Hard cabbage patch dolls

A woman who had purchased one of his dolls in the Georgia area approached Thomas at an art fair to congratulate her on selling her dolls at the Atlanta Airport.

By the following year, Roberts and his friends at the BabyLand General Hospital were unable to keep up with the orders and Roberts licensed the dolls — which were now to have round vinyl heads — exclusively to Coleco for mass-production under the name Cabbage Patch Kids the Xavier Roberts signature remained on the bum, although they were no longer signed with a felt-tip marker. The dolls were now being mass-produced, but thanks to advances in manufacturing technologies, no two dolls were ever the same.

Computerized machines were able to create infinite randomizations by varying several aspects of the dolls, including hair, dimple locations and skin tone. Their names were also unique. The Cabbage Patch Kids came with a new origin story that was printed on every box. The media ate it up, and the Cabbage Patch Kids were quickly featured everywhere, including a cover story in Newsweek before the end of the year.

Nobody, including Roberts or retailers, had any idea what would happen next. Christmas wish list The consumer response was so great, Coleco cancelled all of its advertising as they tried to keep up with demand — shipping a doll-industry record of 3. By November , Cabbage Patch Kids were so scarce and so in demand that parents were willing to camp outside of local toy stores or drive hundreds of kilometres just to buy one.

Most stores at the time typically only stocked between and dolls, but there were thousands of eager customers, which meant that frustration was brewing.

Some stores held draws to keep things orderly, while others left things to be a free-for-all. Not surprisingly, a frenzied resale market began, with desperate gift givers willing to pay big bucks to get their hands on the dolls. Then mini-riots began to break out in stores across North America. Archival videos of news stories which are readily available on YouTube show pandemonium at stores in the United States and Canada, with boxes containing Cabbage Patch Kids being flung about.

There were violent occurrences in major retail stores like Sears, J. At a Simpsons department store in London, Ontario, a shopper named Bonnie Jeffries described the chaos she witnessed when she went looking for a doll in November. At a Zayre department store in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, a riot broke out, with a store manager grabbing a baseball bat to protect himself.

People were grabbing at each other, pushing and shoving. It got ugly. I think we all worked very hard. I think the timing was right. Video games and all the plastic and battery-operated toys were around, and here was something you could just sort of pick up and love. What size is a Cabbage Patch doll? Cabbage Patch Kids come in a few different sizes, but most original Cabbage Patch Kids are 14 to 18 inches tall.

They are about Consumer advocate groups pointed out that bogus Cabbage Patch items possessed an oily smell due to the industrial rags they had been stuffed with. Thought to be highly flammable, consumers were told to avoid Kids that reeked of kerosene. Sadly, not all dolls are made equal. Yet, if you have something collectors covet, you might be looking at a few hundred bucks. Look at the bottom of the signature for a date.

First edition Cabbage Patch dolls did not include a date. Check the label of the Cabbage Patch doll, located on its side of every doll. All dolls have the name of their manufacturer on this label, which changed several times throughout the years. Beautifully situated on acres in the North Georgia Mountains, this Southern Style home filled with Cabbage Patch Kids will capture the imagination of your entire family.

Roberts a multimillionaire. Since then, he has stayed out of the spotlight: he still lives in his hometown, gardening and collecting 20th-century art, and continues to head the privately held Original Appalachian Artworks. The most valuable dolls are in mint condition. Look for signs of deterioration such as wear, chips, and cracks.

Any signs of repair will also contribute to the condition of the doll. Also, try to determine if the doll is clean and bright rather than smudged or tired-looking. Doll doctor Edith Garney restores, repairs, restrings, rewigs and re-outfits dolls at the Antique Doll Hospital, W. Skip to content Which Cabbage Patch dolls are most valuable? Do all Cabbage Patch dolls have different names? The legend story behind how the dolls had came to be also made it feel as though the adoption process was real for many little girls who had been gifted a Cabbage Patch Kid.

In the earlier years of production, the company also stated that no two dolls were identical. This meant every child in the street had their own unique doll. While the dolls have been around for many decades, they still sport the same look. Cabbage Patch Dolls can be distinguished by their:. In some limited edition makes of the Cabbage Patch Doll, porcelain or an all-vinyl body can be noted. The very first Cabbage Patch Dolls were released in During late , the doll even makes the front cover of Newsweek due to their popularity amongst young girls and boys alike.

While there have been thousands upon thousands of different Cabbage Patch Kids produced over the past 40 odd years, the dolls that represent a person or special event such as the US Olympic Team Mascot Dolls remain among the most valuable.

By , 95 million Cabbage Patch Dolls had been sold around the globe. The amount of these dolls that exist globally significantly reduces their overall collectible value. While the Coleco company produced the dolls between their primitive years, until , the craze of the Cabbage Patch began to decline and in , many years after Coleco filed for bankruptcy, Mattel began producing Cabbage Patch Kids.

Mattel mimicked the original dolls in their re-release of Cabbage Patch Kids. Many mothers and fathers who had fond memories of these dolls during their childhood purchased one for their own children. Cabbage Patch creator Xavier Roberts copyrighted his design in and sold the rights to company Giant Coleco in Dolls that were made prior to the Coleco handover are worth the most.

The Little People Originals were all hand-crafted by Xavier himself and were signed in permanent marker on their bottoms. Every second little girl was asking Santa Claus for one in , even so much so that the shopping centers who sold these were crowded with moms trying to get their hands on one in time for Christmas before they sold out.

Unlike some of the other big brand toys produced during the 80s and the 90s, Cabbage Patch Kids were often well marked with their year of manufacture.

For example, during a true Cabbage Patch Kid or Little People will have a black signature, green was used in , blue was used in , red was used in , aqua was used in , lavender was used in and rose was used in If you have one of the earlier produced dolls, or you are looking to purchase one as a vintage collectible, ensure that the signature color matches up with the proposed manufacture date.

When the Coleco company sold the Cabbage Patch Dolls, the boxes were often marked with the year of manufacture. While the style of the boxes changed over the years, the date was often front and foremost. The Coleco boxes do not sport a banner while those produced in the years following do. The original Cabbage Patch Kids stood between 16 and 18 inches tall while the Preemies measured between 14 and 15 inches.

During , Coleco produced special edition kids such as twins, world travelers, and western kids and later in specialty kids such as the astronauts and all-stars were released. Following this, in , Coleco released a Cabbage Patch Kid designed to be able to be bathed and another kid that could talk. While many of the Cabbage Patch Dolls can see their owner making back their money or making a small amount of money, those handcrafted by Xavier himself prior to see the biggest return.

The condition of the doll, the rarity, the skin and hair color, whether or not the original accessories are included as well as the birth certificate and box all determine how much someone may be willing to pay come auction. For most of the Cabbage Patch Kids, no two are the exact same.

Whether they have different eye colors or hair colors, it was their uniqueness along with their adaptability that made the world fall in love with them time and time again. While in more recent years, you can find identical Cabbage Patch Dolls, in their earlier years, especially when they were handcrafted by Xavier himself, the dolls were each their own little people. This means that each doll does not have a set collectible value and the price of each really depends on supply and demand.

There are a number of things that can make one doll more valuable than another and we mention those in the section above. I have a Cabbage Patch Doll in very good condition with her snacks. Are their doll collectors who purchase them? If so how do I go about selling her.

I have a original Little People doll along with her birth certificate that I cannot find a value on.. I have 2 from in the box and mint condition. Are they worth anything … Tucker Marco and Calvine Claudia….

I have a Cabbage Patch doll that is very similar to the Teresa Ann doll.