Barbie Vintage Archives - Page 3 of 3

October 18, 2017

Wannabe restorers

I’m back from my vacation and want to talk to you about a serious topic. Again I heard from a case of bad work. I can only warn you. When you want somebody to restore something for your collection, check at least twice. You can never be careful enough. The best advice I can give you is to inform yourself how things are done and then ask the concerning person questions how to do this or that. Then you might be able to check if he/she understands the work. When I’m asked for advice I always tell people that there is a risk when you restore something. You don’t know how things were stored from the owner. The material doesn’t tell from the first sight. Of course the material can change and you don’t know it. It’s always your risk when you restore something.

Concerning a reroot it looks like this…

If the restorer tells you that big holes in the head are normal, think about asking another person to do it.

September 24, 2017

Talking Barbie

Several weeks ago I posted what Talking Barbie said in Japan. Now I have found out what she says in Sweden thanks to a Swedish collector.

Det är skoldags(=time to go to school)

Jag tycker om att vara finklädd (=I like to be nicely dressed)

Jag ska gå på party (=I´m going to a Party)

Kom så går vi och köper kläder (=Come on we will buy clothes)

She also says: Jag tycker om fina kläder, (=I like fine clothes).

September 11, 2017September 18, 2017

Lucky Lips … or the interesting change of the colour of Barbie lips from the Vintage era

When you consider Vintage Barbie dolls you might have noticed that some of these dolls have very pale lips, not the normal pink or red lips. Why are they so pale? Well, the paint faded. That means that the colour pigments of the original colour disappeared or bleached out. And it looks like this… there are so many shades but I have only three example that I can show you at the moment. I hope that this might help you because it’s really hard to find detailed information about this phenomenon and all the shades.

1rst Midge

Swirl Barbie

1rst Ponytail Swirl

When we consider that they came in the following make up schemes … then you maybe understand what I want to express.

Barbie early identification help

August 15, 2017September 18, 2017

Retromania !?

Today I saw a docu with the title “Retromania”. I admit I saw the title last Friday while watching youtube. It was interesting but I think that I’m probably not the only one who had the idea years ago. When I was still in school I thought about doing my own clothes because I had problems with mainstream fashion. There were trends I really hated and customized some of my own clothes long before. Once I sat in school and we discussed the whole topic. In my class were classmate who did not understand why I wanted to my own thing.

It all began with a preparation for a formal school graduation party. I wanted to wear a something like a Swing skirt but I had no idea of the name nor where you could buy one. Yes, there were times when these clothes were not so easy to get like today. We had no second hand clothes store where you could look. So my mom did her best to sew me a skirt. It was pretty fancy.

Maybe I have been more into Retromania than I ever thought before. I started to feel the way I started to collect Barbie and the feeling continues but nowadays it’s no problem to get the Vintage clothes. There are many stores where you can buy them. I have always been on the “I like to do what I like” way and not impress others. Why be so uniform? Why not be the Audrey Hepburn in heap of ….. ( I forgot her name).

Anyway I think others feel the way I feel too. Maybe we look for a bit stability in a world that changes constantly. I don’t know. Maybe that’s why I collect Barbie dolls. I can stay in touch with the past. Last weekend I did a copy of a great dress from the early 60s. I really like to copy early Barbie clothes. The quality of the fabrics is so good. The dresses are very detailed. You can easily understand how it is done. Maybe some of you understand me … and here’s a pic of my work.

July 5, 2017September 18, 2017

Helpful pics !?

Maybe you are interested in starting a Vintage Barbie collection too but you have no idea how to identify the early Ponytail Barbie dolls with all variations of Make up and hair colors. Here are two pics that might help you. I found them recently and think they are very useful.

March 1, 2017July 27, 2021

How to store old Barbie dolls

In the last weeks some researchers did some research in behalf of the Toy Museum in Nuremberg how to store old Barbie dolls the best way. The researchers found out that it is the best to store the old dolls in a cool, dry and dark environment. Here’s the link to the German article http://www.deutschlandradiokultur.de/spielzeugmuseum-in-nuernberg-barbie-forever-young.1008.de.html?dram:article_id=379793 .

I don’t know if this was published in English speaking countries too. If it’s not you can use google translator for reading it.

June 2, 2014March 12, 2020

A link to important facts a Barbie Collector should know

Here’s a link especially useful when you can’t differentiate between the several hand forms Mattel produced in the 1960s and early 1970s. Here’s the link itself https://dollreference.com/barbie1.html. I think it is useful because I have myself difficulties to distinguish them.

August 10, 2012September 19, 2017

Vintage Skooter

This time I would like to show you my very first Vintage Barbie family member. Vintage is the era called from 1959 to 1966/1967. I recently was able to buy a blond haired Skooter. She is an early friend of Barbies little sister Skipper. My Skotter hat straight legs. You can’t bend her legs. That means she is an early doll and belongs to the Vintage era. Skooter dolls produced after 1965 has a pink skin tone (not as pale as my Skooter is) and they had bendable legs.

Furthermore I would like to tell that I bought her without clothes. The clothes Skooter is wearing are from the mid 1990s and were made for Skipper. Unfortunately I have no other clothes for her at the moment.

July 2, 2012September 19, 2017

Stacey

I recenty was able to buy an old Stacey. Stacey is a friend of Barbie from the MOD-era and was said to come from England. She wasn’t produced for a long time. I think she was produced from 1968 until 1970. My new Stacey is wearing the outfit “Bouncy Flouncy”. I couldn’t resist of doing an extended photo shooting. And here is the result.