Maintaining this blog helps me keep up with my collecting habits each year. When January rolls around, I always get anxious about looking back over the previous 12 months of spending and selling.
I honestly try to keep my collection manageable, but it's not easy. I'm sure many of you reading this entry feel the pain as well.
In 2023 I managed to re-home 36 dolls. Things seem to be shifting in the doll collecting community lately. Sellers are finding other means for connecting with buyers through social media. It is getting more difficult selling on e-bay. Merari has established itself as an alternative as well. I feel good that I was able to sell what I did with the current economic climate and shifting interests.
Unfortunately, I added 46 dolls in 2023, which was ten more than left. The lion's share of these were Integrity Toys dolls. I discovered Dominion Doll this year though a great doll friend. I hope to add more of these high quality resin ball-jointed girls, but they are quite expensive. My love for Jamieshow Muses has only increased in 2023 as has their production of quality dolls and ensembles.
The only good news is that I have seriously limited the purchase of dolls on secondary market. Another good thing is that Integrity Toys has started producing dolls in larger quantity which has seriously affected after-market resell prices. The majority of my secondary market dolls were purchased as "lottery takeovers" at original retail cost! If you take away W Club exclusives, I only purchased three dolls as secondary market prices and two of those were actually less than the original retail prices! I can feel good about that.
Last year, 25% of the new dolls I purchased were received in January. That was quite overwhelming. Fortunately, there has been only ONE doll purchase so far in 2024. This doll was purchased retail through a U.S. seller, Fabric Friends.
One of the main reasons I purchased this doll is that it represented the last doll in this line to be designed by Mark Tinkey, who has since resigned from Integrity Toys. Here is a full length photo in the box:
And a closeup! I am usually not a fan of fantasy hair colors, but I am totally smitten by this cutie (there's something Wednesday Addams about her)! Collecting Cycle 2024 - Number 1 is Frills & Kills Misaki.
