Summer Finds

Wow!  It's been a while, huh?

Well, I'm still here and still collecting, even though probably nobody out there reads this.

Of course, I went to see the Barbie movie and it was amazing!  I'll write more about that later, for now I wanted to talk about a little collection I picked up from the very sweet original owner.

It all came in a purple Ken case, which I didn't have one of those... and I like better than the yellow one.  Purple is my favorite color.  Let's see what's inside!

Hmm... looks fun!  Let's dig in.

A nice little family! :)  I don't know what makes Ken's head stain like that.  I've seen it many times.  Very unfortunate.  His hair is really a brownette shade instead of black.  Midge is in good shape but Barbie has green ear.  Still a nice bubble cut, though.

Hi, Barbie.

Lots of booklets, which always make me happy, even though I've seen them all so many times.

#942, Ice Breaker, in very good condition with a nice fluffy coat... but sans one skate.  The coat is not usually so white, so I feel lucky about that.

The PAK set with knit shorts and top... kinda racy!  You know, in all my years of collecting I never have picked one of these up.  I found out some stuff I didn't know about it!  First of all, the shorts are tagged, and lined with red fabric.  A really nice touch and really nice quality!  Secondly;

I truly didn't know the shorts had that cute little notch on the side.  What a cute detail!  

Hoo mama!  Where were you allowed to wear this in 1963?  

Barbie in Holland #0823, in very nice condition.  Missing the hat and socks, but I have the hat somewhere.  Really looks like it was hardly played with.  Travel pamphlet is also missing.

Ken in Holland #0777, missing shoes and socks, plus his bouquet of tulips, but honestly, near mint condition and looks unplayed with.  Travel pamphlet is also missing.

Theatre Date, #959, missing the shoes, and technically, the hat, which only was included in 1963, but not in 1964.  Again, very nice condition!

Miscellaneous Ken items.  Some not in very good shape, except for the white pants, which are minty.  The little swim trunks came with a snorkeling PAK but none of the other items are here.  White pants likely go with the sweater (Campus Hero, #770.)  Yellow shirt, tan slacks, and stripey socks are from Casuals (#782).  Sweater is often full of moth holes like that.  There's also a clone version of it that looks nearly the same.

Ken clone items.  A clone of his bathrobe, a really nice jacket I haven't identified yet and a nice shirt.    The shirt is well made and marked British Colony of Hong Kong.  The shirt, and maybe the pants, likely belongs to Babs doll's boyfriend, Bill, an outfit called "Sports Ensemble."  The robe is also probably Bill's, a shameless copy of Ken's.  It was called "Beachcomber."

There's a clone Ken top... on the right, compared to the actual Ken top on the left.

 Ballerina, #989, great condition, missing the small accessories.

Solo in the Spotlight, #982.  Dress is a bit of a mess, none of the small things are here, but glad to have the microphone.

Movie Date (#933) and After Five (#934), not in great shape.

Cruise Stripes (#918) in excellent shape but no belt!

Pretty clone Barbie outfits.

Interesting little set.

Interesting and cute lingerie set!

More clone stuff

This clone swimsuit is one of my faves, sold on numerous clone dolls.  It's often called the "Fashion Queen Clone" swimsuit, because of it's design and the included headwrap.  Also it was sold on wig-head clones.

Handmade coat.

I'm nuts about this clone of Evening Splendor.  Jacket isn't included here, but I have one somewhere.

Fits really snug, but snaps instead of a zipper like in the Barbie versions.

Random stuff found in the drawers.

Midge advertising insert.

Pak hanger and some clone shorts also found in the drawers.

Also, there was definitely once a "BARBIE FAN CLUB" sticker over the K of KEN.  Maybe someone whished they had a Barbie case instead, haha.

Here's the clone robe next to the real thing, you can see how different the tailoring is.

Oh well, that's all for now!

Continuing Swimsuit Saga

 

In the continuing saga of the "Black Francie Clone Swimsuit," I was browsing auctions and found the  same fabric on this little "Bottle Baby" doll:

Just in case you weren't convinced this isn't a Mattel product.

The Mystery of The Floral "Black Francie" Swimsuit

 

A few weeks ago, I bought a lot of clone-type dolls in an auction.  I like clones, and I was having fun going through the stuff that came with them. 

One doll stood out a bit.. her swimsuit looked... familiar...

"Oh neat!," I think, "It looks like "Black Francie's" swimsuit!  Neat!"

So, I got to googling, and low-and-behold, several websites were claiming this swimsuit was a rare variation of Black Francie's original swimsuit.

Now, believe me, I would LOVE THAT TO BE TRUE.  I would LOVE to own a rare and impossible-to-find Francie swimsuit.  I would love to tell you that I found an impossible-to-find Francie swimsuit in a $17 auction.

However, I can guarantee you this cute swimsuit is NOT A MATTEL PRODUCT.

This is a clone swimsuit.  Is it made to look like Black Francie's swimsuit?  100% definitely yes.  Is it made by Mattel?  100% definitely no.

I'm going to tell you how I know, since other websites that picture this swimsuit do not give any additional information.  Let's learn all about the MYSTERIOUS, ULTRA-RARE, BLACK FRANCIE, FLORAL SWIMSUIT.

- First of all, this swimsuit is only referred to online, by uncited sources.  It doesn't appear in Joe Blitman's Francie Book, not even the vaguest mention.  Mr. Blitman is arguably the world's most Franci-est expert on Francie.

- It doesn't appear in Sarah Sink Eams's Barbie Clothing Book, maybe the most complete Barbie fashion book ever written.

-  Heck, it doesn't even appear on Mattel's Website.

-  This swimsuit has SNAPS.  Francie's swimsuit has BUTTONS WITH LOOPS.

-  The straps are different.

-  In my opinion, Francie's swimsuit is more of a boy-short bottom, while this is more of a brief.

-  IT IS DEFINITELY NOT TAGGED FRANCIE.  Francie's swimsuit is tagged.

-  The quality is not like Mattel's.

ANYWAY, so where did this swimsuit come from?

The clone I found it on is a "Made in Hong Kong," type, possibly PEGGY ANN.  Was it her original swimsuit?  Maybe.  I haven't found one in package to prove anything.

Was this swimsuit ever sold on a African-American / Black doll like Francie?  Maybe.  It's possible some company made a knock-off type doll to compete and copied the swimsuit too.  Again, no in-package examples have been found.

Enjoy a few more pictures of this cool swimsuit:

The doll I found it on, probably a "Peggy Ann" or Peggy Ann type.

Front view, off of the doll.  The fabric is very cute.  It's not poorly made, but it's not up to Mattel standards.  It's quite fragile and not sewn very well.  The red part is definitely cotton.

 

ANYWAY... mystery... sort of solved?  It's not a Francie swimsuit, but I'm intrigued to find out where it came from.

If anybody out there knows, please let me know!  If anyone has an example mint-in-package, PLEASE help let's solve this mystery for good.

PS. Since we're talking about Black Francie, I'd like to remind you that Black Lives Matter.  Please support social justice and equality in your community.

Tammy Doll Outfits

When I first started collecting Vintage Barbie almost 30 years ago, I definitely had a negative view of her competitors.  Nobody was much interested in them in those days, me included.

But the longer I've been collecting, the more Barbie clone and competitor items I've picked up.  I've definitely changed my opinion about some of them... especially Tammy!

Tammy was a very nice doll to compete with Barbie, made by IDEAL.  Her ultimate downfall probably came because she was bigger than Barbie and they can't share clothes. 

Anyway, in my opinion, Tammy doll's CLOTHES specifically are equally nice in terms of quality as Barbie's clothes.  The accessories however, are definitely not.  The attention to detail in Barbie clothes and accessories are missing from Tammy's small wardrobe.  However, the quality in the clothes is pretty neat.  Here's just on of Tammy's outfits.

Here's Tammy's Walking Her Pet.  I would say the clothes in this one are very nice quality, but the accessories are not as nice as Barbie's.  Overall, of course, it's very cute.

The top seems to be real wool.  It has very nice twill tape trimming along the neck, sleeves, and hem.  It looks very professional and realistic.  The pockets are real and seem to be made out of the same vinyl as the skirt.   The skirt is just plain vinyl with no lining or anything and it doesn't hold up very well (it can shrink, dry out, or get stuck in a bent shape.) 

Showing the twill / bias trimming and the tag inside.  For some reason the heart is attached with a white thread.

Many of Tammy's outfits include a little brass heart like this one, on a little chain, or put on some other way.  This is really a nice design touch.  The little flower engraving is quite cute and delicate.

The back of Tammy's heart charms always is marked JAPAN.

The little dog is just made of pipe cleaners, more or less.  He came with a few Tammy outfits, but the dog also appeared in straight-up clone outfits, and he's not very well made and doesn't look much like a real dog.  The leash is just a chain with a piece of vinyl on the end to act as a handle.  It has a small grommet on one side only for the chain to loop through.  In mint condition, he has a tiny blue sticker on his belly that says MADE IN JAPAN.  (Maybe I can get a pic of this later... this is not the best-condition dog in my collection.)

The purse is a little oversized in scale, in my opinion.  If it were human-sized it would be a really big bag!  Though, that does mean a child could open it and put actual items into the purse.  The purse vinyl tends to get a white powdery substance on it from plasticizer leaching.  You can just wipe it off again.  The purse has a tiny blue sticker on the back that says "MADE IN JAPAN" that is usually missing.

The shoes are low heels.  They have a left and a right and are always marked JAPAN.  They are a little squishy.

This outfit also includes a scarf made of very wrinkle-prone organza-like material which I have not pictured... (because it was really wrinkly.)

Anyway I know I talked about this outfit before when I wrote about Peteena, but I think I'll picture some more of my Tammy outfit collection just for information of folks out there.

I always find out things I didn't know when I see an outfit in person so I want to share close-up pictures of many things!