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.

Sunday's Flea Market Find - The Dirtiest Dolls Ever

Dirty Dolls, Bought Dirt Cheap

Got to the flea market really late on Sunday, so of course I wasn't expecting to find anything halfway decent, let alone any vintage Barbie stuff.. but low and behold I found

The dirtiest Barbie dolls I have ever seen.

Just look at these girls, I mean, wow!  They're filthy!

The Fashion Queen or Wig Wardrobe doll's face is caked with grime, one-arm Titan Barbie-Body Bubblecut has the grossest legs.  Clone head-on-Barbie/Midge-body is filthy, wearing Barbie in Switzerland #822, and equally-filthy Mary Make-Up only came home with me because she was wearing #1619 Fun N Games, and I hoped I could clean it up.  Plus, one slightly less dirty headless Barbie/Midge body, and a not-quite-as-filthy Ken shirt (1962's PAK Sport Shirt).

They were $2 each with the Ken shirt for free.  Now, they are so grimy that I was wondering if they were even worth $2, but I thought maybe I needed to rescue them.

A face only a collector could love.

Eesh!

They were so horrible, I did actually hose them off before I brought them inside.

After that, I let them soak in soapy water for several hours, and after that, started scrubbing with Soft Scrub, soap, and tooth brushes.  They are looking a little bit improved.

I gave the clothes a quick wash, too. I think maybe Barbie in Switzerland is a lost cause, but the Ken shirt cleaned up surprisingly well, as did Fun N Games.  Gonna let Fun N Games soak in some Biz for a few days and see how it goes.

If nothing else, the arms and legs surprisingly still have great nail polish, despite the dolls looking like they've been buried for about 30 years.

A work in progress...

Well, I'm sure they feel a bit better at least.