to truly enjoy being present at a convention. Don’t completely take yourself away from a convention that you worked so hard to be able to attend.
If you buy to sell, do yourself a favor and only bring out the credit card if you are sure beyond a reasonable doubt that you can sell that doll for more than you paid for it. And be sure to factor in any postage, customs fees, Ebay aggravation, etc. into the equation. If it’s not going to be worth your while, skip it.
Are you SURE you can resell it?
7) Drag along a non-doll friend: Can’t decide which doll to sell at a markup and which to keep? Bringing along a non-collector friend (i.e., a bored spouse or child), and sell his dolls. List ‘em as soon as you get ‘em, and, with luck, you may be able to cover both of your costs. Again, not a guaranteed result, and not a wise move for many doll lines that do not sell well on the secondary market. To make it work, you need to do your homework.
Me and Mom at Tonner Con. Unfortunately, she usually wanted to keep her dolls.
Conventions are not cheap, and many of us need to get creative when it comes to finding a way to subsidize them. Whether it’s selling off some of your dolls that have lost their luster, bunking with a roomie, arranging a road trip, budgeting to a fault, sewing doll couture until your fingers bleed, or learning to buy and sell as well as a hedge fund manager, there are things you can do to make your dolly convention dreams come true.
I know I can win SOMETHING if I just spend $50 more on raffle tickets…
Wilde Imagination debuted its Spring Line today … Sort of. While 12 dressed Ellos and friends were introduced, only six came with production photos. Perhaps it would have been a better idea to hold off until most of the the completed dolls were ready for photography. But what do I know?
Along with the 12 dressed dolls, three basic dolls were released. As I observed yesterday, the brunette is my favorite.
My top pics
Dressed Dolls
“Brrooties” – Cute Ello with a WTF name. Wilde is clearing running out of ideas in the naming department.“Ship Shape”: Robert loves his sailor-themed outfits … and they are usually adorable
Of course, there are new Evangeline, Amelia Thimble, and Sad Sally offerings as well. I do not collect any of these, so my opinion on them probably isn’t worth much. Nevertheless, the new AA sculpt, Angelique, caught my attention. Tonner’s AA sculpts are some of his loveliest, I think. This one is no exception.
I also like “Sister Moon” Evangeline. She’s a nice alternative to Evie’s overdone (IMHO) gothic ensembles. I especially like the ornate hairstyle Tonner gave her.
Altogether, Wilde is offering nine dressed dolls, one basic doll, and nine outfits in this line. They’ve been working hard. I guess Evie and her friends are selling well.
No new Patience dolls, which doesn’t surprise me. I don’t think she’s gained much of a following. I suspect she’ll join the ranks of Tonner’s “in-like-a-lion-and-out-like-a-lamb” offerings. One Sad Sally dressed doll and three outfits joined the line, along with one dressed Amelia and one Hamish.
Now I’m waiting impatiently for the introduction of Tonner’s spring fashion doll lines. From the sneak peaks we’ve been given, the Diana Prince line looks promising for collectors who want to transform her from superhero into fashion model. And I’m really, really hoping that Marley will join the ranks of Wentworth this season. And dare I hope for a few more Tylers and Sydneys? Nah …. I’ve been disappointed too many times to set myself up for that kind of heartbreak again.
Fashion ball-jointed doll (BJD) artists continue to dazzle the collector community with their creations–and there seem to be more to choose from each year. These dolls are typically of very high quality and are produced in very limited editions. They are accordingly very expensive. Nevertheless, the top doll artist can sell out of their creations within minutes.
Which leads me to wonder why the hell this doll is still available. Doll artist Paul Pham was a pioneer in the fashion BJD market, offering extremely well-made, well-engineered resin dolls with perfectly scaled couture. Paul’s dolls are the only ones that have been able to lure away this committed vinyl doll collector into the resin BJD world. Paul’s “Stratus” was my first fashion doll BJD, and I was only able to afford her after selling off a good number of my vinyl girls. I was so pleased with the beauty of Stratus’ sculpt and her versatility in being able to pull off innumerable wigs and outfits, that I knew I was destined to add another one of Paul’s creations to my collection.
When I saw “Alma”–Paul’s Spanish-inspired creation–last year it was love at first sight. And again, I thinned the herd a bit to be able to add her to my collection. Alma is a limited edition of 50, and it recently came to my attention that, after originally being offered in September 2014, Alma is not yet sold out. In the doll world, four months is an eternity–the most superior fashion BJDs do not linger on the virtual store shelves for long.
So here is my plug for those of you who may be sitting on the fence about Alma (or any fashion BJD doll). Buy her. If you don’t have the cash (and she’s not cheap), sell off some of your collection you can live without or borrow against your dolly budget until you have enough. Sell a kidney if you have to. Because, next to the lovely Stratus, Alma is one of the most elegant dolls I own. Her sculpt is different, distinct, and sophisticated. Her face paint is superb. Her gown is regal. And she adapts well to different looks. I’ve had her in dozens of outfits that she has done tremendous justice to.
Below are a few of my very amateur photos of my Alma (as well as several superior photos by the talented Angela Nielson) and my Stratus. Now click HERE and buy yourself the loveliest fashion doll you are likely to own.
Last summer, I attended the Modern Doll Collectors Convention in Orlando with some dear friends. While there, I attended a collector’s presentation on Robert Tonner’s child dolls. Robert himself was in attendance, and he mentioned that he was in the process of preparing a significant number of his private collection of vintage fashion dolls for auction. I was immediately intrigued by the prospect of owning a doll from the collection of Robert Tonner. I have more Tonner dolls than any other in my own collection, and it was his work that introduced me to the world of collector fashion dolls. I think he is a tremendously gifted artist and visionary in the realm of doll art. Owning a doll that he personally selected for his own collection would, to me, be like owning a little bit of fashion doll history.
In the fall, I learned that Robert’s collection was to be auctioned off by Theriault’s—an auction house dedicated solely to the sale of antique dolls. While the auction would take place in New York City, it would also be telecast over the Internet, where people could register to bid remotely. I marked the auction date on my calendar. Theriault’s composed a detailed listing, complete with stunning photos, of the auction dolls on its website, so I could decide ahead of time which of the 600+ beauties I wanted to bid on. I know next to nothing about vintage dolls, so I solely went on which dolls “spoke” to me. Quite a few did.
On the day of the auction, I logged on and watched the action. The experience was very much like being there. There was a streaming webcast, and dolls were held up to the camera for a closer look. When someone on the Internet placed a bid, it was immediately noted at the live event. I bid on several dolls, but most went higher than my budget allowed. However, I did manage to snag two of them for a few hundred dollars. Again, I only went on what “spoke” to me, so I have no idea if I got a “deal” or not. All I cared about was that they were pretty, and that they had been owned by Robert Tonner.
Theriault’s turned out to be less than ideal to deal with. The auction took place on Nov. 23, 2014, and, although I paid promptly when I received my invoice, I did not receive my dolls until January 5. One of the dolls did not arrive with the extra outfit, case, and original box she was supposed to come with. When I called the auction house, I was told that the missing accessories were sent to another bidder in error. So now I have to wait for that person to return the items to Theriault’s, and for Theriault’s to send those items to me. *sigh*
The first doll I purchased was a 19-inch “Sweet Sue” doll from 1957 in a blouse, skirt, and—what sealed the deal for me—a wonderful hooded corduroy coat. When I opened this doll, I was first struck by the quality of the doll and her clothing. Sweet Sue was a play line doll, but her quality is more like what modern collectors expect after spending several hundred dollars on a doll for their collection. No wonder Robert collected these dolls. Today’s play line dolls—with their cheap fabrics and poor construction—do not hold a candle to the 1950s fashion doll. I recall listening to Robert at several conventions as he recalled how much he wanted a “Little Miss Revlon” doll when he was a boy, and how he coveted the one that his sister was given. How wonderful that he was able to succeed so much in his craft that that he could amass such a stunning collection of Little Miss Revlons and her sisters.
My favorite detail on my Sweet Sue is the trim on the hood of her coat. It is made of angora and is softer than soft. Just imagine! Angora on a play line doll! Those were lucky little girls in the 1950s.
The second doll I purchased is a 1958 14” Betsy McCall with a charming gingham dress and matching coat. It was her precious face and wool beret that attracted me to her. Betsy came with her original handtag, box, and advertising booklet. The booklet is like a miniature time capsule. It is part comic book, part brochure. The comic follows a little girl during a day with Betsy—a day that requires eight changes of clothes—all of which are advertised in the booklet.
I do have a few of my mother’s childhood dolls, but these are the first vintage dolls I have ever purchased for myself. I don’t suspect that I will purchase any more. My taste trends more toward the modern fashion doll. But I am delighted that these special dolls are now part of my collection. Holding them in my hands and being able to carefully inspect them, I understand what Robert Tonner saw in them and what inspired him to launch his own career as a doll artist. So, thank you, Robert, for continuing to share your art with us—and for making it possible for me to own a little bit of fashion doll history.
My husband loves to bring people into my doll room. He leads them up our stairs and into our third bedroom, where my “happy place” resides. He positions himself ahead of our guests so that when they enter the room he has a spectator’s view of their facial expressions. And he is seldom disappointed by their “shock and awe.”
After the guest picks his/her jaw off the floor, the most frequent question is, “How many dolls do you have?” which my husband, who has gleefully counted them, is more than happy to answer.
Such people are usually not doll collectors themselves, as nearly all members of the collecting community know that, once you pass a certain number of dolls in your collection, you’d better stop counting. It’s just best for everyone concerned not to be able to answer that question.
It’s true that most collectors I know have more dolls in their collections than they’d care to admit to. But reducing our collections to the number of units they contain trivializes the heart and soul that go into most of these collections. I started amassing my own collection more than two decades ago, and many of my older dolls represent precious time spent with my mother as we traveled to various doll conventions throughout the country. They represent Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, and “just because” gifts. Many of my pieces are one-of-a-kind (OOAK) dolls painted by extremely talented portrait artists. Many pieces of clothing were sewn by hand, their seamstresses achieving beautifully executed miniature-scaled couture. Others are dolls that I pursued for years before finally being able to acquire second-hand. I know the names that each artist represented in my collection gave to their creations.
My collection reflects my own creativity as well. I do not sew for or paint dolls, but I take great joy in mixing and matching their fashions, posing them, and photographing them. I do not excel in any of these things, but I enjoy it, and spending an hour with “my girls” at the end of a long day of work and motherhood is more effective therapy than that provided by the priciest shrink.
Yes, the number of my dolls can be visually overwhelming. But keep in mind that you are looking at much more than a collection of vinyl playthings. You are looking at unique pieces of art that represent the fruit of the creative endeavors of hundreds of talented people. So you will never hear me apologize for proudly displaying them—although I do reserve the right not to count them.
Dolls are to me many things. They are a hobby, an art, an obsession. They have brought me great joy and great regret. They have brought me closer to some friends and family, and further away from others. They have helped me cope with debilitating depression and grief. They have been both my solace and my demons. They have been my doorway into a unique community of very colorful and talented people. They have brought me new friends, and they have brought me great loneliness.
I believe dolls are unique in the strong emotional reactions they can provoke from people. We dress them in diapers and dresses and give them to young girls to encourage maternal tendencies. We demonize them and cast them as the lead characters in absurd horror films. We give them unrealistic and hyper-sexualized proportions and put them in the hands of prepubescent girls. We encourage their use as imaginative playthings for girls and ridicule the same in boys.
Our various reactions to dolls ultimately tell us much more about ourselves than the actual doll at hand. Women who collect dolls as a hobby are often pathologized, the subject of psychological musings about feelings of inadequate motherhood and childhood lost. Men who collect action figures–which, however you slice it, are DOLLS–are never subject to the same inquiry. At the most, such men are designated as cultural “nerds.” Female doll collectors are just silly.
As a professional writer and a doll collector, this blog will serve as my window into the doll-collecting universe for both insiders and–hopefully–outsiders alike. I intend to offer my own perspectives on the collector doll industry and the colorful personalities that comprise it. I will post photographs of my own dolls and share the work of some of the most talented people in the industry. I hope to bring to wider attention artists whose work I believe is up-and-coming, and I will offer thoughtful critical reviews of the latest products.
Since I am a collector of fashion dolls, my blog will mostly concern itself with that section of the collector market. I have collected a wide variety of dolls during my 20+ years of collecting. Like many, I started out with Barbie, and I abandoned her when her newer 16″ sisters caught my eye. But although they make up the majority of my collection, I have never limited myself to the “taller” fashion dolls. My collection includes the work of Robert Tonner, Integrity, Paul Pham, Helen Kish, Annette Himstedt, Madame Alexander, Jan McLean, and others.
So welcome to “Doll Therapy,” and please subscribe to be notified when there is a new post. I look forward to sharing my dolly journey with all of you. Happy New Year!
Below is my latest muse, Paul Pham’s “Stratus.” You can see how well she adapts to different looks and styles. Stratus is one of the loveliest dolls in my collection. The two bottom portraits are the work of the lovely Angela Nielson.
Doll Therapy 