Expert: Anne Hoffmann - 12/4/2007

Question
Good Evening,
  I have Every Holiday Barbie from the first one in 1988 till the year 2000 in mint condition, in the boxes and everything. How much is this worth? Is it best to sell them individually or as the set? I have been waiting to sell them for years; I think it's time to start looking into it.

Answer
The best indicator of the secondary market value of many collectibles, including dolls, is eBay, as it reaches a worldwide market and the auction format is competitive. If you want to know what a number of people are willing to pay for a collectible item, eBay should be your first basis of comparison. (I'm going to exclude, among dolls, the true high-end antiques. For values of these, I recommend appraisal by a doll expert or doll auction house such as Theriaults.)
A quick scan of the 1988 Holiday Barbie MIB on eBay has quite remunerative prices, but the range is startlingly wide. A buy-it-now offers one at an vastly overvalued $350 and another has closed at a winning bid of $76.
What I suggest is that you track the winning bid of 10 or 15 eBay auctions of the same MIB issue and take an average closing price of the auction sampling. Add a little to represent the additional shipping cost the buyer was willing to pay. There you have a fairly realistic value estimate for your doll.
Interestingly, the 1989 issue is not showing nearly the same interest and the average price seems to be less then half that of the 1988 issue. From there on, values remain steady for every year from 1990-2007 at roughly $10-$30.00-not appreciably more than their original retail cost.
Why the interest in the 1988 issue and not the following years? Perhaps that it is the first in the Holiday Edition series and that it is coming up on the 20 year age mark. I surmise that Barbie collectible issue fans are hedging their bets against the market value in years to come, having been impressed by the exceptional prices that the original 1959 doll in excellent condition now brings.
This is where I wish to again caution collectors who feel they are "investing" in a modern collectibles series. The price appreciation that would represent a true investment is neither immediate nor guaranteed. Secondary market values are dependent on popular demand, availability, condition and completeness. Modern commercial series dolls (as opposed to high-end artist dolls) are produced at a volume that makes future availability certain. Since such dolls are often saved in their packaging to protect maximum future value, the future availability of issues in excellent condition is also reasonably certain. How popular will these dolls be to future buyers? That is the  unpredictable factor. Generally, vintage dolls appeal to those who played with them as children-the nostalgia factor, let us say. Since correctly defined, "vintage" means over 50 years old (not 10 or 20!), you are looking at a mature market -or a rather smaller pool of doll "buffs", the serious collectors.
Antique dolls are historical gems that often exhibit the imaginative craftsmanship of old production methods. And there are many fewer of them, not least because their materials were prone to fracture and disintegration, unlike the sturdy vinyl of today.
Will the modern collectible series eventually stir serious interest? I'm afraid we'll have to wait many more years to see.
In the mean time, if you want to sell your dolls now, I don't foresee, on the basis of current trends, any reason that you shouldn't. Perhaps you may evaluate the situation differently and want to wait until each issue is 20 years old, meaning you would finally sell the 2000 issue in 13 years! The decision is, of course, yours alone to make.
If you do decide to sell, I think you might offer the option of buying individually, but advertise the  collection as being available as a whole. You can charge a little more for a single doll than the average price of each doll in the collection, as you would be breaking up the collection buy selling singly. And the 1988 doll is proven to be worth more on the popular market.
Since private sales garner more profit to you than auctions, I recommend advertising in your local paper or "little" paper, contacting area doll or Barbie clubs, posting a listing in your local library or community center. Consignment shops are generally not a profitable venue for selling collectibles.
Good luck to you in this venture! I do hope you realize a good return on your collection.
I am going to dare suggest, if you love the dolls and might regret selling, that you forget selling and have glorious yearly (unboxed) Holiday Barbie tableaux displayed prominently for the delight of family and friends, or perhaps your community.
In any case, holiday cheer and all the best to you and yours!