A Thank You To Doll Collectors: Marie Gives Auctions
“This whole year is a thank you to our doll lovers--our friends” said Marie, at her 2006 Toy Fair booth. “There will be special events and giveaways. On e Bay, Marie Osmond Gives is auctioning one special doll each month. The January doll brought in $1,000, and all proceeds go to the Children’s Miracle Network”. More recent collectors of Marie’s dolls may not realize that Marie helped found this charity, which now raises over $17 million a year.
Special Book, Fifteen Years of Friends
Also to commemorate this 15th Anniversary year, a special book, “Fifteen Years of Friends” is being released. “The theme for the year is friends. “My Friend” is the only Marie Osmond doll ever to come with her matching Tiny Tot” said Marie. Marie then explained that the doll was creating a dilemma for many collectors, because the idea was that they would buy the doll and give the Tiny Tot to a friend, but many of the collectors haven’t been able to bring themselves to give away the Tiny Tot.
Friends Events
“There will also be Friend Events” said Marie. The first one was the collector brunch held at IDEX. The largest will be in October in Utah, where a special anniversary weekend will be held. This event will be called “Friends Like You,” and will be a reunion with over 500 lovers of Marie Osmond dolls. At each of the special events, there will be an “I’m a Doll Fan” fan given out, instead of the usual pin or card to collect “The fans will have doll faces on them and will be exclusive to each event” finished Marie.
Doll Collectors or Doll Fans?
At this point, Marie shook her head. “Actually, I don’t like the term doll collector,” she said. “It implies that dolls are just something that sits there and you dust them. Dolls should be enjoyed and played with. Maybe doll fan is a better term.”
Commemorating Friends
Marie then pointed out to me a copy of the new commemorative book “Fifteen Years of Friends” which will be available in doll stores later this year (special copies were distributed at the IDEX brunch). She opened the book to the butterfly pages in the front, and pointed out rows and rows of names. “As another way to honor our collectors, here are the names of collectors who have been part of our Mod Squad” Cub during the past five years, as of October” she said. The names are printed on those pages. And, at the back of the book are blank pages, which are meant to be like a yearbook, so that collectors can have their friends at the events sign the pages. Another special feature of the book is a special font used in places that was created from Marie’s own handwriting!
Special Series of Dolls: Marie Osmond Doll Sculptors as Babies
Finally, Marie has also honored the friends who have created dolls for her line by creating a special series of dolls. The series of dolls will feature dolls which are sculpted by those sculptors to be themselves as babies! “Beverly, Jo Ann Pullman, and Ping have already done this, “ said Marie, as she brought me around the booth to see this series of dolls. “There are many more to come in the series. And, it’s so interesting to see all the different ways that the sculptors have done this. Pam did her doll in resin, which is her favorite, and all of the artists will do what they love to make their doll, in the size that they like best.”
The Marie Osmond Doll Line-Up For 2006
Marie also has an impressive line-up of dolls this year as well, which Marie tells us about in the second part of this interview, and which we’ll see in the Marie Osmond Dolls Photo Gallery later this month.
For more information about the special events that will be held this year, visit [link http://www.marieosmond.com=URL]Marie Osmond Dolls[/link].
