Dolls and Outfits Shipping Now:  Your favorite doll retailers should be sending out the following now: Esme, Kitty Collier, the 2 outfits in the Fashion Model Collection, and LOTS of Gene items including Encore (the retailer exclusive doll) the Little Black Dress, some Hat and Purse sets, the Hat Stand, and more.

Contest:  Win the Venus and Serena Fashion Dolls:  Enter the contest, or just visit to see a photo of the Venus and Serena Fashion Dolls that I reported on earlier:  Williams Sisters Tennis Monthly Recap

FAO Schwartz Opens Up Lee Middleton Doll Boutiques:  FAO has opened up a series of in-store specialty boutiques featuring Lee Middleton Dolls.  The boutiques will be in the FAO stores located in Las Vegas, Boston, Orland, Chicago and San Francisco. Lee Middleton Dolls has designed five exclusive dolls for FAO Schwarz customers. Two are limited-edition collectible dolls named "First Recital" and "Our Little Sweetie," which  retail for $180. The remaining dolls are members of the My Own Baby(TM) collection; their names are "Cuddle Me FAO Baby," "First Born FAO Baby" and "Honey Love FAO Baby." Each doll is 19" long, weighs four pounds and retails at $99.99.  A Nursery is the main theme for these boutiques.  Did you know that Lee Middleton dolls is currently the largest producer of baby dolls located in the US?

Hitty Collector Participates in Voices" on eBay: Alabama Live is running an interesting article on Pat Grethmann, a collector of Hitty dolls who is also a Power Seller of dolls and other items on eBay.  Ms, Grethmann was invited by eBay to take part in a user focus group titled "Voices."  The Voices focus group was part of eBay's fifth anniversary celebration, and it gained national attention. An article in the San Jose Mercury News went out over the news wires, and PBS filmed the focus group's discussions for a special report on the eBay phenomenon that will air sometime this month (I am trying to find the date and time of this special report).   Grethmann sounds like a true Hitty and Travel doll enthusiast--Grethmann, a longtime seamstress, makes the intricate clothing that the Hittys she sells wears, and her Hitty doll goes with her wherever she travels.  Plus, Grethmann takes photos of her travel doll at the various places they visit together.  Regarding Voices, it will be interesting to see if eBay takes the complaints of its users to heart and tries to improve various problems on the service.  It certainly seems that they are taking complaints about fraud to heart--see below.

eBay Tackles the Fraud Issues: This week in eBay's Announcements, eBay posted the following:

"We have been watching discussions on our boards concerning fraud. We definitely hear what you are saying and honestly care about your trading safety. eBay's success is dependent on the community's ability to successfully complete transactions. It is true that we have certain limitations in what we can do when fraud occurs. However, we have implemented and will continue to implement features and programs that help prevent fraud and help members should it occur. Fraud continues to be a very small percentage of the total transactions on eBay, however, we understand that when a user is impacted it does not seem to be a small percentage since it is 100% of that transaction."  The very long announcement goes on to point out various ways users can protect themselves against fraud, and also points to various law enforcement activities against fraudulent buyers and sellers. The Entire eBay Fraud Announcement (look under 9/7)

Mystery Guide Of The Day:  Did you know that we have over 700 Guides at About, all bringing you the best on their topic? Click on the picture of the Guide to find out who this Guide is and to visit her site!

 Our Great Line-Up Of Special Chat Guests!:   Here's our fall line-up of special Guests for the chat room:

• VICKI STEEMSA:  Editor-in-Chief of Doll World Magazine.  "Ask The Editor Chat" on September 19, 2000

• NICK HILL: Expert on Barbie and other Vinyl Doll Restoration: September 26, 2000

• FLORENCE THERIAULT:  Antique Doll Expert and Founder of Theriaults and Dollmasters  October 24, 2000 (tentative)

All Special Guest Chats are on Tuesday nights from, 9pm eastern to 11pm eastern (which is 8pm to 10pm central, and 7pm to 9pm mountain, and 6pm to 8pm pacific).  There will be door prizes awarded at all Special Guest Chats.  Mark your calendars and don't these rare opportunities to talk with and ask questions of some of the most renowned experts in the world of doll collecting!  The chat room is ALWAYS open, and can be reached at http://collectdolls.about.com/mpchat.htm 

Start a chat now!

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About Dolls Daily Archive:

September 8, 2000:  eToys; The World's Biggest Toy Store; Some Alexs' Sold Out; No AA Fashion Model Barbie
September 6, 2000:  Doe Barbie Manipulate Children; Venus and Serena dolls; Baby Boomer Toys; Robert Tonner 18" dolls 
September 1, 2000:  Modern Doll Convention; New Barbies; John F. Kennedy Doll; ViewMaster 
August 30, 2000:  Reproduction Dawn; Electronic Toy Shortage; Theriaults Upcoming Online Auctions; Paper Dolls
August 28, 2000:  Auction-Site Shake-Out; Barbie in the New Millennium; New Links
August 25, 2000:  Ask the Editor Chat; AA Prince Ken; Doll Reviews

• Blue Ribbon HSN Event Planned:  8pm to midnight EST on Friday, September 22 will be the sixth annual Doll Collectors Blue Ribbon Event on HSN.  The program will offer many dolls that have been nominated for the DOTY awards from Doll Reader magazine and also the Dolls Awards of Excellence from Dolls magazine.  
• Theriault's Marquis Trilogy Weekend:  September 23 and 24, Redwood City, California.   Four auctions--a catalogued auction of antique dolls, a special vintage Ginny auction 'Hi, I'm Ginny" and a "Barbie® Retro" catalogued Auction of vintage Barbie, Barbie family and related accessories.  Plus, a Discovery Day Auction! Click here for Full Auction Information
• Timeless Treasures: The Story of Dolls in Canada is on display now through  March 30, 2003 at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull, Quebec. For more information on this huge (over 400 dolls) landmark exhibit, visit http://www.civilisations.ca/cmc/cmceng/pr113aeng.html 
• National Gene Convention 2000 will be held Oct. 20-23 at the Arlington Heights Hilton in Arlington Heights, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago). Registration is $325 and limited to 700. For more information, contact genecon99@aol.com

Be a Roving Reporter!! Become a Roving Reporter and write a report on a doll event!  Or, do you have a doll event to promote, a new doll to announce, or an updated web site?  Please e-mail me at collectdolls.guide@about.com and put "Newsletter" in the subject line--For events, please give me 7 to 10 days advance notice (at minimum!) in order to have your event appear on time. Some events will also/alternatively appear in the Events Calendar.

Do You Have Dolls For Sale Or Trade? Did you know that you can place FREE classified ads for your dolls for sale or trade (or, dolls wanted) in the Dolls Forum?  Dealers, collectors, everyone welcome; feel free to link to your eBay auctions as well!  Visit the Dolls Forum to find out how to place your ad; if you are not yet a member, click on GUEST, but you will need a free Forum ID to place your ad.

 Want to keep up to date on all the latest in the world of Dolls?    Sign up for the weekly About Dolls  Newsletter! It's free, and is delivered to your email address every week, full of links to new articles, new clip art, additions to the Doll Price Guide and Galleries, Forum Discussions and more!   Don't miss a single issue--- scroll to the end of this page to sign up now!

More GREAT Hobbies News On About.com
Collectibles News * Toy News * Board Games News

2000 Doll News Archive:

January
Madame Alexander 16" Fashion Doll; Mattel Execs Leave * 
Doll Costumer Guild Announces New Publication; *
Barbie® PC; Barbie Auction *
February
Jill Barad Resigns From Mattel  *
All The Toy Fair News! *
Toy Fair Recap; Toy Fair Toys are Technological  *
March
New Theriault's Auctions; Dorothy Coleman Dies *
TRU Big Event, Virginia Graves Carlson Dies *
April
New Doll Books; New Barbie® Releases in Stores *
Jill-Neimrow Nelson Resigns; Americana 2000 Projects; Fashion Doll Convention *
Barbie for President, Sign Language Barbie®; Betty Spagetty and eBay Antique Dealers *
Special Online Doll Auctions; Pleasant Co. Toys For Boys, Cool Collecting Barbie®*
May
Pleasant Company Founder Retires/Doll Discounts/Harley Ken HOT! *
Who's Brave Enough to Run Mattel/Hello Kitty Barbie®/Barbies in stores now *
Toysmart OUT of Business; Where are Asian Barbies; NEW Mattel CEO *
June
Barbie®20001 line info; Gene News; Sailor Moon NEW USA Dolls! *
eBay users dislike advertisements; GI Joe in a Dress; new 16" Fashion Dolls *
Barbie® Bazaar, ITCA, Simply Gene Platinum, Barbie Convention
July
New Doll Costuming Magazine; Harry Potter Mania; Dollmakers Convention *
UFDC Sky-High Convention Dolls; Online Convention Clubs Voted In; NEW Fashion Dolls Magazine * 
Paralymics Becky; Sotehby Barbie® Auction; HSN Doll Event
August
New Elle Dolls; Teri Lee Repros; iDolls Sale; TRU joins Amazon 

For all 1999 editions of "Dolls This Week" please go to the 1999 Dolls This Week Archives.