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My new book from Amazon Japan

In the last week my Japanese Barbie doll book from Amazon Japan arrived. It was much faster in Germany than I expected. I haven’t read much in the book yet. I have to translate it sentence by sentence from the Japanese but this is going to last some time but I’m curious what to read and find in it. This is my first real Japanese Barbie book. I have another one but it has not so much text and I haven’t translated it. For the long journey from Japan it arrived here in an astonishing short time. I think it was only three or four days. I didn’t expect it to arrive so soon. In general I can say that it is no problem to order there a book.

JapBu
Japanese Barbie book by Fumiko Miyatsuka

I’m really curious what Fumiko is going to tell. She worked closely with Charlotte Johnson in Japan for one year and they produced the prototypes of fashions for Barbie available in 1959.

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Buying at Amazon Japan

Last week I saw the video I posted last week. I saw there a Japanese Barbie book which I have never seen before neither heard of. Although I can’t read Japanese it seems very interesting since this book was written by the Japanese seamstress of Charlotte Johnson ( first Barbie designer).  The woman has an interesting story to tell how to make prototypes for later Barbie doll dresses but I think it is far more interesting to learn how she saw the whole thing.

The only place where I could find this book was Amazon Japan. So I created my account. That was not as hard as I thought it would be. You can switch almost everything to English and need a credit card but that’s almost all you need. In my case I got a mail from the customer service which I misunderstood at first because it was all written in Japanese. Very funny and the google translator obviously did it wrong at first too. So several days later I got a second mail from the customer service that said something was wrong with my credit card. They were right. I had given them a wrong date. After I changed the date it was no problem to order and by the begin of the next week the book should already be here. So this was my adventure buying at Amazon Japan. If you get a mail from the customer service after your order you know what this means … check you credit card.

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The only 7 Barbie resources you will ever need

When you’re looking for suitable books I can recommend you these books:

  • The Collectible Barbie Doll: An Illustrated Guide to Her Dreamy World, by Janine Fennick (1996)

  • Barbie Doll Around the World 1964-2007: Identification & Values by Michael Augustyniak (2007)

  • The Ultimate Barbie Doll Book by Marcie Mellilo (1996)

  • Barbie Fashion Vol. I – III by Sarah Sink Eames (1990)

  • Skipper Barbie doll’s little sister, second edition by Cottingham, Arend and Hemingway (2011)

  • The story of Barbie by Kitturah Westenhouser (1994)
  • It’s All About the Accessories for the World?s Most Fashionable Dolls 1959-1972 by Hillary Shilkitus James (2017)
    Use only the bestresources

And when you’re looking online for information:

  • e-book: Barbie® Talks!: An Unauthorized Exposé of the First Talking Barbie® Doll: An Expose’ of the First Talking Barbie Doll. The Humorous and Poignant Adventures of Two Former Mattel Toy Designers (2001)
  • https://barbieinthehouse.com/2017 (for Vintage and MOD Barbie dolls)
  • http://papusilemele.com/en/  (when you search for information about the latest Barbie collector dolls)
  • http://www.sewingandpattern.com/all-barbie-patterns/ ( Source for free patterns)
  • https://plus.google.com/photos/115834299775567346266/albums/5279686365593771025 ( free sewing patterns)
  • https://www.dollreference.com/barbie_vintage_fashions1959-1963.html ( Page for Vintage Barbie dolls and clothes)
  • http://www.fashionave.info/ (Page with all Fashion Avenue fashions from 1990s – 2000s)
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13 insane (but true) things about Barbies from 1966

As a collector you often learn this:

  • a person without any knowledge about Barbie dolls offer you a Barbie from 1966
  • inside your brain ( as a collector) “Great, another fool” pops up
  • Why?
  • Well, the 1966 mark on the back does not describe anything but the year of the patenting
  • The patent was used for more than 40 years and
  • there are very much Barbie dolls with the 1966 on their butt or backIMG 4862
  • how can you see if it’s really an old doll or just one from the year 2000 or later?
  • Early Barbie dolls have the mark on their butt

  • Later ones from the 1970s until 2000 have them on their lower back
  • Another important hint is the form of the face
  • Early dolls have this faceIMG 4854(this one is from 1964)
  • the dolls have painted fingernails and toenails (sometimes the colour has changed to a light peachy tone)
  • the colour has changed like the one you see in the pic with my 1964 Barbie
  • the you can twist and turn the waist but early ones are at an angle (I’m going to show this in a later article)
  • they have real eyelashes

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The only Vintage Kens resources you will ever need

When I started to collect Vintage Barbies I had no idea how to distinguish all the different Ken dolls. Now I have one from each year (1961- 1964). When you have a look at the pics you can see differences. The make up differs each year. These pics show only the straight leg Kens.

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Miki from Takara (Japan)

Last weekend I saw something special. I had never seen nor owned a Kelly from Takara. Takara is practically a synonym for Barbies from Japan since the 1980s. They are very popular there like the real Barbie dolls have been there in the 1960s. Yesterday I collected this cute being from the postal office. IMG 4621 e1524730380836

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Update: I did a little research when I got home. Since I’m not familiar with Takara dolls I asked other collectors. This little doll is called Miki. She’s one of the twin sisters of Licca. They are called Miki and Maki.

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Fashion from the 1980s – Haute Couture post 3

This outfit is not new in my collection but I forgot the number of the outfit. So I had a problem to tell you about the outfit. It’s so sad that there are no reliable books from the 1980s with all fashions. Often it’s a coincidence when you find the number.

Today I’m able to present you the right number for the outfit. This outfit has the number 3278. It was released in the Haute Couture collection 1986.

Haute Couture 1986 outfit

Haute Couture fashion 1986

Haute Couture outfit 1986

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Barbie Journal and other resources for information

It’s not always easy to get the information you need in the Barbie world. There are several books about Barbie but which one is good and which one is bad? What is contained in the book? When found out that there were books in the early 2000s I was very confused. Which would be the right one for me?  I bought everything I found piece by piece. Some books are limited editions. The prices explode as soon as they are sold out. The content really varies. Some books are good for ID. They contain a huge quantity of Barbie dolls with their boxes.

Barbie ID book

Skipper ID book

Others focus on special topics like Skipper, the younger sister of Barbie.  Some books are really useful for learning about Vintage Barbie ( Vintage era from 1959-1967) and how to differentiate the early Ponytail Barbie dolls.

Barbie ID book for early clothes

There is a book series by Sarah Sink Eames about fashion until 1979. The series consists of three books, one for the Vintage era, one for the MOD era (Mod era from 1967- approx. 1976) and the last book contains the early Superstar era until 1979. You may ask yourself now what to do if you have fashions produced after 1979. Well, some collectors refer to Barbie Journals. I don’t know if they were available in the US too but in Europe they were. You could find them in lots of toy store with a Barbie doll department. When I was little there were at least 2 editions every year with the latest dolls, fashion, furniture and pets. It was like a little catalogue.

Barbie Journal Herbst/Winter 1986

In four weeks before Christmas I always was very fascinated by them with their perfect environment. Pure advertising but I liked it in time before we had the Internet.