When Bruce Zalkin, a 59-year-old New York native who has lived in Florida since 1976, appears to be like at even the earliest editions of the unique 1959 Barbie, he can detect delicate variations that differentiate a doll value 1000’s of {dollars} and one value pennies.
The very first model of the doll—with downcast eyes, a curled blonde ponytail and black and white striped swimsuit—has holes in her toes so she will connect to a stand; within the second model, the holes have been patched up the after youngsters ended up breaking the stands; the third version of Barbie wears mascara, whereas the fourth model is the primary made out of a vinyl plastic mix relatively than polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
Zalkin began his Barbieland journey in his 20s, when he was working a toy store in Tampa that was full of cast-iron Tonkin Duplicate vehicles and antiques. It was the early ’90s, and his employees of primarily older ladies satisfied him to deal with the intricacies and attract of Barbie dolls as a substitute.
“They taught me all about Barbies,” Zalkin informed Fortune, “everything I wanted to know and more.”
Zalkin has now been promoting Barbie dolls for over 30 years, creating a expertise for discerning the delicate variations between the earliest variations of Mattel’s star bombshell. However he has been unofficially promoting toys, studying the commerce from influential ladies in his life, since a lot youthful: At age 5, his grandmother taught him about her passion, gathering glassware, pottery and collectible figurines in his hometown of Liberty, New York; at 13, after his household moved to Tampa, he determined that was “old lady stuff,” and commenced shopping for and promoting toys as a substitute.
Courtesy of Bruce Zalkin (2)
His 40-year-long profession as an vintage toy vendor now offers primarily with Barbie collections—largely classic fashions with alluring downcast eyes and feathery blonde ponytails. Over time, Zalkin estimates he’s bought $2 million value of classic Barbies, working by way of eBay, toy reveals, and auctions. Whereas it’s not a occupation he encourages others to hitch (it’s “just not a good investment,” he says), he’s managed to lean into the allure, selection and nuance of the doll—together with its profitable market energy—to create a sustainable livelihood.
“I’m not really a collector of Barbies, I’m more of a dealer,” he informed Fortune. “This is how I make my living.”
Patrons of his classic Barbies embrace these nostalgic to personal the dolls they grew up with, or weren’t allowed to purchase, together with skilled collectors.
“There’s the kids that grew up with parents who would never buy them a Barbie doll,” Zalkin stated.
Then there are particular traces geared towards collectors that Mattel launched within the Eighties—together with limited-edition dolls designed by esteemed designer Bob Mackie and silkstone fashions, which have been launched within the 2000s. These usually sport lingerie and, Zalkin says, “were never meant for children.”
They’re, nevertheless, “highly sought by collectors” and may fetch as a lot as 400 on eBay.
On the hunt for rarities
Recognizing the appropriate collections can take work, because the uncommon dolls Zalkin hunts for aren’t simply discovered at yard gross sales or on social media.
This week, Zalkin considered a Florida girl’s assortment of over 150 dolls, which she determined to promote as she’s shifting, and since her baby has outgrown them. Zalkin introduced alongside Marl Davidson, a buddy of 38 years whom he calls “the number one dealer in the world.”
Going by way of the dolls, Zalkin stated, “she didn’t have any super rare items,” however fortunately for him, nearly all of dolls have been classic, which suggests they have been launched earlier than the Eighties.
Zalkin and Davidson spent round $4,000 to purchase the gathering. As soon as bought, the duo then spent about two hours packing the dolls, wrapping them individually in paper or plastic (so “we don’t mess up their hair”) and making ziplock baggage of the dolls’ equipment.
Subsequent comes the next part of the dolls’ journey: rehoming. “It will take a few months to sort through,” Zalkin stated. “We bought 100 pairs of shoes, all in little baggies, that have to be sorted to see whether they’re vintage or modern, because people pay very different amounts of money depending on what they are.”
The equipment, he stated, usually promote for greater than items of clothes and at occasions even the dolls themselves, as a result of “those are the first things that get lost or vacuumed up.”
What makes a Barbie value her {dollars}?
The reply, Zalkin stated, often is determined by how a lot she was cherished, the rarity of the version, and whether or not her garments sport Mattel’s signature sizzling pink Barbie tag.
“Even to this day, all the clothing is tagged,” he stated. Within the Nineteen Sixties, he added, “Mattel sold pattern books so that women could make clothes for the Barbies, because it was cheaper to do that than buy the Mattel clothes.”
The rarity of Barbie garments and editions could be the distinction between a doll value pennies and upwards $5,000.
Within the Nineteen Sixties, for instance, Mattel got here out with a line of Barbies that was solely out there in Japan. Garments from that line, Zalkin stated, “are super-expensive and super rare. I’ve only had a few of those outfits and they sell in the multi-thousands range.”
Zalkin has bought particular person dolls for $10,000. He recalled one octogenarian couple’s lifetime assortment— over 500 “mint condition, original dolls and clothing still in the original packages”—which he bought for $250,000, largely to personal collectors.
Classic Barbies, and particularly the earliest variations of the doll, are typically probably the most precious. An authentic 1959 Barbie, in excellent situation, is value between $5,000 to $10,000, Zalkin stated.
“You’ll have some people collecting for investment or they want mint perfect items, and they’re going to pay the top premium for it,” he stated. “Other collectors just want the doll, get it at one-tenth of the price, and they’ll redo the makeup, redo the hair and have the doll they want.”
To make certain, the road of labor is just not with out challenges. One of many largest, Zalkin stated, is discovering collections, or stock, to purchase. He finds nearly all of his enterprise by way of phrase of mouth, with web sites like Fb Market and Craiglist solely accounting for a small fraction of his gross sales. He additionally usually buys again collections from folks he’s made gross sales with over the a long time he’s been within the commerce, who attain out to him after life occasions, like demise or divorce, immediate them to half methods with their collections.
Greta Gerwig generated a brand new batch of collectors
Greta Gerwig’s highly-anticipated Barbie film, launched final 12 months, has lured extra collectors to enter the market. Dolls that have been featured within the film, particularly ‘Pregnant Midge’ and ‘Growing up Skipper’ (which has a twistable arm that makes her develop taller and her chest increase) doubled in value.
“Right when the movie came out, there was a huge uptick in Barbie sales,” he stated, including that the costs nonetheless haven’t returned to pre-movie ranges.
Based on estimates by Barbie Wiki, a fandom web site, there are over 100,000 Barbie collectors over the world.
“Primarily older women are the main market, either new collectors, because of the new movie, or older women whose brothers blew up their dolls with GI Joe, or had parents who sold them in a yard sale,” Zalkin stated. “Believe it or not, the gay men’s community also buys a lot of Barbie dolls.”
The important thing to Barbie’s mainstay market energy
For higher or worse, Barbie is an undoubtable cultural icon. She’s been the centerpiece of museum exhibitions and was the topic of a documentary on Hulu. Gerwig’s film introduced near $1.3 billion on the worldwide field workplace, turning into one of many few female-dominated films among the many top-grossing movies of all time, NPR reported.
The doll was additionally a sport changer for each toymakers and younger youngsters alike. Based on a historical past by Encyclopedia Britannica, child dolls have been the norm within the early Fifties, and sometimes inspired younger women to examine themselves as nurturers, moms or caregivers. Barbie, nevertheless, was marketed as a lady of many careers—like hospital volunteer, astronaut, surgeon, and CEO—with outfits to match. When youngsters performed together with her, they may think about themselves in careers that don’t have sufficient feminine illustration.
Nonetheless, the dollmaker confronted pushback for setting unrealistic physique requirements. Researchers in Finland concluded that if an actual girl had the proportions of the doll, she wouldn’t have sufficient physique fats to menstruate.
Between 2012 and 2018, Mattel confronted a number of quarters of nosediving gross sales and criticism continued as different firms manufactured dolls that higher mirrored the variety of People in measurement, colour and bodily capacity.
Within the mid-2010s, after Mattel launched extra various dolls, gross sales turned up. Based on Mattel’s web site, Barbie is now “the most diverse doll line,” out there in 35 pores and skin tones, 97 hairstyles, and 9 physique sorts.” The model has since launched dolls with disabilities, similar to Down syndrome, prosthetic legs and wheelchairs.
It’s been a long time since Zalkin first dove into the world of Barbie as a vendor, however he has no plans of turning away. He’s not too long ago began his personal public sale web site, partly to keep away from eBay’s rising vendor charges, and counts over 150 toy reveals below his belt, which he runs along with his spouse, Laura.
“When we’re at a buying show, we’ll be sitting behind tables as people come to sell their stuff,” he stated. “Naturally, if they have Barbie dolls, they’ll walk over to my wife, who says, ‘my husband does Barbies. I do all the cast iron trucks.’”