Recently I wrote a post about some dolls that Naomi had been given by her friend Annie. When Naomi first agreed to help her sort out the contents of her shipping container Annie told her that she had some old Barbie dolls and that she’d give her some in return for her help. Naomi and I both thought it would be nice to get a few dolls, especially if there were some older ones amongst them. Then one afternoon Naomi called me on her way home and said she had a surprise for me.

The surprise turned out to be two big plastic crates of fashion dolls. Annie had about 180 dolls. She’d been collecting them for years and although she was sad to let them go, she just didn’t have the room to keep them and was just going to save a few favourites. The rest she gave to Naomi. To say we were flabbergasted by such generosity is an understatement.

Most of the dolls are Barbie and friends, some are celebrity dolls and some are clones. They need a bit of a tidy up having been stored for a couple of years but otherwise most are in good shape. Over the next few months, we’ll try to show you as many of them as possible.

This morning I laid all the dolls on my bed to photograph and to sort them into groups. I nearly ran out of room! I do only have a single bed. This is not all the dolls, there were a few in another crate with craft stuff and another crate that Naomi has not brought home yet as she had no more room in the car. We think that there are even older dolls in that one. I am excited to see those.

I sorted them into belly button Barbies with sub sections of beach dolls and fairies, twist waist dolls, mostly from the 90s I think, Disney dolls, My Scene, Ken and celebrity dolls. There were a few odd ones. An Olsen twin, Brook Shields, Simba, Totsy, Jakks Pacific and a few that I don’t recognise.

I put a few aside that have stains to be removed, wobbly heads or other issues and will fix those if I can. There were a number of dolls with broken or missing neck knobs and even some odd heads.

So, my plan now is to repair, clean, redress, research and identify as many as I can. I will be asking for your help with the identifying part. There were also boxes of accessories and craft materials to be gone through. We’re going to be busy with these for quite a while.

Naomi and I feel quite strongly about our own collections so we identify with anyone having to give their dolls up before they are really ready. We will consider ourselves caretakers of these dolls and won’t sell or give them away even if we don’t have room to display them all. We may make a rotating display once we have our own dolls, bears and toys accommodated.