Barbie
Buy and sell Barbie dolls in Panama.
A Barbie lot leaving a Panamanian home is rarely one doll. More often it is a bag of them with the shoes mixed up, a Ken or two, the pink convertible and, with luck, the Dreamhouse. New dolls come sealed in their window boxes, pre-owned ones loose or by the bagful, and collector editions such as the Signature line should still be in their packaging. When a girl in David or Santiago outgrows her Barbies, they tend to leave as one set, so ask how many of a playset’s pieces are really there before you arrange to collect it.
Fashionistas, Made to Move and the Signature box:
three kinds of Barbie that look alike on a shelf and get played with very differently. Fashionistas are the everyday line, sold with one outfit and a number on the box, and most of any used lot. Made to Move dolls bend at the knees, hips, elbows and wrists, so they can kneel, sit a horse or pedal the bike that a stiff-legged doll slides straight off. Barbie Extra, with huge hair, loud clothes and a small pet, is bought for styling. Signature dolls are made for adult collectors who keep them boxed, and the vintage dolls from the ponytail years are a market of their own. Around them sit Ken, little Chelsea, too small to borrow anyone’s clothes, and the playsets, from the convertible to the Dream Camper and the Dreamhouse. A doll with an oversized head and platform feet is one of the Bratz, and a child asking for a film character by name will find her among the Disney princesses.
A doll for posing, a doll for hair, or a house that needs a corner:
a child who acts out stories with the horse and the camper needs a Made to Move body, because a basic Fashionista cannot sit on either. One who mostly changes outfits and does hair is just as happy with Fashionistas or Extra, for less. The Dreamhouse is the big decision: assembled, it stands taller than most preschoolers and wants a corner of the bedroom to itself, so measure the space before you go to collect one.
The Dreamhouse and the collector box, in dollars:
the house is the one Barbie purchase that runs into real money. New in a Panamanian toy shop, the three-storey Dreamhouse sits around $250 to $300, and ordering one from the United States through a parcel-forwarding service adds freight on a box that size, which a house already in the country spares you. A complete used one, elevator running, lights and sounds working and the furniture all there, changes hands around $120 to $170: the plastic shell barely ages, and what the price drops for is the risk of missing pieces. Collector dolls follow their own rule, and one never taken out of its box is worth several times the same doll opened.
Green ears, chewed feet and a tired elevator:
are the usual marks on a second-hand Barbie. Start with the hands and feet, because toddlers and puppies find them first, and a chewed foot no longer holds a shoe. On older dolls that wore metal earrings, a green stain around the ear is the metal reacting with the vinyl, and it does not wash out. Check that the hair is still rooted and full length, that the head sits firmly on the neck and that a Made to Move doll holds each pose. A knockoff feels light and hollow, with thin hair and a face printed slightly off centre. On a Dreamhouse or Dream Camper, open the battery compartment for corrosion, run the elevator up and down and count the furniture against the picture on the box. For a collector doll the box carries much of the value, so crushed corners, a cloudy window or a cut seal matter as much as the doll inside.
Photographing a Barbie lot or a Dreamhouse:
sort the dolls before the camera comes out. Made to Move bodies deserve their own line in the listing because collectors hunt for them, and a Signature or vintage doll deserves a listing of her own, with every side of the box and the seal in shot. Photograph each face in daylight with the clothes and shoes laid out on a plain sheet, and say whether any doll has had a haircut and which playset pieces are missing. For a Dreamhouse, say whether it is still assembled and whether it comes apart for the journey. Someone driving in from Arraiján or Colón needs to know it fits in a car with the back seats folded before they set off, not once they are standing in your doorway.