Friday, June 10, 2011

Thirty Years of Mattel Fashion Dolls

In the mail today, I received my new out-of-print 
doll reference book. 
Thirty Years of Mattel Fashion Dolls 
Identification and Value Guide 
1967-1997 
by J. Michael Augustyniak
Collector Books 
1998 
I learned about this book a month ago when I was reseaching
my Sunshine Family Dolls.  This book was mentioned on one of 
the sites I found that it had a great section on the Sunshine Family.
(A big THANK YOU for posting about this book) 
Forgot about it until my good friend at work called me last week and told 
me about a book she wanted to get for school.  She is very leery
about buying anything on the Internet since her information was stolen.
I told her I would buy it at Amazon but she had to wait until I found 
some dolls books I wanted to buy in order to receive free shipping. 
She told me no problem. Remembered the Mattel book and ordered 
"Barbie A Rare Beauty".  The Mattel Book wasn't under the free shipping
since it was from an outside seller.  But I didn't care since it wasn't that 
expensive with the 4.00 shipping. 
This is a great book.  Learned a lot that I didn't know. 
There is a wonderful section on the Sunshine Family. 
The dolls were going to be named "The Good Earth Family".
Also had some photos how the designer first thought how they should look. 
Found some dolls that Mattel used the Barbie Body for. 
An example is a doll called "Fashion Friends".  They were 
3 dolls made exclusively for K-Mart in 1991 that used the Barbie 
and Skipper bodies. 
There's a great section of the "Shani" line of dolls and the "Heart Family"
The book is filled with pictures of dolls, clothes and playsets Mattel 
has produced in those 30 years. 
My favorite page spread is "The Barbie Doll Family Tree"
Head shots of all the face molds.  
And for those collectors who collect Disney dolls. There 
is an 80 page section on dolls that Mattel produced for Disney. 
All in all, it's a wonderful reference book to have! So glad I bought it!

3 comments:

  1. Now I know that I need to get this book. Thanks, Frannie.

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  2. You're welcome D7ana, this book is fantastic. Lots of pictures and information that I didn't know.
    Great book for the price. If you get it on Amazon, you could get it for 12.00 with shipping.

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  3. Hi Frannie, I´m from Slovakia. What´s your favourite Barbie face? My favourite´s Kira/Marina, Goddess, Kayla/Lea, Ana/Lara.. I don´t like Monster High..

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