Christie

There are some dolls in my collection which I bought with the intention to resell them. There are others which I like and want to keep but depending on circumstances I may consider selling them. And there is the third category: the dolls which I would never sell, no matter the price offer or the situation or anything. Why? Because they are my childhood dolls. Because I know how much effort and money it took my parents to get them for me in the very early 90s (and no money can today repay it). And last but not the least, the very simple reason. We're just not supposed to sell friends.

Most of those dolls are still at my parents house (and coming to my new home soon). With me I have now just two of them. So, meet Christie:

Model: Christie and the Beat, Mattel

Year of production: 1989 or 1990 (I saw both of the dates on the internet.)

Bought: at the very begining of the 90s, new, at Pewex*, by me and my mum.

Body type: TnT with bend arms 1966. Made in China.

Head mold: 1987 (perhaps some small alternation of the 1985 "Christie mold", because they look like same)

Make-up: original.

Condition: very good.

On the photos I took today she is wearing a non-Mattel blue cocktail dress and her own original earrings and ring. However I still do have her original clothes (with fluorescent accents that used to sparkle in the dark), they are at my parents house still.

I was always interested in dolls anyhow different than the blue-eyed blondes and in ethnic dolls. They used to be guite rare back in the 90s in Poland and Christie was the first such I saw in a shop. She was a must have and I got her (partially for my savings, partially as a present). There was only one piece of Christie in that shop and for all my childhood I was the only girl I knew personally to have one like this. None of my friends from school or the neighbourhood ever had an AA Barbie or so. I loved het skintone, her make-up of light green beautifully contrasting with her skin. She was much loved and played with and cared so she's still in an excellent condition. Her hair is one of great examples of the superior quality the dolls hair had in the 90s. Of nowadays Barbies only the Collector Edition Dolls' hair can compete those. After nearly 20 years I can still comb her hair, style and restyle it and it is thick, long, shiny and beautiful.

And here without the blue dress. In total she was my fourth Mattel doll. And first non-Caucasian. 

Growing collection

I haven't sewn anything lately, no time basicly and far too much to do at school (but winter vacations coming soon^^) but I've realized that my collection of dolls has grown and well, let's say got upgrated dramatically ;). Two years ago it consisted of my old childhood dolls (which unfortunaltelly are still at my parents house, 300 kilometers away). In 2008 I bought a few new (well, OK, "second hand" 80s and 90s) dolls at our Polish auctions platform. They were actually like "nothing special" in terms of collecting and one might call it my attempt of rescuing them (all of in poor condition and needing restoration). I m still not done with all of them although they r slowly getting better. Perhaps I ll put some pics soon. What is interesting about them, among them were 2 Skippers (which used to be quite rare at Polish market back in the 90s). Anyway, I did not spend much on them.

2009 was a different year. In 2009 I felt in love with Mattel's new playline - the Fashionistas Barbie. As I wrote before, they do need repainting and maybe even rerooting (I m still affraid to do that) but I do love their articulation and posing. And their price allowed me to buy 4 of them (Glam, Artsy, Girly, Sassy). They make great models for sewn outfits and dioramas (yes, I m going to make them too^^).

I also bought my two very first Collector Edition Dolls - the "2009 Holiday Barbie" and the "Generations of Dreams Barbie". I was lucky to find them at a very reasonable price in one of the supermarkets (quite strange, since the CED are quite rare and usually very expensive in Poland I haven't seen any model in a real-world, non-online shop before). I haven't deboxed them yet. I like the "Generations" doll's make-up and general appearance very much but her dress (so prised by some collectors) is not appealing to me so much. I quess I m going to sell off the dress (I know it would decrease general doll's value, but I m not going to sell her any time, for me she's a decorative doll not an investment, so what's the difference?).

But I think I m going to sell off the Holiday one after a year or two so I m not planning to debox her at all. She is a beauty, in stunning dress with wonderfull  jewellery. But somehow her make-up and face mold is not catching my feelings as much as the delicate "Generations". I m also not so much for the "muse model" body type, so "2009 Holiday" doll definitelly can go to a new home ;).

And now 2010... Yeah. Interesting year it's gonna be I tell you... So far I've already bought:

1) another two Fashionistas (Cutie and one deboxed, naked Glam at an online auction),  

2) a Fashionistas Ken (the one with a straw-like hat). I love him! Why not all Kens have a body like that? If only he had ball-jointed wrists as well, I would call him perfect.

3) a Fashion Fever Barbie with regular legs and ball-jointed elbows and wrists (she looks like a mixture of a belly-button barbie and a Fashionistas barbie)

4) a NRFB 1990 Western Fun Nia (at an online auction). She was quite expensive, but she was one of my "must haves". Back in the 90s she was my childhood dream (as I was always interested in all ethnic and in any other way different than the most popular blue-eyed blonde dolls). But then she was beyond my access - those "different" dolls were then always very rare in Polish shops and generally in the 90s the Mattell's dolls used to be expensive in the freshly turned to democracy and open market country. My parents could not afford buying me a new original doll every month or so... (and yet They were doing all they could to make me happy and I owe them so much)... So I did not get her or any other doll of that line (I got only one of the outfits) that time and for all of those years she was on my "wish list". One time in 2008 I saw her on an auction and I was even bidding (deboxed and in medium condition) but I lost in last few minutes. This time she was never removed from box and with an extra option "buy it now". So I bought ^^, didn't want to risk that I loose the chance again ;). And I tell you - it's a truly amazing feeling: get the item you wanted so desperately as a child, get it now, in the box of that times and everything and open it now... It's like a travel in time. The little girl inside me can't stop smiling untill now ^^.

5) A NRFB, excellent condition of the box as well, "2006 Gold Label Made For Each Other Barbie Doll Reproduction" for... something about 9$ ^^. Yes, in moments like this I m so happy that I live in a provincional part of Europe - people here sometimes just don't know what they are selling ;).

6) A 2000 Collector Edition "Bowling Champ Barbie" with a Silkstone-like head mold for about 10$ (also an auction finding).

Something tells me, I ll be a busy little bee for the next few months, sewing for all of them ;).  Oh, and BTW, my photo-camera is not working properly so all the pics in this note come from the internet (from the Barbie Collector web page and from the auction which I won), as soon as I fix the camera, I ll put real photos of my girls (and a boy^^).