I just picked up some Barbie accessories. One is a tiny little ashtray with a cigarette. All the little accessories are in separate little cello papers. I was wondering if this is how they used to be packaged?
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Accessories used to have themes, such as beach day or sleepover. All the little accessories came packaged that way. Good find!
It looks like you have a very fun find, but I am not sure everything you have is true Mattel (Barbie and Friends) and I am doubtful that everything is in the original packaging, at least for what was sold in the US (I am not familiar with how things were packaged and sold in other countries).
Some of your pieces may be Mattel in the original inside package, but my gut feeling is that most were packaged specifically for after market sale.
I say this because at a minimum everything is missing the cardboard packages that they would have been sealed inside (most accessories came with an outfit and even when you bought a package say of just shoes or just accessories, they always had a cardboard backing.
The second thing that makes me think they are packaged after market, is I don't ever recall (at least with the old true Barbie items maybe they did in later years) them using staples when they had plastic bag inside the blister pack. It is possible clone makers used staples...I am not that familiar with clone items.
Often times (at least with the true vintage items--I am not that familiar with the more modern items--like those from today) the shoes and accessories were sealed into the blister packages without any thing holding them together.
For example, there was one vintage outfit, I am drawing a blank on the name, that came with a phone, and the phone was sealed in the package, off the hook--with the receiver packaged like Barbie could put the dress right on and pick up the phone. The phone itself was just loose after you opened the blister pack (not sealed in its own plastic).
Occasionally the shoes and accessories were packaged in their own plastic and then sealed in the blister pack, but more often than not, they were just sealed into the blister pack in their own little "cubby".
I also think you have a mix of real (Mattel) and clone items (or they could be items for dolls like Tammy or GI Joe or other dolls.)
Why I say this, for example, is that I do not remember Barbie ever having an ash tray and cigarettes--it is possible that is Mattel item, but in all my years of Barbie, the only ash trays and cigarettes I have ever seen were from "clone" makers--where they have to say "fits all 11 1/2 inch fashion dolls) and more often than not, they were sold in later years for diorama makers to use in their exhibits.
Here are 2 websites to help you start your research:
www.myvintagebarbies.com/
Plus if you use Pinterest you can see original Barbie packages--put in the phrase original barbie packages (and then pick a year to look at). I can (and have recently since I am trying to sell off all of my vintage Barbie collection) spend hours pouring over these sites!
There are some true Barbie gurus on Facebook. I belong to one group called Vintage and Mod Barbie Collecting 1959-1972. You can ask to join and maybe one of the guys and gals on that site can give you more insights into exactly what all you have!
Thanks for sharing! Post back what you learn!
Pghgirl made very good points and I believe she is correct in that these are not official Mattel Barbie accessories. But - I could be wrong.
If truth be known, probably less than 10% of the 'Barbie accessories" advertised for sale/sold are true Mattel accessories.
I do not believe that Mattel ever produced an accessory that had anything to do with smoking.
These appear to be in individual 'bags' that are made especially for that item (correct size) and I agree that most Barbie accessories were not in bags and even the products with just Barbie accessories were in one package and not in individual bags.
There is so much information about vintage Barbie dolls on the Internet it would take forever to sort through it. Also numerous Barbie doll forums so anyone looking for information can surely find it.
I had a very large collection that I was buying/saving for my granddaughter but she was not very interested so I sold everything and fortunately it was before the "fall" in value as we see in today's market. But, there is a downside; I had several that sold for a few hundred that are now into the high hundreds but how would you know? No regrets.
If you wish to sell your find, I would suggest breaking them up and selling a lot of 10-15 items - list on eBay or any other site and list as Barbie Accessories. Check 'lot' sold listings on eBay to get an idea of what people are paying.
Here are some interesting listings for Barbie fans (past and present):
These sites just prove that it is not always the 'oldest' Barbies that are valuable.
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