Antique dolls (Austin: house, buying, auction)

[luksky]

When my mom passed, I inhereited her doll collection that had been passed down to her from her mother and grandmother.

My dad called me tonight and told me he thinks those particular dolls are worth a good bit of money and I should have them appraised.

Since I’m not really an antique person, can anyone direct me where I would go in the Austin area to have them appraised?

Thanks for any tips.

[centralaustinite]

Originally Posted by luksky

When my mom passed, I inhereited her doll collection that had been passed down to her from her mother and grandmother.

My dad called me tonight and told me he thinks those particular dolls are worth a good bit of money and I should have them appraised.

Since I’m not really an antique person, can anyone direct me where I would go in the Austin area to have them appraised?

Thanks for any tips.

I know an art teacher who refurbishes and sells antique dolls, I have two antique dolls myself, she fixed them up. I kept one for sentimental reasons, she sold the second for me, the profit basically covered the cost of repairs.



For antique dolls much depends on where they were made (France or Germany), if they have orginal clothes and hair, overall condition. Start by looking on ebay, you can learn a lot from the sellers there.

[Coldjensens]

Although i do not belong in the Austin forum, I can tell you we bought a house in California years ago that was previously the local "Doll Hospital" They had a lot of antique dolls. The heirs had an auction and people cam form all over the country. Some of the dolls sold for $10,000. It really just needs some really good marketing in the doll community if you have a lot of them and they are valuable.

On the other hand, collecting anything seems to be dying out in general so it may be a lot harder now to find bidders. You will probably get mostly older people or people looking to make a buck by buying cheap and re-selling. As far as pricing, looking on E-bay sold listings can be a good reference, but I know there are doll appraisers, they had one before the auction I mentioned.