Mama would say "beer budget," but I'll take a good cold Pepsi over beer any day. The wrong beer gives me a wheel-buster of a headache and then makes me throw up. Anyway, I belong to a Failbook group that goes heavy on the reborn dolls and other large, somewhat-realistic child dolls, and...well, they're pretty! Since I'm a "monkey see, monkey do" type of collector I look for a doll like theirs, more to get an idea about pricing than anything, and that's where I ran into a pattern. Recently all of the dolls I've taken a shine to are worth at least two hundred bucks, and usually more than that. We start on April 12th, give or take. One of the women in the group is all excited about a new Ping Lau-sculpted reborn she's getting, and since I like Ping Lau's work I went browsing for a reborn. I found one similar to this one...
...and because she's a reborn, she's freaking EXPENSIVE!!! The one above is Smitten Kitten, by the way, and she was kinda high, but nowhere near as high as the reborns on eBay. Indeed, I could afford Kitten if I wanted her, but while I like her I don't really want her.
Paradise Gallaries says she's sold out, but oh, Paradise Galleries has lots of cute Ping Lau dolls. They're just not quite what I'm looking for. The one I really fell for is
this one, and she's three hundred fifty bucks. No biggie, I have some nice Ping Lau dolls (
here and
here), but I still love to look.
Then (I forget what day, exactly) I decided to browse eBay for A Girl For All Time, since I'm not giving up hope on owning one of those. Remember that the company shuttered itself, sad face, and at the time of
my last AGFAT post eBay had nothing. It was kinda disorienting, like the Marchmont family had just fallen off a cliff into dolly oblivion, like the Extra Special Dolls did. This past week I was a hair more successful, finding both Clementine (left) and her daughter, Sam.
Bex, my favorite of them all, remains nowhere in sight.
BUT...butbutbut, Sam is going for two-thirty and some change and Clementine is even more pricey. Of the two of them I prefer Sam since she's from the mod era, but two-thirty and some change is kinda steep.
Alrighty, so Sam's out of the question for now. Next doll I saw was a Kidz 'n' Cats doll, I forget which one, but I've been giving those an admiring eye ever since Miss Emily had Henriette on her blog. Now Henriette's saga was
something of a hot mess, but boy, did I love her face! I like the Kidz' joints too, since not many dolls their size have legit joints, just hollow limbs with an armature inside. Jana (left) and Julika are my favorites, for obvious reasons.
Guess what? These kids are out of my range too. Like the Ping Lau bunch, I have two Gotz dolls and they're nice dolls, but they're not as poseable as the Kidz 'n' Cats are. Oh, affordable Kidz 'n' Cats can be found on eBay, but a lot of 'em are missing some or all of their clothes, and they're STILL expensive! Part of the allure to these dolls is their eclectic outfits, and I don't want mine to be missing anything. So part of that failure is on me being picky.
Back to the Failbook group we go now, and to Masterpiece Dolls. I like these because they've got such charismatic faces and because a lot of 'em are vinyl. They also have nice arm and knee joints, though I think their hip joints may leave a lot to be desired. This one is my favorite.
Not only are prices for these dolls out of sight, but they're large and heavy, and Miss Emily's doll showed
some troubling signs of aging (plus those ridiculous hip joints). Still, I love these dolls' faces!
If we were playing baseball then I'd have already struck out long ago, but Sekiguchi's Printemps popped up again and I remembered how unusual they are. For a refresher, this is a Printemps doll; I last discussed these last June, complete with her two friends behind her.
Those eyes. They're black until the light hits them just right, and then they glow a ghostly blue. Freaky, unique, and I love it. Unfortunately for me these are...I think these kids may be the priciest ones on the list today.
I could also discuss Zwergnase and Annette Himstedt dolls, but we'd be here all day (I freaking love those). Now I admit that I did spend my tax return on a very expensive doll last spring, The Doll That Shall Not Be Named, who will make her debut on May 5th. Why? Because I wasn't facing two surgeries last spring, and because Special Dolly was on a bit of a sale, and because my desire for her wasn't some fleeting fancy like a lot of these above are. Indeed, the only doll on today's list that I see in my dreams is the Printemps doll, due to her unique eyes and otherwise mild face. Patience is a virtue, a virtue that I don't have. Patience is for wimps! But how 'bout y'all? Do any of y'all have expensive tastes and a grocery budget? Discuss.
Love,
RagingMoon1987
I'm a player, not a displayer, and for that reason I try to keep to a grocery budget. No sense spending too much on a doll that's just gonna get "ruined". I do have a few I display, but they were mostly gifts.
ReplyDeleteI prefer to play too, so I see your point. A lot of these on my list can be played with to a certain extent, like they can be dressed and posed in cute scenarios, stuff like that.
DeleteI'm with you on the 'play not display' mindset, Jeanie. After all, what's the point of owning something you're afraid to touch out of fear of devaluing it?
DeleteSigned, Treesa
One of the main reasons that most of the dolls I buy for my collection these days are from thrift stores, flea markets, and yard sales, is budgetary constraints. But then, you literally never know what you'll find when you shop 'brick-and-mortar' secondhand venues. I've seen vintage fashion dolls, American Girls, Monster High, reborn dolls, and even the occasional My Twinn or Silkstone or Tonner doll while secondhand shopping. Of course, there have also been times when I walked into a thrift store and found absolutely nothing. But that's part of the thrill of the hunt, you never know what might be there until you look. Unfortunately, a lot more thrift stores seem to be implementing Amazon and eBay pricing. But I can still snag some good deals, especially if a store gets in a lot of something all at once, like someone's entire collection. Granted, most of the secondhand dolls that I buy are in obviously used condition. But I don't like owning things that are 'too' nice, collector quality anyway, because then I have to worry way more about not damaging them. And let's be honest, the quality of older dolls, even in used condition, is still frequently better than a lot of modern playline dolls.
ReplyDeleteSigned, Treesa
Proving my point about never knowing what you're going to find shopping secondhand, the other day my local thrift store had several vintage Cabbage Patch Kids, including a couple of 'neon' preemies. Wouldn't you know, I couldn't find prices on any of them.
DeleteSigned, Treesa
Precisely the reason why I love thrift stores, though when you live here in the sticks really good stuff is mega-hard to find. The highest-end dolls I've found while thrift shopping have been Marie Osmond dolls, but I like those so I won't knock it. Being crippled means that I can't go into thrift stores anymore. I miss doing that.
Delete