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Barbie: History of collecting

Barbie has appealed to collectors almost since her introduction in 1959. Just 18 years after Barbie was first released, The Collector’s Encyclopedia of Barbie Dolls was published by Sybil DeWein and Joan Ashabraner, marking Barbie's official status as a collectible.

Earlier collectors bought pink box Barbies, the line of Barbies made for play and, as the name says, packaged in pink boxes. Many outfits were available for these plastic dolls, often with accessories scaled to fit Barbie. For example, ski Barbie came not only with a parka and ski pants, but a pair of skiis, poles and boots. Though made to scale, the soft plastic boots were tough to get onto Barbie’s permanently arched feet. These small pieces were often lost or discarded, making complete outfits harder to find and thus more desirable to collectors.  

Mattel recognized the growing collectors market and released the first porcelain Barbie in 1986, named the Porcelain Rhapsody in Blue Barbie. Though she was popular, it was the Happy Holiday Barbie, first released in 1988, that really captured the attention of adult collectors. Only a limited number of these was created, making it now a very desirable collectible worth approximately $600.

Because Holiday Barbie was so successful, Mattel released a new one every year for the next decade. Each model has a unique outfit to represent the season. For example, the 1993 Happy Holiday Barbie has a poinsettia in her hair and wears a red tulle gown with a gold bodice, also bedecked with poinsettias. The Happy Holidays series ended in 1998. In that same year the Timeless Sentiments collection was introduced by the Angel of Joy Barbie.

Because The Happy Holiday Barbie and her successors are intended less for play than for display, dolls from these collections that have never been taken out of their boxes are most highly valued by collectors. In collector terminology, this is a NRFB doll, which means “never removed from box.” Other terms used by collectors are A/O (all original), HTF (hard to find), MIB (mint in box, meaning the doll is in perfect condition and in the original box), MNB (mint no box), NM (near mint), and OSS (original swim suit). 

The value of Barbies fluctuates over time. Many factors influence this, such as the popularity of a specific doll, the number of dolls in the edition, and of course the condition of the doll and its box. Collectors establish both a book value and a market value. Book values are based on pricing guides and vary from guide to guide; market value, the price the doll would be expected to sell for, is even more variable since it is shaped by ever-changing cultural trends and tastes.