The American Girl Jackpot

Right before I left for my weeklong Disney World vacation (which was awesome, by the way), I found an ad on Craiglist selling Addy and her collection.  I asked the lady to send me some pictures of what she had, and she sent me a small sample.  In the sample, I saw Addy's Patriotic Dress (very hard to find), and her Limited Edition Stilting Outfit from 1998 (also hard to find).  These two outfits alone were worth $200, so after some conversation, I convinced my mom to make an "investment" and go pick up the stuff while I was gone, and pay $300 for it.  I was so glad she did.

14 AGOT Outfits and Accessories

When I got home from Disney World on Saturday night, I immediately started going through the trunk and was very pleased.  There were 14 American Girl of Today outfits, and 11 Addy specific outfits, not to mention the accessories, which are highly sought after (read: expensive) in the collector world.  Of course, the doll, her trunk, and her bed were also included.

Addy's Bed, and some various accessories

The best part was, this lady had taken VERY good care of this stuff when she was young.  Almost every outfit was complete, with no missing accessories.  There were no stains, rips, tears, or anything that I could find.  Normally I wash everything I get, but this stuff was so clean, I did not even bother.  Most of the outfits looked like they had never even been put on the doll.

11 Addy Outfits.  The Patriotic Outfit is in the bottom right, and the stilting outfit is in the 2nd row, and is purple with wooden stilts.

There was also a very cute story the girl had written about her Addy doll, that I found in the secret compartment in the trunk.  Just for fun, I'll share it: 

"Addy was born on December 25, 1995.  Her mother Tori Miller was overjoyed.  Tori took good care of Addy and loved her very very much.  Tori took Addy everywhere she went.  Tori loves to spend her money on Addy.  Addy loves her mom dearly.  Addy has accessories coming out of her eye balls.  Addy has 11 pairs of clothes.  She has a bed and 3 pairs of shoes.  She has 5 hats.  Tori bought Addy a school set and teaches her well.  Addy also has a supply of magazines.  Addy adores her beautiful house in Toledo, Ohio.  Addy also has a cute puppy named Buford!  Addy enjoys reading and a lot of different things.  Tori enjoys fixing up Addy's beautiful hair.  Addy loves playing with her 6 adorable cousins.  Addy loves her father Stephen Urkele.  He's funning and loving with a warm smile.  Addy is 2 year old going on 56.  Haha!  For Addy's 1st birthday we had a big party.  It was fun.  When Tori travels, Addy goes with her."

I typed it exactly as it was written, with grammatical errors.  And I really hope Stephen Urkele is Urkele from Family Matters.  That would be just great.  I'm keeping the story in the trunk with the accessories.  It's almost a shame she sold the doll, because it's very obvious that she loved her.

I went through everything in the trunk, and am now selling off duplicates of my collection on eBay.  Some of these are the AGOT outfits and a few of the Addy outfits, and the Addy doll.  To check out my listings on eBay, go here.

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Anita Perez

After lurking around some other doll collecting groups, I discovered the Anita Perez doll.  I thought she was just beautiful!  She is also the older sister of Juanita Perez. 

This is how I received my doll from Mexico.  As you can see, the vinyl of her face has faded.  And her dress sure wasn't winning any beauty pagents.  I cleaned her up, did the best I could with her wooly hair, and redressed her in an outfit I bought from Ms. Dee on eBay.  Just look at her now:

Que linda Senorita!

Face Close-up

Front view

This doll was made in the 1960's.  The Juanita Perez company later changed the face mold in the 70's, to give her a softer, more teenage-like apperance.  I, however, prefer this face mold.

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Cathie's New 'Do

My Bella Cathie doll from France arrived with four hair plugs missing, so I ordered some Ash Blonde (color number 10) Saran KatSilk hair from http://www.restoredoll.com/.  The hair arrived, and I was a little disappointed, because the color is off a little bit.  I wish I could buy a color wheel that had a sample of all the colors on it, but I don't think there is one available.  At any rate, the color difference was not enough to be distracting, so I went ahead as planned.

When I reroot a doll, the only things I need are a pair of scissors, a long doll needle, the doll, and the hair. 

It was actually quite a task to replace only four missing plugs on this doll.  The neck hole is very small (maybe an inch in diameter), and the vinyl is thick and very difficult to push the needle through.  I ended up heating her head up a little with a hairdryer just to make the job a little easier.  Once the plugs were replaced, I used the steam function on my iron to get the new hair to lay down.

Steamy!

Perhaps the most difficult part of this task was getting her ponytail back through her neck and head holes.  While the neck hole is about an inch in diameter, the head hole is even smaller, maybe 1.5 centimeters.  At first, I tried binding the hair together with saran wrap, which was an utter failure.  Then, I decided to use a ponytail holder to bind the hair as tightly as I could.  I then bound the ponytail holder to a pencil, and used the pencil to push up through the neck hole and head hole.  To get her head back on her body, I had to re-heat her using the hair dryer.  Then I was able to squeeze the head back into place. 

Close-up of the new plugs.  Can you discern the color difference?

Welcome to the USA!!

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