Hello dollies! South Lyon auction features Barbies, dolls from around the world
SOUTH LYON — Ruth Chase never had dolls as a child; instead, she raised brothers and sisters as the oldest girl in a family of 11 children.
As an adult, she made up for a missing part of childhood by collecting more than 100 dolls, with an emphasis on Barbies. Even at the age of 90, as her health was failing in 2021, she asked her daughter for the gift of a Holiday Barbie at Christmas, going so far as to point out Target had a sale on the doll.
“She enjoyed that doll for nine months before she died,” Paula Klawender recalled through tears. “This was a woman who never got out of her room, but she enjoyed her dolls 'til the end.”
Klawender recently donated 57 dolls from her mom's collection to the Center for Active Adults, and hopes someone else will buy and adore them as much as her mother did.
Besides the iconic Mattel toy that has seen an increase in interest with the release of the Barbie movie last year, the center is now in possession of more than 300 dolls, mostly donated by Klawender and Lori Weiland, that will be auctioned Feb. 1-5.
The doll collections will be split into four separate lots and can be viewed during one-hour appointments, from noon to 7 p.m. Feb. 1-3. Sealed written bids will be accepted until 2 p.m. Feb. 5. To make an appointment or for more information, call the Center for Active Adults at 248-573-8175 or visit centerforactiveadults.com.
The center attracted a lot of attention and offers of donations to benefit the nonprofit after selling a collection of more than 88,500 sports trading cards in 2023, Center Director Carrie Cavanaugh said. She's grateful for the doll donations and said the auction proceeds will assist the center with programs.
Around the world with 262 dolls
In addition to Klawender's donations, Weiland contributed 262 dolls from around the world for the auction.
Weiland’s great aunt, Dorothy Allport, was a globe-trotter who collected souvenir dolls from every country she visited. Her friends often picked up dolls for her in countries they visited as well. There are multiple dolls from Italy, France, Germany and Hungary in the collection, as well as dolls representing Mexico, Canada, Ecuador, China, Japan and Morocco, and various U.S. states.
“Aunt Dot” kept an inventory of her dolls by typing them by country in a lined notebook, with corresponding numbers attached to each. In cases where country of origin was uncertain or there was something else outstanding about the doll, descriptions were used instead: cornhusk, skating doll, flamingo doll, Mary Poppins, Mrs. Alcott (Louisa May’s mother).
Allport, who was single and never had children, died in 1969 and willed all of the dolls to Weiland, who was 9 at the time.
Weiland laughed about the irony that she was the only girl in the family and she never played with dolls. Besides the collection, however, she did inherit one other thing from her aunt: a love of travel. And she did find particular interest in some of the dolls — the nun with a mother-of-pearl cross, a bride, a Greek doll in soldier's attire and a Shirley Temple doll.
“The ones with different materials are just so interesting,” she said. “And of course, their age — some of those dolls are from the early 1900s.”
Several of the dolls in her collection need repairs, but Weiland hopes they will get some TLC.
“I hope they find a good home, somebody who is really into them,” she said. “It would be the best tribute for my great aunt for them to go to someone who really loves them.”
A Barbie bonanza
Like Weiland, Klawender was also “never a doll person.” Her mother started collecting the dolls when she began having grandchildren.
“We teased her about the dolls, but she loved them,” Klawender said.
Chase had a floor-to-ceiling display case from an old pharmacy in which she displayed her dolls and she enjoyed looking at them. She favored blonde or red-headed Barbies, but had some brunettes as well, including an Eliza Doolittle Barbie. She found some at garage sales and would brush their hair and find clothes for them. Many others are in original boxes. Holiday Barbies were a particular favorite; she had them all from the mid-1990s to 2021.
Besides the Barbies, Ruth’s 100-doll collection included Victorian and collectible dolls from the Danbury Mint. Several were given to family and friends at Ruth’s funeral in September 2022. After choosing a few special ones — including a Lucille Ball doll that reminds her of her mother, a redhead whose hair turned white after chemo, but who celebrated her 90th birthday by dying it auburn — Klawender has donated 57 to the Center.
Doll market shows signs of revival
Julie Scott, an appraiser on the popular PBS series “Antiques Roadshow,” and owner of Plumed Horse Antiques in Washington state, noted that interest in Barbies has gotten a boost from "Barbie," the movie. At a recent national auction, some Barbies fetched prices “way higher than expected.”
Scott said that's an encouraging sign since prices for antiques, including dolls, have taken a hit over the last five to 10 years.
More: These men scored big on 88,500 sports cards. Here are the bids that sealed the deals.
She speculates one reason for the decrease may be a general lack of patience for the time and diligence needed to find and decorate a room with heirloom pieces and a preference to go to one store and buy everything that matches.
What to look for in a doll
There are some things to look for when seeking dolls that may be valuable, Scott said. The first Barbie doll, issued in 1959, had holes in the bottom of her feet for a stand. The early doll, wearing a black-and-white striped bathing suit, also had a relatively heavy body, pronounced makeup, and eyes with white irises. In great condition, the dolls are valued at close to $30,000.
Raggedy Ann, Shirley Temple, Kewpie and Madame Alexander dolls — common names in the doll world, all have possible value, too, depending on age, composition material, rarity and, always, condition.
Scott recommended seeking out information at doll shows or from an organization such as the United Federation of Doll Clubs, a nonprofit with a mission “of being the foremost in research, education, conservation, collecting, and appreciation of dolls.”
Ultimately, she believes any antique or doll shopper should buy what they are drawn to personally.
“Buying for potential value is hard,” she said. “Buy more with your heart and what speaks to you. I hear all the time, ‘The doll spoke to us, that’s why we bought it.’ Buy a doll because you love it, because it evokes some kind of feeling in you or reminds you of something from your childhood. You have to have a connection.”
Contact Susan Bromley at sbromley@hometownlife.com or at 517-281-2412.
This article originally appeared on Hometownlife.com: Barbies and dolls from around the world in South Lyon auction
