If You're Serious About Small Vintage Dolls, This book is a Must-Have:
What's Your Doll Worth? Do your own "Appraisal:"
A large percentage of the emails this site has generated are from folks wanting to know the dollar value of a certain doll.
I am not an appraiser. Don't ask me, please!!! I am not even remotely interested in the subject. I started this research project out of love for the dolls that I loved as a child. But I am personally not interested in what yours may or may not be worth.
I do believe in the abilities of ordinary people to do things for themselves. I believe you can do a pretty decent appraisal yourself. Here's how:
1. Look up your doll on EBAY or another online auction, and see what similar ones are bringing. (Ebay currently has the largest number of listings, but Yahoo, Amazon, and others may catch up and are worth checking.)
Ebay lets you search through records of completed auctions as well as current listings. The online auctions are excellent sources of information, and are absolutely current.
2. If it is a recent issue, one of the many PRICE GUIDES on the market
3. Get a doll collector's magazine and look up Doll Shows. Find one in your area and attend it. Take your doll, or her photo, or at least a detailed* description of her, and ask around. Many dealers are very helpful and friendly.
*How to describe your doll in a way that will be useful:
Note any markings on her back or head
Note shape and details of hands (fingers: separate, together, straight or curved, detailed nails, joints, etc.
Are there any strange mold marks or other markings on the wrist, palm, etc.?
Shape of foot: flat or high-heeled?
Note presence of toes or molded-on shoes
Does the head mold seam goes through the ear, in back of the ear or in front?
Gently pull the arm out of its socket and note the shape of the attachment hook.
What type of hair/wig? Can you tell if it is mohair (not comb-able - more like a swab of cotton than individual strands), some type of synthetic (individual strands sewn to a fabric base), or rooted? Can you tell if there is molded-on baby hair underneath the wig?
Is she a walker or a strung doll?
Do her legs bend at the knees?
What kind of attachment holds the legs to the body: rubber bands, hip-joint screws, walking mechanism?
The clothes she is wearing not usually helpful, or, at best, is supporting evidence. It becomes important only after you are getting to the fine points.
Costumes are a whole other area of research, one that I have not entered.
