Barbara Millicent Roberts

In 1959 when I was 11 years old, I met Barbara Millicent Roberts for the very first time. If I knew then what I know now, I never would have removed her from the packaging. Had I just stored her away for a rainy day, 50 years later, I would now have a pretty nice down payment on a new car. Not bad for an initial $3 investment. Oh, what the heck. I'm glad I took her out of the packaging. The best playtime I ever had. We met every afternoon for tea and, even though she was older, she went to bed at the same time I did every night. But, before I knew it, I had my hair in rollers, a tube of lipstick hidden in my purse and, alas, I was too old to play with Miss Barbara Millicent Roberts anymore. You all know her as "Barbie". I had reached that awkward age and I'm sorry to say that I don't know what ever happened to my old friend but what I do know is that many other dolls named Barbie gave many other little girls years of enjoyment.

Standing at just under 12 inches tall and famed for her stunning good looks and flowing blonde hair, Barbie is without question the world's most famous fashion doll. First introduced to the public in March of 1959 she became a must have toy for thousands of young girls, like me and perhaps some of you, and is recognized today as being a cultural icon.

Ruth Handler came up with the idea of Barbie after watching her daughter, Barbara, playing with baby-dolls. She noticed how Barbara enjoyed giving the dolls adult roles to play and thought that the market might have a gap in its product line that needed to be filled by a grown-up doll. She took the idea to her husband, Elliot, a co-founder of the Mattel Toy Company, but he and the company's directors rejected the idea saying it would be too expensive and had little market appeal.

However a few years later, while on a trip to Europe, Ruth happened upon a German adult doll called "Bild Lilli". The German doll was based on a comic strip character and, although it was aimed at adults, it was extremely popular with children. She purchased three of them and gave one to her daughter. Upon her return to the United States she took the other two dolls to Mattel, where alongside engineer Jack Ryan, she set about redesigning the doll.

The first Barbie doll, named after Handler's daughter Barbara, was dressed in a zebra-style swimsuit and came as either a blonde or a brunette. Early on there were 5 versions of the ponytail doll. Her debut was at the American International Toy Fair in New York City. Marketed as a teenage fashion model, Barbie was an instant success. An estimated 350,000 dolls were sold during the first year of production with Mattel being so swamped by orders that it took several years for the company to meet the demand. One of, if not the, most successful item in the history of the toy industry had been born.

In the 1960's, Barbie appeared in a series of novels published by Random House. Her full name was given as Barbara Millicent Roberts, her parents were George and Margaret and she studied at Willows High School and the Manhattan International High School. In 1974, for a period of one week, part of New York's Times Square was named "Barbie Boulevard" and in 1985 at an International Barbie Exhibition she appeared wearing clothes designed by Yves St Laurent, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Pierre Cardin and Christian Dior.

She has had an unbelievably successful career and a life style to match with cars, boats, houses and an endless list of other luxuries in the way of accessories. Until 2006, she even had her own magazine and has been featured in several movies. She has had numerous personas and has participated in many recreational activities during her 50 years; such as Astronaut Barbie in 1965, Western Barbie in 1981, Doctor Barbie in 1988 and in 1997 was even seen riding astride a Harley Davidson motorcycle in a leather clad jacket as best selling doll of the year.

During the 1980's, due in part to Mattel's efforts to desegregate Barbie, the company introduced a Black Barbie, a Hispanic Barbie and an Oriental Barbie. The list of nationalities represented has now expanded to include Parisian, Italian and Native American versions.

Despite her unparalleled popularity, Barbie's rise to prominence has often been shrouded in controversy. She has been banned in several countries including Saudi Arabia who said that she did not conform to the ideals of Islam. Also in 1992, Teen Talk Barbie was designed to speak a number of phrases one of which was, "Math is tough." This was heavily criticized by the American Association of University Women. The following year Mattel announced that the doll would no longer say that phrase and offered a swap to anyone owning a doll that did.

In 1997 the pop group Aqua released a song called, "Barbie Girl" and used graphics on their CD cover that were similar to the Barbie logo. Mattel insisted this was a trademark violation and a court case ensued. The presiding judge ruled that the song and cover were protected as a parody under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

In recent years Barbie has been much sought after by collectors. It's estimated that worldwide there are over 100,000 Barbie doll collectors who are willing to spend upwards of $1000 per year on Barbie and her accessories. To date, over 1 billion Barbie dolls have been sold.

In recent years, Mattel has capitalized further on Barbie's success by producing Collector Edition Barbie Dolls and Limited Edition Barbie Dolls. The Collector Editions are a minimum of 35,000 copies with no limit on the number produced. Limited Editions never exceed 35,000 copies. Since Barbie dolls have been mass-produced, if you want to sell one for top dollar, it is very important that it be NRFB (never removed from box).
Only Barbie dolls made between 1959 and 1972 are considered vintage. All other dolls made between 1973 and the present are considered modern.

Vintage Barbie dolls are the most valuable at auction. As stated earlier, in 1959 Barbie sold for $3.00, but 2004 saw a pristine condition boxed doll from that same year sell for $3552.50. In 2006 a world record at auction was set when a 1965 Barbie fetched a staggering hammer price of £9000 at Christies in London. It was only estimated to bring between £400-£600. To put it in perspective, 9000 pounds sterling is 17,000 in U.S. dollars. It was part of a collection of 4,000 Barbie Dolls owned by two Dutch women.

Over the years we sold at least a thousand Barbie dolls at our auction. We never got this kind of money but then again we never had an older pristine one in its original box. We did get good prices for the ones we sold which were mostly the Limited Edition versions. There is a good secondary market for them should you be interested in buying or selling. The secondary market is made up of yard sales, flea markets, estate sales, online auctions, brick & mortar auction houses and doll shows.

Finally, no article on Barbie would be complete without mentioning her long-standing romantic relationship with Ken Carson. Ken, who takes his name from another of Ruth Handler's children, first appeared in 1961. In 2004 Mattel disclosed that after 43 years the couple had decided to split up but that they would still remain friends. However just two years later in 2006, much to the relief of fans around the world, the company announced that there had been a reconciliation and Barbie and Ken were very happy to once again be back together.

It is estimated that three Barbie dolls are sold every second making Barbie a phenomenon which has probably secured her a place in history, as well as making her a continued favorite of young girls for many years to come. And to think I knew her when.

Written by Anne Benedetto, AuctionHouseTalk
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