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How to Identify Barbie Dolls

Born in 1959, Barbie hasn't aged a bit. Keeping up with fashion and style, she has continually "reinvented herself" while maintaining her quintessential Barbie essence. There have been many imitator dolls throughout the years, however, making it sometimes difficult for the non-expert to identify an authentic Barbie doll. If you think you have a valuable or vintage Barbie but aren't sure, or if you know you have a Barbie but just want to know more about her, Mattel's Barbie Collector website can help you.

Instructions

- 1
  Point your Internet browser to BarbieCollector.com. Mattel, the toy company that produces Barbie dolls, maintains this extensive website with invaluable resources for Barbie enthusiasts and collectors.
- 2
  Click on "Collecting."
- 3
  Click on "All About Barbie." This displays links that give you information on the history of Barbie and Ken.
- 4
  Click on "Barbie History" and then click on "Enter the Timeline" below various Barbie pictures. This opens up an in-depth, year-by-year timeline of the Barbie doll.
- 5
  Study the timeline to learn particular, identifiable characteristics of Barbie throughout the years that you can use to narrow down the year of your Barbie.
- 6
  Return to the "Collecting" page to browse dolls and find your Barbie, armed with a good idea of which collection to search. You can browse all dolls in the "Showcase" section or you can search by edition type in the "Labels &Production" section.
- 7
  Click on "Showcase" in the black bar at the top of the page. This displays links that give you various search options including modern, vintage, year, SKU (stock keeping unit number), name, theme and edition type.
- 8
  Opt to search for your doll in the "Labels and Production" section, which only has modern, not vintage, dolls. Modern editions are classified into color-coded tiers. To get to this section, click on "Collecting" in the black bar at the top of the page, then click on "Collecting 101" on the left side of the page, then click on "Labels &Production" below that. This displays the list of editions you can search.

Collecting Vintage Toys