Customer Reviews

The Official Price Guide to Dolls

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Once you start collecting one type of doll, your eyes start noticing all the other dolls as well and you begin to realize that dolls have an important connection to fashion, art, history, and technology. The Official Price Guide to Dolls by Denise Van Patten gives testimony to that thought shared by many avid doll collectors.

I like her easy-to-read format of the doll listings and photos. Her contemporary presentation of up-to-date facts prefaced in each category give straightforward details regarding the dolls' features and histories. Investors and buyers alike will find the pricing information helpful.

Denise does a super and thorough chapter on educating the doll collector on how to use the Internet and Ebay for buying and selling dolls. This informaion is priceless for many who are anxious to learn about this important technological impact on doll collecting and how to get started. She generously shares her best tips and pitfalls one should be aware of.

The book itself is of managable size and fits in your purse to take to a doll shop, show or museum. It is well worth the reasonable price for a great reference tool plus it makes a sweet beside book of dreams for the insatiable doll collector.

I am beginning to see that Doll Collector's are a strange lot. I count myself among them, although I am relatively new to this world. They (we) have their (our) own language and a lot of initialisms. Thank-goodness for the glossary and definitions that appear in the appendix of The Offical Guide to Dolls; however, several initialisms were not to be found there, despite being directed to the introductory chapter for their explanations.


van Patten's book was the first book I've brought home on the subject (although, I am still awaiting the delivery of the first book I actually bought to be delivered from Italy, one on vintage Italian dolls). The statements about these 2 books are not irrelevant to this review.


First, it is probably significant that the word "official" in this book's title has a trademarked symbol next to it. I am not familiar with this line of books, but after reading van Patten's book cover to cover, it seems to me that it isn't actually an official book but rather a part of a line of books bearing that name. If it were "official" then one would imagine it to have some sort of certification or endorsement by the United Federation of Doll Clubs, or some other "official" body. It is recognized by one invaluable source about dolls and collecting, and that is the series of pages edited by van Patten, herself, on about.com. This is not a criticism nor is it meant to be taken as one. I just think that the buyer (particularly one's new to this world) should know this.


As for the contents of the book, it does cover a lot of dolls, and it's proposed organization of dolls (Antique, Vintage, and Modern) could have been useful. Here comes the criticism (and why I ranked it 3 vs. 4) This book seems hurriedly edited and there is definite inconsistency in the layout of pages. For example, under vintage dolls, defined as those sold from approximately 1925 to 1979, you find some Moderns listed. The pictures accompanying the sections do not relate to the era covered. In all fairness, how would you cover a dollmaker who has spanned the times, like Madame Alexander: would you repeat basic information under each chapter (antique, of which there were few, vintage and modern, of which there are hordes)? Or do you just cover the whole lot in one or the other sections? Or, for that matter, should you cover dolls by their dollmaker or by the dolls' names? van Patten (or her editors) have done both, making it hard to figure out where to find what. The index is equally unhelpful in those respects. If I want to know about Suzie Sad Eyes, a current hot vintage item, I won't find it in this book's index. And since I don't know the manufacturer, I'm out of luck. Several other dolls I am interested in aren't listed, but the ones that are in the book, and there are PLENTY that are, are covered well.


I found the advice on buying dolls the most useful among the other book's offerings, especially how to enter into the world on online doll auctions. If you are short on cash, you can find the same advice on the website (at about.com) and save yourself the price of this book. But I have found myself pulling out this book to determine what bid to place and I have followed van Patten's advice on how much to bid. Needless to say, losing out on a bid for a coveted Furga doll (the Italian dolls I really love, which are only marginally mentioned in this book) didn't hurt at all after following van Patten's sage advice.


I think the dolls that get the most coverage are the ones that were most popular in the past, now, and likely into the future. But the ones that are the most interesting to me, such as the rich dolls from Italy, are missing from this book, necessitating additional purchases, internet seraches, and trips to libraries.


Otherwise, I do not feel bad that I bought the book. I wish I'd purchased it from amazon (as it is $7 less here than what I paid).

I was very pleased with the huge amount of information on dolls available in this one book. I especially liked the fact that, besides prices for dolls, the book also had market information and market trends about dolls. I also liked that the book included Internet pricing for dolls, which is especially useful for buying and selling dolls on eBay (the book also had non-Internet values). Dolls of all kinds were covered and I was able to use the book to price and identify several dolls I was given. Overall, I definitely recommend the book!

In answer to the last review, the book has 900 photos. Nearly all dolls have pricing for both eBay and also non-eBay sources, and the methodology for pricing is clearly set forward in the first chapter. Each secton on a particular doll also has a market analysis for that doll.

This book was helpful in finding the value of some dolls, the pricing was pretty acurate compared to other books

I think that this book is very helpful, lots of information for a very resonable price

The book is wonderful - exactly as represented - quickly shipped as well with a nice note from the seller - excellent experience! Thanks.

I found this book not up to par with some other doll collecting guides I have. It doesn't have enough pictures. I don't know how the author came up with some of the values. -It seems she just searched Ebay to find what the dolls were worth, I could have done that.