Toy Show Tales and What I Got at the Toy Show: A 'Haul' Indeed!

   Well the weather certainly has changed around here! Gone are the warm days in the 70's, replaced by days in the 30's or 40's, rain, and LOADS of wind! It was so windy the other morning that I swear I felt the house move! It's definitely the time to stay inside with my electric throw and a mug of Horlicks, (since I'm not allowed to drink hot chocolate any more!). Luckily I photographed my toy show haul the other day so I can sit here under my electric throw and show it to you.

  Some doll collectors see no reason to go to a toy show. Toy shows are usually full of, well, toys. There aren't usually many dolls at toy shows, you think. That's true to an extent, but I have found that toy shows, while they may not have a lot of dolls, are good places to get dolls at great prices. If you find dolls at a toy show, chances are they are there because the dealer, who is way more familiar with toys than dolls, got them in a lot with some toys. The dealer doesn't know anything about dolls, doesn't care to, and just wants to be rid of them as quickly as possible. They don't want to be stuck carrying dolls back and forth to toy shows where they are going to be hard, or even impossible, to sell. This can be good for the doll buyer, because the dealer is going to be willing to take as little as possible for the dolls, and is ready to haggle because they have no interest in having the dolls hanging around. 

  One  of the best deals I ever got as a dealer, back when we were doing doll and toy shows, was this one: We were doing a miniature and train show, a strange combination to begin with. One side of the place was ladies from the local miniature society, exhibiting their miniature displays, and selling some dollhouse things. The other side was guys selling toys and train stuff. Now, there is some overlap between miniatures and trains. Train people often do wonderful layouts with tiny people, trees, buildings,etc. There's some great detail to these set ups. I love looking at them. (To see the grandest glorified train lay out on Earth, at least that I know of, take a trip to Roadside America in Shartlesville, Pennsylvania. It's a whole giant room full of a miniature town and countryside. It's closed right now due to the pandemic, but when you can, consider a trip there. We've been there twice, and we all really loved it.) We were the only people there selling dolls. So, one guy, who usually dealt in G.I. Joe, offered us some stuff he had been forced to take when he went to someone's house to buy a bunch of Joe stuff. It was all or nothing, so he had also had to take a shoebox of Barbie stuff he didn't want. He wasn't happy about it because he knew nothing about the stuff, and didn't think he'd ever sell it because all he did were toy shows. So did we want to buy it? He passed me a shoe box. When I took the lid off it was like I had opened a treasure chest.

  Inside the box was the most beautiful bubble cut Barbie I have ever seen. She was an ash blonde, with smoky eye shadow. There was also a red haired Midge with a perfect flip hairdo. And the clothes! There was Solo in the Spotlight, Nighty Negligee',Black Magic, Suburban Shopper, a blue slip, Enchanted Evening,Satin and Rose, and I don't know what else. All the outfits were completely mint and complete, except for one pom pommed mule. Midge's wrist tag was even in the box! It looked like the kid had played with the stuff minimally after opening it on Christmas, and when things were cleared up at the end of the day, all of it was gathered into the shoe box, and had never been touched again. That lost shoe probably got thrown away with some wrapping paper. You know how Christmas is. Oddly enough, I don't think Barbie's bathing suit was in there. Maybe she was a Dressed Box doll. 

  I had to talk Ken into buying the stuff! Granted we didn't know much about how to value vintage Barbie stuff. I still don't trust myself to price vintage Barbie stuff as much as I'd like. There is so much depending on condition, and I'm never sure how to rate things. How much wear takes off how much value? But I assured Ken we could make some money on the stuff, and he'd be crazy not to buy it. In the end we paid the guy $70 and a Zap action figure from American Gladiator. (Hey, he wanted it.) I kept the Enchanted Evening and the Satin and Rose. Turns out I still have the Nighty Negligee too, although I didn't originally keep it on purpose. I sold the Midge in the Suburban Shopper, and the Bubble Cut I sold to Mikelman.

  I also made a good buy from somebody who was walking around a toy show, trying to sell a Barbie and Stacy doll case full of goodies. I was shopping, not selling at that show. When the guy kept getting turned down by dealers,  I asked to see what he had. In the case was a talking P.J. with detached legs, (Why are those Mod Era talking Barbies always with their legs off? Did the talking mechanism not leave enough room to attach the legs properly?), but with her original dress and bloomers and her sunglasses still attached to her head. You can see her on my post HERE. There was also a Marlo flip Barbie, and a bunch of Mod Era clothes. I hate to haggle. It makes me nervous. Whenever Ken is with me I, make him do it. So he did, and we walked away with all the stuff for $35. Yay Ken.

  Back to today's story. I hadn't been to a toy show in ages. Nobody wants to go any more now that the kids are grown. My sister would never have offered to go to a toy show before, and it was her idea! Considering those things I wondered if I should miss the chance to have a toy show partner. I thought about Covid, but I figured that since the show was being held at a fairground, it would be either outside, or in one of those big fairground buildings. As it turned out, it was in two big fairground buildings, with the doors open on both ends, one way aisles, and everybody following the mask rule. So I felt better about it.

  Now, I had just bought three dolls from The Toy Box Philosopher's Emily. (That's a lie. She gave me one for free.) I needed to earn back money, not spend any. But, as the saying goes, sometimes you have to spend money to make money.

  Before we had made out way around very far, we came across a table where I spotted a Skipper case laying behind the guy running the table. He didn't even have it out with his sell stuff. As I asked to see it, I noticed there was also another Skipper case, and a big Barbie and Midge case. I asked to see them, and looked over what was inside. The Skipper case I saw first was one I had never come across in person. 

I couldn't remember if it was rare though. It contained a Penny Brite and a couple of pieces of homemade clothing. 

The last thing I needed was another Penny Brite. As you may have seen, I have quite a few.  In spite of that I was compelled to rescue another Penny later, 'as long as she's no more than $1'. She wasn't. She'll need some clean up.

  There was even a Skipper box, complete with booklet and stand.

  The other Skipper case had a Skipper body with a nice Midge head on it...

...and some Skipper and Barbie clothes. 

The yellow and brown plastic thing is the sleeping bag to Barbie's Country Camper.

The Barbie/Midge case had a Malibu Barbie...

Wearing a vintage Barbie fashion called Sorority Meeting.

... a red haired Living Barbie...

... Bubble Cut Barbie...

 I think she might be a White Ginger. 

There were Barbie clothes. Some were vintage Mattel, like the Sorority Meeting, the Nighty Negligee robe, and the coat and hat to It's Cold Outside.

The yellow set is Barbie's PJs, the black and white dress and hat are her After Five fashion, and the pink dress on the right is Barbie's Plantation Belle. 

The red dress bottom left is a Tressy dress.

   I had to do my own haggling. When I'm trying to figure out what to offer for a lot of things, if I think I'm going to resell even some of it, I find a low base amount I think I can positively get for most of the items. In this case I was thinking $10. I had to see how many things I thought I could get at least $10 for, (Hoping I could actually get more, so I could make a profit. Am I making myself clear?), and then multiply. I was thinking I could definitely get at least $10 for at least 7 things in the lot. When I say 'at least 10' I mean, that's the base amount to give me room to make a profit. So, the guy asked $80, and I offered $70, and he agreed.

  If that is a White Ginger Bubble Cut I'm already in profit. The Skipper and Skooter case turned out to be a rare one, although it's not in perfect condition. I'd like to keep it for my Skipper collection, but we'll see. I have most of the Skipper and Barbie clothes that are worth something already, so they can go.

  I made one other purchase for resale. I got this bend leg Skipper for a good price.

She cleaned up very nicely.

  I saw a lot of things I could have bought for myself, but I was thinking about paying for my Emily dolls, so I bought very little for myself. I caved and bought a Neca Planet of the Apes gorilla because he was awesome.

  That's it for the toy show. Next time, my Doll Show purchases, of which there are few.