Doll Collecting

One of the reasons that Barbie has been popular for over 50 years is the genius marketing of Mattel. This week, Mattel put on a Barbie Dream House party during Fashion Week in New York. It was a lavish party with live models dressing as Barbie and showing off some of her most iconic outfits on the runway for the fashion community. The event also showed off some hot new Barbie technology at BarbieWow.com where you can put together your own Barbie outfit if you have a webcam! For more info, read Barbie's Wardrobe Celebrated at Fashion Week Bash at MSNBC.

With real estate, it's always about location, location, location! Well, with doll collecting, it's always about condition, condition, condition! Or, at least it should be. The difference between a doll in mint condition and the very same doll in fair condition can be many hundreds or thousands of dollars. Read about different types of doll conditions in Doll Conditions from Factory Fresh to My Dog Ate It.

Sure, you know that doll damage is not a good thing, but do you know what types of damage can appear on an antique bisque doll, and do you know what kind of affect on value such damage has? If you'd like to learn more about doll damage, especially on fragile antique bisque doll heads, then read my FAQ on What Types of Damage Can You Find on an Antique Doll?

Sometimes I come across an article about dolls online that makes me do a real double-take...and then I know that I have to share it here. Which is why I now bring your attention to the doll protesters in Russia. Evidently, human protesters in a Siberian City were denied the license necessary to hold a political protest. So...intead, they stealthily installed a protest where dolls held the placards instead! Authorities are trying to have these unlawful doll protesters removed. Read more in The Guardian's Doll 'protesters' present small problem for Russian police

No, no, not those type of joints! They love and need perfectly legal joints--joints that help them bend and pose and look like dolls instead of statues. Doll joints are varied and use many interesting mechanisms, from hidden wires to ball-jointing. Find out more about doll joints in our Glossary of Doll Terms.

Have you ever wondered why people collect dolls? Sometimes, even doll collectors themselves cannot pinpoint the exact reason they started to collect dolls, or even the exact moment they became a doll collector. I've spoken with hundreds of collectors and visited countless homes of collectors, and from these encounters, I've put together some of the Top Reasons That People Collect Dolls.

One of my true passions in doll collecting is French Fashion Dolls. These dolls were the Barbie dolls of their day--they were miniature representations of ladies from the late 1800s era, and they had detailed and era-appropriate clothing, hats, shoes, and accessories of all types available for them. Find out more about French Fashion Dolls from the second-half of the 19th Century in my French Fashion Dolls.

On Facebook, a group of moms have joined forces to lobby Mattel to create a bald Barbie doll, which they feel could be a valuable role model for young girls suffering from hair loss due to cancer treatments and skin conditions. The page, "Beautiful and Bald Barbie! Let's see if we can get it made" has over 132,000 Facebook "likes" as of today. Mattel has issued a statement that basically says they are impressed for the passionate pleas for this doll, and that they take such requests seriously when exploring new Barbie dolls to create. There is also a "Bald G.I.Joe" Movement on Facebook, but this page has a little over 5,000 likes. G.I.Joe is made by Hasbro.

Sometimes the New Year starts, the Christmas presnts get packed away, and I get all nostalgic for Christmases and years gone past. This year is no exception...I started to think about all the fantastic dolls I received as gifts in the past, and the next thing you know it I've come up with a list of some of everyone's all-time Favorite 1960s Dolls. Is your favorite doll on the list?

Alice in Wonderland has long been a popular theme for dolls. Many doll companies and doll artists have created Alice in Wonderland dolls...of Alice herself, of other characters in the Alice books, and even of certain licensed Alices, including Disney's Alice and Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Find out more about the enchanging world of Alice in Wonderland dolls in Alice in Wonderland Dolls - Dolls from the Lewis Carroll classic.