Clone war!

Time for another true confession.  (oh dear, there she goes again!)  Did I mention that we collect dolls?  Well, when you collect things, there always seem to be some odd things that creep into the collection as “go withs”  For me with dolls, that seems to be clone dolls, plus a few other things, but we will get to that later.  So today I thought I would share a few horrors that actually came home with me, well, most of them anyway.

First off, you have to understand that our girl Barbie is actually a sort of clone herself.  She is modeled after the German Bild Lilli doll, who was herself cloned by other makers as well.  How is that for a round of copying?  So to share, here is a photo of a Hong Kong Lilli.  These dolls were made in Hong Kong, probably prior to Barbie, to knock off the German Lilli.

Well, at least I have an excuse for this doll.  They are worth a bit of money ( around $40) and are truly a piece of doll history.

I am not sure I can come up with an excuse for this next doll.  Other than the fact, she did have an original box, AND she was wearing a pair of real Japan vintage Barbie shoes, and she was only a dollar.   Now, why she still lives with me?  Not sure. Because she is pretty ugly.  She even has little bumps on her feet to keep her shoes on.  Sort of planned warts.

Now this next one, I really did buy on purpose.  I felt that something this homely really did need some love.  I have absolutely no information about this doll, as there are no markings on her at all.  If anyone has any info, I would love to hear it.

At least she came with a cute Mommy made dress, and again, a bargain at a $1.00

I am sure that Mattel and Barbie would be horrified to see the things that exist in Bab’s name, but then again, you should see what they do with actual Barbies.  Just to prove my point, we wanted to share these patterns with you.  You know we love  patterns, but these were just too, too much.  You shouldn’t have, no really.  These were boxed sets of Bed Doll Calendars.  There were four sets of out-of-date calendars, and the thrift store thought they were worth $4.99 for each set.  So I left them there. See how much fortitude I showed?  Maybe they will be half price later.  Oh, for heaven’s sake, someone stop me.  [Deb:  Don’t worry Kathy, I bought them for you–you know you really want them!]  They really are too awful to contemplate anyone really making them, but they are probably worth a laugh.