Collecting Barbie Dols
Mattel estimates that there are well over 100,000 avid Barbie collectors. Ninety percent are women, at an average age of 40, purchasing more than twenty Barbie dolls each year. Forty-five percent of them spend upwards of $1000 a year.
Vintage Barbie dolls from the early years are the most valuable at auction, and while the original Barbie was sold for $3.00 in 1959, a mint boxed Barbie from 1959 sold for $3552.50 on eBay in October 2004. On September 26, 2006, a Barbie doll set a world record at auction of £9,000 sterling (US $17,000) at Christie’s in London. The doll was a Barbie in Midnight Red from 1965 and was part of a private collection of 4,000 Barbie dolls being sold by two Dutch women, Ietje Raebel and her daughter Marina.
In recent years Mattel has sold a wide range of Barbie dolls aimed specifically at collectors, including porcelain versions, vintage reproductions, and depictions of Barbie as a range of characters from television series such as The Munsters and Star Trek. There are also collector’s edition dolls depicting Barbie dolls with a range of different ethnic identities. In 2004 Mattel introduced the Color Tier system for its collector’s edition Barbie dolls, ranging through pink, silver, gold and platinum depending on how many of the dolls are produced.
Barbie will celebrate her 50th anniversary in 2009, and Mattel plans a new reproduction of the original 1959 Barbie doll.
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2-L/E 2009 Barbie's! Generation & 50 Years! All New Box US $125.00 End Date: Wednesday Mar-10-2010 4:10:43 PST Add to watch list |
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NIB BARBIE 50TH ANNIVERSARY GLAMOUR DOLL GOLD MIB BEST US $115.00 End Date: Friday Mar-12-2010 7:35:40 PST Add to watch list |
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40TH ANNIVERSARY BARBIE & STEIFF BEAR GIFTSET NRFB US $274.99 End Date: Friday Mar-12-2010 14:41:12 PST Add to watch list |
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35th Anniversary Roman Holiday Barbie Giftset MIB US $149.99 End Date: Friday Mar-12-2010 18:17:24 PST Add to watch list |
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FOREIGN Barbie 30TH Anniversary Edition in RED Dress! US $295.00 End Date: Friday Mar-12-2010 23:09:11 PST Add to watch list |
