Monday, April 12, 2010

Vintage Barbie Case and Clothes

Found at a local antique show over the weekend was this 1962 Barbie doll case packed full of original clothes, accessories, and doll furniture. I love finding these cases: it's like a little treasure hunt, digging through the layers and (hopefully) discovering rare and valuable items buried deep within.


This one was a jackpot: beneath a surface strata of mommy-made, handknit clothes and individual Barbie pieces were three complete, very early Barbie outfits, each of which typically sells for more than the whole case cost me. (Woo-hoo! Happy Dance time!) The outfits (Sorority Meeting, Friday Nite Date, and Red Flare) were complete with their various purses, jewelry, shoes, gloves, hats, and even the serving tray and sodas with straws that comprise the famous accessories to Date.


The booklets seen in the lower right of the case feature ads for various Barbie outfits, including the three mentioned above (click on pics to enlarge):


One of the most amazing finds was at the very bottom of the case, packed in its own clear vinyl envelope: a real fur wrap (feels like bunny) in miniature, Barbie size! Clearly, this Barbie was not a member of PETA. Below, my Barbie, who has euphorically plunged into the case full of goodies, models her new wrap:


A small compartment in the case was loaded with more shoes, purses, belts, picture frames with Ken's image inside, a tiny turntable and Barbie records, tiny Barbie-sized "Fashion" and "Home" magazines, and, treasure of treasures, one of the hardest to find vintage accessories: the teeny-tiny medicine spoon that came with the Nursing outfit! The tiny pieces, including Barbie's pearl necklace, bracelet, and earrings, were carefully tucked into a large purse. Whoever the little girl was who owned this case originally, I thank her heartily now for the care she took to keep her toys together!

4 comments:

  1. holy moses! what a score! All those tiny items are just fascinating. I had a BArbie case like that one in shiny BLACK, it had a tiny box with wigs and one very old Barbie head. Brings back memories!

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  2. Wow, I'm trying not to be jealous! Great find so happy for you. I just bought a case and enjoyed the same fun of discovering what was all inside. I didn't score as well as you did, but I did get an almost complete vintage solo in the spotlight outfit. Thrill of the hunt..

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  3. I used to have a best friend that was the last child of 6. She inherited barbies from her sisters. We always thought those were ugly and played with the newer ones of the 70's. Boy, what you don't know can hurt you later. I bought some cases like yours but they were all of Scooter and Skipper items. The lady I bought them from never played with them after taking them out of their boxes. Her mom must have bought every outfit she there was. She had the boxes and the plastic piece still wrapped around Skipper and Skooter's heads. I also found one with all Ken outfits in it that were like new. I am waiting to find one with Barbie outfits like new and not faded. The one's you got don't look faded. Good job. I noticed you got them at an antique sale. Did you have to pay a lot of money for them due to it being an antique sale?

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  4. Did you find this in either Texas or Indiana?

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