Black Doll Collecting: August 2021

Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Another 18-inch Madame Alexander Doll

18-inch Dollie & Me African American Denim by Madame Alexander, a Kohl's exclusive

Except for Mia I'm a Pretty Little Black Girl, this doll is the only 18-inch Madame Alexander doll sculpt that was missing from my collection.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Patricia Logan (@pampered2kids)

I purchased my doll after asking the fellow Instagrammer who posted the above back-to-school photo of her Alexander girls if she had an extra one like the one on the far left. She led me to a "buy it now" or "make offer" eBay auction that included free shipping. I made the seller an offer that was accepted.

She's dressed in a cute four-piece fashion of blue and pink T-shirt, denim jacket, denim skirt, and pink tights worn with black high-top sneakers.

This doll's head sculpt is similar to one of my other 18-inch Alexander dolls seen here.

I have added this doll's information to the installation of 18-inch Madame Alexander Dolls in DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum™.

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There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
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Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published, so don't waste your time. To contact me directly regarding dolls or any of my posts, please use the contact form on the right of the home page, which is visible in "web view." A link to web viewing should be visible at the bottom of this page.

Check out what I am selling here.
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
*New*Visit/Follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum
Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!

Thursday, August 26, 2021

Finally, This Guy

Barbie Signature Looks Ken #4

After numerous delayed shipments of my Amazon order for Barbie Signature Looks Ken with braids and bun, the doll finally arrived on 08/23/2021. Was he worth the wait? Yes. The pictures can illustrate why.

As per my usual practice, I took photos of the doll in the box first and photos of the box.

All the dolls in the collection are featured and numbered on the back of the box.

The lower half of the back of the box includes the introduction text illustrated above.

This is a cropped photo of the dolls in the collection as illustrated on the back of the box.

Out of the box photos:

A three-piece doll stand and a certificate of authenticity are included with Barbie Signature Looks Ken.

He wears a white mesh top, white jeans that close with Velcro in the back, and white high-top sneakers.

He has brown painted eyes, a broad nose, full lips, and chiseled cheekbones.

His top hair is microbraids in a bun. Around the sides, the hair is flocked.

His face sculpt is gorgeous! He reminds me of a young Georg Standford Brown.

Barbie Looks #2 joined in the photoshoot.

He adores her!

She adores him.

They are a beautiful couple.

I love his facial structure, his complexion, his articulation, his hair, pretty much everything about him.

As illustrated in this final photograph, Model #4 is written in gold print on the right side panel of the box.

He was worth the wait, but Mattel and Amazon both need to provide better doll distribution. No one needs to endure multiple changes in shipping dates over a several-month period after preordering dolls.

Thursday, August 19, 2021

Dutch Publication Interview

Jolie van der Klis, a contributing writer for the Dutch publication Poppen & Teddy-Beer (Doll and Teddy-Bear), interviewed me for the magazine's Summer 2021 issue. Published quarterly, the magazine is printed in Dutch in the Netherlands. I am deeply honored by this experience and exposure.

After receiving her copy, Jolie shared the following images of the six-page article, which is the first article in this issue.

The genres of Black dolls I enjoy collecting...

...advances in today's Black dolls...

...things I enjoy doing with my dolls (redressing, making over, or transforming) and collecting one-of-a-kind dolls were some of the topics discussed in the article.

I will receive a hard copy of the magazine soon.

As a result of the interview, the publisher of Poppen & Teddy-Beer asked me to contribute articles for future publications, which I plan to do. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for their interest in including articles devoted to Black dolls in their publication and for asking me to help in that regard.

Poppen & Teddy-Beer (website)

Poppen & Teddy-Beer (Facebook)

Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Feeling Appreciated

I sold an extra copy of the Spring 2021 issue of UFDC's Doll News.

I received the following message through eBay from a buyer of one of my listings shortly after the purchase and before the item shipped.

Debbie, my fellow lover of, and passionate collector of Black dolls! I have known of you and your passion for Black dolls for years, decades, actually. When I just happened to run across this listing and saw that the magazine contains a Black Doll Museum article, my interest was immediately piqued. Then, after picking up on a few cues from your listing, I realized who you were as the seller of the magazine. I had no idea you were on eBay, but I was pleasantly surprised and quite amused by your user id, which is the same as mine except for the first 3 letters; I thought, "What a nice coincidence!" (Great minds think alike :o))

Anyway, I'm happy to be buying this magazine from THE Debbie B Garrett, creator and curator of The Virtual Black Doll Museum. I am hoping to retire from my job in a couple of years, at which point, I too, would love to devote my time to publishing a few coffee table books, as well as creating my own virtual museum of my decades-long collection of high-end Black dolls (modern, only). At that time, hopefully you wouldn't mind me contacting you for some of your suggestions and invaluable expertise.

Sincerely,

I thanked her for the purchase and congratulated her on her upcoming retirement. Additionally, I invited her to become a subscriber and patron of DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum, and I offered to share tips on publishing her coffee table books.

dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
__________
Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published, so don't waste your time. To contact me directly regarding dolls or any of my posts, please use the contact form on the right of the home page, which is visible in "web view." A link to web viewing should be visible at the bottom of this page.

Check out what I am selling here.
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
*New*Visit/Follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum
Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!

Thursday, August 12, 2021

Goldie's Homeless Dolls

Lizette Dionne from the Ellowyne Wilde Collection is making preparations for a new home (stay tuned) - Photograph courtesy of Goldie Wilson

These are some of the dolls and fashion separates that have been posted for sale to Goldie's Facebook Page "Goldie's Homeless Dolls."

Scroll the entire page here.

Tuesday, August 10, 2021

Follow Goldie's Homeless Dolls

Photograph courtesy of Goldie Wilson

Doll artist, Goldie Wilson, who is also a doll collector, has created the Facebook page, "Goldie's Homeless Dolls." The dolls aren't really homeless, but they do need new homes.

Goldie plans to sell several limited-edition, hard-to-find, discontinued dolls by Robert Tonner, Ellowyne Wilde, Madame Alexander, Paulette Goodreau, Mel Odom, Mattel, Ashton-Drake/Integrity, and many other doll artists and manufacturers.

Most of the dolls have only been removed from their boxes to photograph for the event of this sale and some still have the shipping boxes. The dolls will be posted to her Facebook page a few listings at a time daily. So be sure to visit, follow, and share the link to the page with other doll enthusiasts.

Goldie thanks you in advance and hopes you'll see a doll or two that interests you.

Monday, August 9, 2021

2021 Barbie Convention Dolls

The above screenshots of the 2021 Virtual Barbie Convention-exclusive two-doll set are from the designer's Instagram post. The final screenshot is what Carlyle Nuera wrote about this set and the companion two-doll set (not shown).

Thursday, August 5, 2021

This Little Girl

She is an unmarked 13-inch all-vinyl doll.

This little girl has no name. She reminds me of Paola Reina's 13-inch dolls. She is that size. In the online images, her hair is what attracted me to her followed by the face that also reminds me of Paola Reina dolls.

She has a sweet, chubby-cheeked face.

My Excel spreadsheet description of this girl reads as follows:

13-inch, all-vinyl doll has brown stationary eyes, applied upper eyelashes, painted eyebrows, a closed mouth with slightly pursed lips; brown rooted Afro-textured hair held back with a dusty rose satin headband; wears a dusty rose and white check dress that has a dusty rose satin collar and a bow underneath the collar, white panties, white socks, and brown faux leather Mary-Jane-style shoes.

Comparison Photos

She is compared with Maylin by Paola Reina and Sibahle's Zuri.

Her hair makes her seem taller than Maylin, but from head-to-toe, she is 13 inches tall, too.

The new girl and Maylin's legs are identical in shape.

Though not exact, the new girl's facial features are similar to Zuri's.

I am not very good with names, but I will think of one for her soon.

Note: This post was drafted on May 27, 2021. I kept it in draft mode for over two months because I purchased another doll like this as a gift for a friend who reads this blog and has now received her doll.

Tuesday, August 3, 2021

Trenton's New Wig

Trenton, a Ucanaan BJD, wears his original wig in this photo.

My plan (and this might still happen) had been to make a wig for my Ucanaan BJD boy by creating a wig cap and applying some of my saved hair to create an Afro. Time or my initiative to follow this plan through has not availed itself for this to happen.

The wig that prompted a wig change/swap.

Recently, after deciding to re-wig a 1950s head-turning walker, and going through my stored doll wigs to find a wig for that doll, I found a small spiral curled wig that I had removed from a smaller doll years ago. I tried the spiral curled wig on my Ucanaan girl, Tina, and let Trenton wear the wig that Tina had been wearing. The wig change/swap is shown below.

Tina wears the rediscovered spiral curled wig. The wig she had been wearing is now worn by Trenton as illustrated next.

Initially, I thought this wig was too long for a boy because he's dressed in his school uniform, and perhaps the length of the wig would be against any school's policy. However, the rebel in me would go against any unreasonable policy that prevented a child from expressing themselves by wearing their hair in a way that allows self-expression and does not impose on anyone else. This hairstyle should not be an imposition to anyone. So he's wearing it.

Trenton and Tina pose together for this final picture.

The way Tina's hands are positioned, makes me think she wants something to hold. I wonder if that something needs to be a doll. We shall see.

Sunday, August 1, 2021

Happy National Doll Day - Updated with Love

Celebrated since 2011 on the first Sunday in August, today is National Doll Day.

This adorable Brazilian child loves her doll.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Renan Benedito (@renanbenedit)

Renan Benedito of Brazil is the photographer of this beautiful picture. His caption is translated below:

Love and Representation.

I was looking through the files and I found this photo that is very similar to the other one.

I stopped and reflected on Marcela's expression, an expression of strength, security and protection. The meaning of the name Marcela is “Little Warrior”. Today I went to Marcela's house and asked which doll she liked the most, as she had 4 dolls with European features (white) and only this one with Marcela's own features. photo, then I asked her why she likes this one better, she said why YES and ended the conversation.

I get Marcela's why YES, no one forced her to like the black doll that has her features better, she likes it more because YES!! For more BLACK dolls prfv!!!

The photographer posted a similar photo of Marcela the same day on his Instagram. In that photo, her eyes are closed as she caresses the doll's face with one hand and holds the doll tightly with the other. I am going to be like Marcela and love the dolls I have for the same reason she loves this one —representation.

Whatever you do for National Doll Day, have some doll fun and be safe.

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