I have about 25 of these porcelain dolls. They come with a stand and original boxes and certificates. There are about 7 Shirley Temples. All are in excellent condition. How would I find someone who knows how much these dolls go for? Most of them are from the Franklin Mint, Kingstate, the Ashton-Drake Galleries, etc. I live in Canada, Ottawa, Ont.
Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
The doll manufacturing companies you have mentioned normally mass produce dolls and the value of these items has decreased so much in the last few years. Most dolls from the companies you have mentioned are now selling for around $5 to $15 each. You should be able to list these in your local area and I would avoid listing them online because the market right now is flooded with dolls and they are not selling at the moment.
Beautiful collection.
The only way to determine value of any item is to find the exact item - same condition - that has recently sold as that will tell you what someone was willing to pay for that item.
Dolls are no exception but it may be difficult to find an identical doll like each of the ones you have.
All of this takes a lot of time and it would be costly to pay someone to do this research - probably more than the dolls are worth.
However, you probably have several dolls that are worth more than the 'normal' amount that most (even nice expensive dolls) are currently selling for (less than $25).
eBay is the largest doll selling venue in the world but other sites are sometimes easier to use and you can offer 'local pick up only' which would mean no shipping involved.
Here is a link to eBay sold listings of Franklin Mint - Jackie Kennedy.
If you find your doll in this list then you can confirm the sold price is considered the 'current value'.
This does not mean your doll will sell for that price but it does give you a starting price. You can always start at a higher price and lower it if no one shows an interest.
www.ebay.com/
You will have to do this type of research on each doll and with these dolls I would think you should sell them individually and not as a group. If you sell them in groups you may not realize very much money and shipping would be a very big challenge as these dolls are fragile and require special shipping.
You might want to think about selling them on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, offerup, letgo and any others you know of.
You will need several pictures of each doll.
If you have any consignment stores in your area you might ask about what they would charge to show your items.
Canada has the same type of auctions/sales sites as the US but shipping from Canada to US is very expensive.
Wow what a collection! -You can contact a Appraiser who specializes in antique/collectable dolls in your area. If you do not want to go that route, you can try this link on how to get value knowledge on your dolls - www.thesprucecrafts.com/
Cybergrannie gave a compressive response.
A few things I may add as a long time reseller, with items like these that are extremely fragile it is best to find an in person place to sell. There are places in your area like Total Homes which may consign for you.
You will get a percentage of retail, but will not have to deal with any of the shipping issues. In this COVID world there postal services for many countries have seen huge delays, and lost and damaged items and that is not good for any seller or buyer.
If you want to know the values, rsearching "retail" values is straight forward--I use ebay Sold section only and look for apples to apples match for my item for what is sold.
If more than one exact item sold, I check for which seller sell by free shipping and I factor in the shipping costs to get a piece value. I also toss out values if they range--say from 1000 to 1 dollar--because when there are huge differences in value like this the 1000 are usually money laundering or fraud and the 1.00 item are sellers that are just trying to undercut others and/or commit fraud in other ways. Use the values in the middle to average a value for each piece.
Be sure when doing apples to apples to factor in condition and box, paperwork etc. to make sure you are comparing an apple to an apple vs. an apple to an orange. I can't do any apples to apples with just the few photos you shared, or I would offer you some examples of sold prices--but there are too many factors to do so accurately without actually seeing and smelling yours (one thing many people don't factor in to their reselling is smell. If the pieces were in the home of a smoker or have any musty smell, it will decrease what you can fetch for them by 1/2 or more. Sad but true.
You could sell these yourself at a tag/flea/yard sale or other in person venue where you set up for a day or two and sell. You will most likely NOT get retail for these because you are not a retail shop and so you would probably make about the same as you did if you consigned them. I do this someones (at least I did pre-Covid because I love to sell in person and like the thrill of setting up tables and watching people shop. I do it for money and entertainment, but I am odd old bird!
Factor in your time to do research and sell vs. handing them over to someone else to sell and in most cases you will come out ahead by finding a trusted store to have them sell them for you.
Post back what you decide! Best wishes on your sales!
Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
