To Unbox... or not to Unbox...

October 14, 2015 1:35 PM

So after taking advantage of some great sales, I am now the proud owner of a bunch of collectible fashion dolls that are lovely and delightful. I'm having a hard time deciding whether or not I want to unbox and display them all since they come with stands, or keep them in their cute boxes just in case. If I were made of money, I'd have two sets and this wouldn't be an issue. As it stands, I'm not. If you're a collector of such things, how did you make this choice?
posted by Hermione Granger to Shopping (12 answers total)

Best answer: Well what do you like about them?

Do you like how the dolls look? Do you have a place in your home where you'd like to be able to walk by and see them every day? Do you like the act of collecting and coveting? Are you collecting with an intention of selling them at a later date? Passing them down to a relative? How do you see yourself enjoying this purchase?

Personally, I like being able to see and touch. A box wouldn't do it for me, even a really cute box. If I were into displaying boxes I would be a box collector, you know? I forget about stuff in boxes. Boxed things are dead to me.

My mom, on the other hand, likes to know she collects things. She doesn't really care if she sees them every day (her home decor style doesn't jibe at all with the things she likes to collect, so she wouldn't want to display them anyway). For her, just knowing that she has a robust collection of her collectible stuff is enough. She gets a kick from adding to it and banking on the "someday" fun of sorting through it all when she finally retires.

Both are valid ways to collect things, though I just don't "get" the way my mom does it since it's not to my personal preference.

So ask yourself, is the collection important to you because of what they are? (Unbox and display.) Or is it important to you because you value the idea of having a collection? (Leave boxed and covet from afar.)

For you, since you say the boxes are cute, perhaps simply displaying the boxes is enough.
posted by phunniemee at 1:45 PM on October 14, 2015 [6 favorites]

Much to my grandmother's chagrin -- she was so incensed she called up the auctioneer to bawl him out for not getting higher prices for her treasured collectible dolls at their downsizing auction -- there isn't much of a secondary market for collectible dolls, in boxes or out. If you can identify which dolls have a strong secondary market, meaning people buy ones from other people and not from the maker, then you may want to keep those as pristine as possible. From my experience (and my wife's experience, who is more into dolls), most collectible dolls are sold from maker to buyer, and not buyer to buyer. Love the dolls however you like; worrying about what will make another person pay the most money for them to you, instead of buying from the dollmaker themselves, is a losing battle except in very specific cases.
posted by AzraelBrown at 2:17 PM on October 14, 2015 [5 favorites]

As someone who used to have a SERIOUS action figure habit, I unboxed every single one of them and put them out to be seen on my bookshelves and desks.
I'm down to less than 15 now from a maximum of about 100, and feel much better (It was a clutter thing).
I'm sure none were collectible, in our out of the box, and I'm sure I lost money selling them on eBay.
If you're thinking ahead about an investment, I wouldn't.

Maybe you split the difference, and unbox 2 or 3 of your absolute OMG I love this doll and go from there.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 2:18 PM on October 14, 2015

Photograph the boxes very carefully, debox insanely carefully, store the boxes.

Good plan until a toddler had a tea party with the dolls.
posted by sammyo at 2:41 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Do you collect to have cool things that you enjoy in your life? Or do you collect for the future resale value angle?

FWIW, the vast majority of "collector's items" are never worth any money. I mean, remember when we all dashed out to buy Jar Jar Binks action figures prior to the release of Episode 1, because FUTURE COLLECTOR'S ITEM!!1!1!!1??!?!!?!1/1?!?!? Most of the Beanie Babies that were going to put someone through college someday are worth pennies even 15 years on.

So enjoy your toys in whatever way is most meaningful to you. There's seldom any real reason to keep them boxed unless you plan to flip them pretty quickly or you know for a fact that these are definitively going to be collector's items in the future (for example the annual American Girls, which inevitably become collectible as soon as their year is over).
posted by Sara C. at 3:12 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Hi, my family owned a doll shop for many years, so I know way too much about this.

As Sara C. and AzraelBrown point out, the collector's market is not what it was pre-internet, so don't worry too much and mainly do what makes you happy. But if you want to maximize the possible future value just in case: unbox carefully, because doll boxes and packing materials are not usually acid-free, and aren't safe for long-term storage. Hang on to the box and all ephemera, though. Then display the doll with a professional-quality stand, somewhere out of sunlight and climate-controlled. Don't remove the tags.
posted by thetortoise at 3:21 PM on October 14, 2015 [5 favorites]

Best answer: As a kid, I was taught to treat my toys with kid gloves (heh), especially expensive ones. This would go doubly so if they were in some sense collectible. I never really played with them, and never took a sense of ownership over them, either.

I got into some mild collecting as an adult, and stumbled across various fora for American Girl collectors. People do such creative things with dolls, and some of this constitutes simple maintenance that I wouldn't dare do with my childhood dolls. Like, I untangled one doll's hair and realized it would look much better if I gave her a haircut. So (gasp), I cut her hair. I rewigged another doll. I bought them all sorts of outfits. Forget knitting. I spent the last half of my pregnancy combing and styling doll hair, then setting up photo shoots.

I'm not quite so into dolls now, but I still get a thrill every time I see mine. I really think dolls need to be touched and cared for to come to life--after all, our perceptions of them are really only made of our interactions with them. So I say take them out of their boxes, and love your dolls.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 5:59 PM on October 14, 2015 [5 favorites]

In my early 20s I sprung for a fairly expensive collectible doll, and then for several of the additional wardrobe shipments (each including shoes, hat, bag, jewelry), available by subscription on a bimonthly basis.

I opened every damn one of them and played with that doll. My only regret is that I didn't stick it through until I'd obtained every single available wardrobe shipment, because now they're only available at unboxed/super pricey cost, and I would love to be able to play with the whole collection.

My kids get to play with the doll when they're sick, which still carries a huge amount of weight with them even though they're middle school aged now.

(it was a Jackie Kennedy doll from Franklin Mint, and DAMN if I don't wish I'd gotten the similar Princess Diana doll).
posted by padraigin at 7:03 PM on October 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

(Sorry, I misunderstood the question. I thought it was about resale value, but I see now it's more of a personal question.)
posted by thetortoise at 7:17 PM on October 14, 2015

Best answer: I'm a firm believer that when you buy something, you use it. If you have the luxury of being able to afford a second copy, and you feel a sense of duty to fellow and future collectors, then by all means get the second copy and keep it boxed. That is my personal opinion.

As for you: If your idea of putting these dolls to full use is keeping them boxed and archived, or boxed and on display, do that. But it doesn't sound like that's the case. I think you want to get them out and display them. And dress them and undress them in their little outfits. And take pictures of them in their outfits in every possible combination. And secretly, in the dead of night, hold midnight feasts with all your dollies. And restage the complete works of Shakespeare with your dollies. And assemble an army of dollies and take over the world.

Or not. I don't collect dolls, so I wouldn't know.

You really shouldn't consider collectible items an "investment" any more, not because they never rise dramatically in value, but because you can't count on it. Nobody should ever have more than 10% of their investments in collectibles anyway, because they're too illiquid. It also implies that you can't fully enjoy (if usage is what you enjoy) your collection until some future date, and that date will be the date you don't have it any more anyway. No disrespect to anyone who does this and enjoys it, but to me, that would feel dead.

The truth is that if one of your items gets damaged, you will probably be able to find a replacement if you look hard enough. That's the nature of the Internet. So I wouldn't even be too afraid to handle the dolls. You could take a picture of each one and blog about it, so that worst case, at least a picture archive would exist somewhere.
posted by tel3path at 5:04 AM on October 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Tel3path has it. I secretly really do want to unbox the dolls and display most of them. They're those Ever After High dolls by Mattel and the only reason I was thinking of keeping them unopened is because the boxes really are pretty (though not the latest wave... those are cheap and tacky). Well... And the fact that some of the dolls are going for lots of bucks right now. Thank you all for weighing in! Can't wait to set up my collection and enjoy how cute everything is. 👑
posted by Hermione Granger at 9:44 PM on October 16, 2015

Idea: find an appropriate room, closet or equivalent space in your home, and do an Antony Gormley installation with your dolls...

Too much?
posted by tel3path at 9:46 AM on October 26, 2015