Vintage Barbie Thermos

My final garage sale find this past weekend was a great vintage Barbie thermos, labelled 1962. It features the original ponytail Barbie in various outfits. Now I just have to find the matching lunchbox...

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!

Trade-In Barbie with Original Box

Here's something wonderful I just got (technically, though, she's a Christmas present, because she's been on layaway since then...)

By the mid 1960s, the Barbie doll, which had formerly been the height of couture, was now looking matronly and dated in her tailored "Jackie O" ensembles and pillbox hats. The Mod era had begun, and Barbie evolved along with it. In 1967, Mattel Toys offered a remarkable promotion: by sending in $1.50 and your old Barbie, you could get the new version, complete with "bendable legs", a  patented "twist n' turn waist", and "real eyelashes". Little girls unsentimentally dispatched their original Barbies in droves, and what they received is pictured below: the "NEW Barbie", with her original box. Mine is in minty, unplayed with condition: it appears her box took the worst of the wear over the past 40 years.

 

The new more poseable Barbie offers increased 
photo opportunities 

for the robots:

Barbie's Dream House

I got my first vintage Barbie doll this past year, in honor of her 50th birthday. I thought it would be enough to just have one doll, or a few, but I found it hard to resist adding a house. After all, I reasoned, they can't be very comfortable piled on top of each other in their carrying cases. So, after much deliberation, we took out a mortgage on a 1962 Barbie's Dream House, the first of many domiciles made for the iconic fashion doll and her friends.

 

Constructed entirely of cardboard, the Dream House is huge, measuring 26 inches wide when closed. It unfolds into a classic mid-century home, complete with fold-up cardboard furniture of surprising sturdiness, and lots of accessories, including records, an incredibly cool floor lamp, a big ol' TV and hi fi, and a framed picture of Ken.

 Speaking of Ken...my house came with the closet entirely filled with Ken clothes. Maybe he shacked up here for awhile back in the swingin' 60s...

Mod Barbies

In December, I wrote about getting my first ever Barbies for Christmas this past year. I never liked Barbie as a child, but became interested in her during her 50th birthday hoopla last year. I decided I needed "just one" for my toy collection, reasoning that no generalist toy collection could be complete without a representative Barbie.

Well...it turns out Barbie is quite addictive! I now had one of the early ponytail Barbies, yes, but what about the Bubblecut, or the Twist n Turn, or the Mod dolls, or the houses, or cars, or Ken?! Gah!!!

"Just one" Barbie has now turned into seven so far, with the addition of these mid 1960s Mod period dolls. The long haired girls are Twist n Turns  with the "new, youthful face" and "real eyelashes" that replaced the molded eyelash, vampy-looking early Barbie. The two short haired dolls have Hair Fair heads, disembodied craniums that were sold separately with wigs and wiglets, to swap out on your existing Barbies. I love their cute bobbed hairdos.

Christmas Loot 2009

Well, the Christmas bacchanalia is over. Here's a glimpse of some of this year's loot: vintage Barbies, antique doll furniture and dishes, a tin toy grocery store, teddy bears, books, and a new camera (thanks to my brother Jody, the quality of pictures here will be much improved). Details in the following posts!

Hope everyone had a very happy holiday!

Vintage Barbies

I never liked Barbie as a child, but I decided to take another look at her this year, during her 50th birthday hoopla marketing blitz. After all, I reasoned, what toy collection can hope to call itself reasonably comprehensive without a Barbie or two?

First I came across a big pile of vintage 1959-1963 Barbie clothes at a local antique mall, being sold for only a few dollars each, and I was surprised to see how beautifully they were made. The coats have full linings, there are tiny little zippers and toggle buttons, and every piece features more careful and precise stitching than is seen in most grown-up clothes today.

After I got the clothes, it didn't take long to find a few dolls to go with them. I started as close to the beginning as I could, with a blonde Barbie #3 from 1960 (pictured above and below). She has a solid body, vinyl that has faded to an ivory tone, and a very brightly made-up 1950s couture face.

I also got a blonde ponytail Barbie #5 from 1961, to see how Mattel continued to change the design (this is actually a rather interesting thing to observe) and a red-headed version of the first Bubblecut Barbie, from the same year. The Bubblecut came with a trunk and some more clothes and shoes, which she is graciously sharing with her sisters.

Another happy surprise was finding that Barbie is in perfect scale with my 1950s Marx and Ideal robots, who are enjoying having someone to menace...