Even if the doll price was reduced I day after day visited the department to look for that obscure object because paying 395 German Marks (!!!)... sounds crazy. And if you keep in mind that the retail price had been 798 German Marks... The birth hour of the doll-virus began :- )
A few days later I bought this doll as a gift for myself. Not knowing what I had bought there.

What had been so interesting (and still is) about dolls can be shortly explained:
Capturing the perfect or interesting face; remaining optics, conserving beauty (dolls do not grow older *laugh* ); the perfect handcraft of the dollmaker and the artistic interpretation of a human being.
In addition dolls give me the possibility to be creative on my own in a low degree (hairdressing, new clothes, decoration, arrangment, photographing)

A new passion began: doll-exhibitions.
After all we wanted to learn more about this new, fascinating topic. And of course the first heavy mispurchases followed, depending on the missing knowledge...
Some months later the thrill was gone.

It came back to life when so-called artist-dolls were offered at shopping-channels for less money and in limited editions. The mania began again :-) .
After buying and collecting not just without any plan (keep in mind that I already had my favourites and bought only the so-called artist dolls), we found out that we had a lack of "real" knowledge. We wanted to know more. Internet, books, exhibitions, internet, conversations with other collectors, internet.... :-)
And learning, learning, learning…
What means manufacture? What is an Original? One-of-a-kind? Which artists are internationally working / accepted / famous?

My next era of higher-classed manufactured dolls was influenced by artists like Annette Himstedt, Philip Heath, Elisabeth Lindner... all a little bit more expensive than the offers made by shopping-channels...

Sometimes the wish grew to enrich my collection with dolls that are rare. Dolls, which are NOT produced in higher limitations and/or partly made with materials of minor value.
Everything needs its time, even this evolution. It means to say “good-bye” to many formerly beloved dolls, because
a) there´s only limited space in the flat and
b) a porcelain-beauty costs REAL money... sigh.
For one of these porcelain Originals in each case several other dolls had to be sacrificed but I never had regrets about my decision.

Clearly, even on this kind of dolls, we have to learn, find an own stile, live with wrong decisions and gain experiences.
Thereto belongs on one hand the loss of money reselling dolls (if you´re able to find a buyer because these kinds of dolls are luxury) - on the other hand you might have nice meetings with artists, who could sustainably impart knowledge about the worth of a "real" artist doll.

Now I have come to the point on which I know what is good for me - and my collection :-) .

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