Buying Vintage Dolls

Usually one doesn't make a conscious decision to collect vintage dolls.  You buy a doll because it's pretty, or you had it as a child (and now you can  have it again :-) or for some reason known only to you it appeals to you.  And then you buy another, and that makes you a collector.  The next thing you know you have a half a dozen.  At some point you may make a conscious decision to continue buying vintage dolls, and I'd encourage that thought pattern.  I'm in the business of selling them as well as collecting them myself.  But you may want to decide on what kind of dolls, and narrow your focus in that manner, or what quality or condition of dolls, and narrow your focus in that manner. 

I collect a variety of vintage fashion dolls from the 1950's and early 1960's.  I cannot afford to buy the best of the best, the rarest of the rare.  That's ok.  I have a LARGE collection of dolls and particularly clothing that is nice, and in some cases rare, but probably not the best and not the nicest.  But I know that.  I know what I have and what it is worth because I learned.  Over the course of many years I learned about quality, and rarity.  I learned what makes a doll valuable, and what makes her harder to find, particularly within those that I concentrate on.  I encourage anyone who buys vintage dolls to do the same.  It breaks my heart to see someone show me a doll that was bought sometimes from a reputable dealer, sometimes from an unknown dealer, that was advertised to be a rare doll all original, one owner, kept in a mayonnaise jar on the back porch of Funk and Wagnall's and only driven to church on Sunday, and I look at it and see that the doll is from 1955, the outfit is from 1959 and the shoes and hat are from KMart last week.  I cannot tell a person that unless I'm asked point blank, because I don't want to hurt his or her feelings.  When your friend says how do you like this dress, you don't say did you buy that at the markdown rack at Goodwill because it sure looks like you did.  Now if the buyer KNEW that the doll was a put together and bought it, that's fine and I understand that, but paying for original and buying something put together is something totally different.  So I think back to a commercial that used to be shown on television in Nashville in the 1960's, about a local jewelry store owned by Harold Shires:  If you don't know diamonds, know your jeweler, and if Harold says it's so, it's so.  Yes, if you don't know vintage dolls, be sure you find someone that you know you can trust.  Not because they say they've been judging dolls or selling dolls or collecting dolls, but because you decide for yourself that this is an ethical person who is interested in me and in my well being, and not just in selling me a doll.  So you should know your dealer.  But even more importantly, learn about what you are collecting.  Learn about vintage dolls for yourself so that you don't have to trust your dealer.  You can trust yourself, and then you won't have to rely on someone else.