When Dolls Cross a Line: Cross Collectibles and Dolls

Cross Collectibles Crossover or cross collectibles can make an item more valuable than if it were collected by just one type of collector. I’d like to focus on a few categories. Let’s begin with Christmas ornaments. Collectors of Disney themed dolls and toys will find licensed Disney ornaments by Hallmark and other companies, including Disney itself. Artist Jim Shore makes Disney characters figurines and ornaments. Hallmark features Lionel ornaments, Star Trek and Star Wars, Madame Alexander, Peanuts, Harry Potter, Nightmare before Christmas, Hot Wheels, and many more in several sizes, some with light and motion features. All of these fit the description of a crossover collectible. Those who feature these themes in their collections will want the ornaments, too. Peanuts is an entire category. Peanut character dolls and stuffed animals fit any type of Peanuts collection. Items can include clothing, jewelry, other figurines, books, videos, comic strips and original drawings, china, coloring books, etc. Madame Alexander has made some lovely Peanuts characters and Avon made cosmetics products featuring Peanuts in the sixties. I have two Skediddle Kiddles by Mattel that represent Lucy and Linus, and there were also Charlie Brown examples. Coca Cola collectors love the various dolls representing the Coca Cola ladies on the tray, including Barbies by Mattel. There is also the Coca Cola Santa. The Coke cards also attract playing card aficionados. There are the Coke beanies of the 90s, and the polar bears. Some of these also find themselves in Advertising and Teddy Bear collections, along with Pepsi and 7-Up artifacts. John Deere collectibles are hot stuff, too, especially in the Midwest. There are also John Deere toys, which also fit farm toy categories, John Deere Barbie, Fisher Price John Deere figures, the vintage classic Johnny Tractor, board games, clothing, jewelry, etc. There are pieces of John Deere history that belonged to the family and ephemera of many types. Dolls and action figures go back to the early days of Rock. Beatles collectibles are especially popular. Shirley Temple memorabilia is often collected. Besides the many dolls, books, videos, clothing, clippings about Temple and her life, blue glass with Shirley’s image, figurines are collected. Some will also collect the original books that influenced her movies, like Poor Little Rich Girl, Heidi and A Little Princess. I have a sweater with an Inuit girl on it that I will always keep; I had it on when I waited in line for Ms. Temple to sign her autobiography for me. She admired the sweater. I also have photographs of her doll collection when it was on display at Stanford’s Children’s Hospital. There is a film called Shirley Mania that talks about the Shirley Phenomena. Similarly, Kewpies, Raggedy Ann, Sesame Street and the Muppets, Holly Hobbie, Betsey Clark, and Strawberry Shortcake are other dolls that have inspired cross over collections. . I have read about Elvis collectors, Marilyn Monroe collectors, Elizabeth Taylor collector sand Charley’s Angel collectors. Dolls represent all of them. With every film and cartoon, there are dolls and figures that represent the characters, everything from Lord of the Rings to Indiana Jones. Angels and mermaids have dolls made in their image, as well as clothing, lawn ornaments, jewelry, bottles, advertising products, etc. Unicorns and teddy bears inspire similar objects. These are just a few of the categories of popular crossover collectibles. It would be possible to write a multivolume set on the topic. I haven’t even touched doll lamps and doll bottles, doll shoes, paper dolls and paper toys, doll quilts, paper dolls of characters and those based on real dolls. They are what make collecting fun.