Collectibles as an Investment

Yesterday I posted on art as an asset class.  Fellow appraiser Monica Fidel of Miami sent me an article from the Money section of USA today on collectibles as an investment in general, and specifically on Barbie dolls, entitled Barbie: A Real Doll of an Investment.   The article explores Barbies sales of both vintage and contemporary limited editions dolls which can immediately bring premium prices on the secondary market. It notes some Barbie dolls are highly collectible, and others, well not so much

The article is a good primer for those appraising household contents to stay abreast of what is happening in this changing market.  I know many of these toy collectible sectors have cooled in recent years, but there was a doll whcih just sold a few months ago for $19,000 (the record was $27,000 in 2006).

USA Today reports

For the purposes of investing, Holder recommends researching and consulting with someone who knows the business before making a significant purchase. In Barbie collecting, for example, dolls from the 1970s — a.k.a. "the Malibu era" — can sell for around $200. It is also important to keep up with what special editions catch hold and which ones don't. For instance, the artist series — in which dolls are dressed in clothes resembling the art of masters like Van Gogh and Renoir — is not as coveted as, say, Holiday Barbie, a tradition that began in 1988; only a limited number of each are sold annually.

"It's all about demand and what people will want to pay," Holder said.

That's one universal truth in doll collecting. Another is that whether it's Barbie, Madame Alexander, Russian or papier mache, words like "pristine" or "perfect" will drive up the value. At Patricia Vaillancourt's eBay store called Antique Dolls, the starting bid on a Jumeau — 19th century French doll made of bisque — in "perfect" condition is $6,200. A rare glass-eyed China doll, also described as "perfect," begins at $3,500.

Denise Van Patten, a long-time doll collector and dealer of modern, vintage and antique dolls whose online home base is About.com, recommends that an aspiring collector explore the answers to these questions to get started: Are you interested in antique, vintage or modern? Are you interested in a narrow time period or one particular material? Do you want to collect based on a theme or variations of one doll?

"Whether you are new to doll collecting or have been doll collecting for years, you need to have a good grasp of doll collecting basics," Van Patten writes. "The basics you'll need range from how to value and identify your dolls, to how to protect and preserve your dolls, to how to photograph your dolls and get the best prices for them on eBay."