I've been selling a few of my childhood items on eBay, starting with those that didn't tug too strongly at my heartstrings. Sooner or later I will need to work up to the toys that mean the most to me -- my Barbies and my Dawn Dolls. I'd much rather have some control over the process and know they will go to good homes than leave them for someone else to handle! So the first step in this process is to get them organized to sell.
Dawn Dolls were only manufactured for a short time in the early 1970's. They were all high fashion models with many beautiful outfits available for purchase. I collected six of the dolls -- Dale, two Dawns, Glori, Angie, and Jessica. In addition to the dolls, I also had a car (which I sold awhile back), a bedroom/kitchen set, and a couple of other furniture pieces. Dawn Dolls are very collectible right now, so this is the time to find them new homes.
As an aside, I'm taking lots of pictures of all of my childhood toys and plan to make a small album with the photos and the stories of each one. I have to remind myself that I do not need to keep all of these toys. Photos and journaling are really all you need to keep memories alive.
So back to my Dawn Dolls! My Dawn Dolls have been stored in a suitcase and are in very nice shape. I took a picture of them in the clothing that they've been wearing for the last 30 years, then I removed it and cleaned the dolls.
Dawn Dolls are smaller than Barbies, so it is easy to distinguish their clothing and shoes. I remember absolutely loving certain outfits, like the long gold dress with the floor-length cape and the green dress that Glori is wearing in the above picture.
I checked online and in my brochures to determine the original outfits for the dolls, then I re-dressed each of them. I still have many -- but not all -- of the tiny shoes, so I did my best to identify as many originals as I could. I'm still trying to figure out some shoe colors! How about those super short dresses? LOL
I have quite a few of the brochures which show pictures of many of the outfits I have. This helped me match up accessories and shoes.
Each outfit also came with a dress form and a matching hanger, so I looked up images of the outfits in the original packaging so that I could choose the right hanger color. I actually sold these three outfits, brand new in their packages, awhile back.
This sorting process took just a couple of hours and brought back some surprisingly vivid memories! I took very good care of my Dawn Dolls as a child and would quietly put them away before friends would come over. Their clothes were pretty delicate and I didn't want anybody damaging them!
By the time I finished sorting, I had matched up most of the outfits and accessories and put them in baggies. When I feel ready to let go, I'll start with the clothing then work my way up to the dolls. I will probably sell the dolls in groups or pairs so they don't have to go alone to their new homes! I'll admit it's going to be hard to part with them.
Someday soon I hope I'll be brave enough to do that! :(
jp
2 comments:
Wow! I had never heard of Dawn dolls before. My mom still has quite a bit of the Barbie dolls & accessories my sister & I had as kids. I haven't kept many childhood toys, but have already found it hard to part with some of my children's toys. I'm more sentimental than they are already about those.
My sisters and I played with lots of Barbies, and even had Barbie dolls that were my mother's! Over the years, my folks have moved and my father just did not see the point in keeping so much stuff from 4 of us children! But somewhere, those Barbie dolls of my mom's are still around, and I'll bet worth more than we think! You kept such good care of all your toys. My siblings and I were the same way. Wishing you continued success in your eBay sales!
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