A Magnifying Glass and Barbie’s Butt
Yes, I am guilty. But – (no pun intended), so is my girlfriend, who mentioned that she still had her Barbie <a href= http://vintagebarbie.com > </a> from childhood.
How that conversation came up, I do not know, except that several of my compatriots were into collecting Blue Ridge China <a href= http://www.blueridgechina.com > </a>, Fiesta Dinnerware <a href= http://www.fiesta.com > </a> , Beatrix Potter figurines, and everything else under the sun. I did not have anything to collect, so felt a bit out of the group.
I began to collect the ugliest pottery on the face of the earth – Camark Pottery <a href= http://www.camarkpottery.com” > </a>, because of its manufacturing spot in the low-country of Arkansas, the region of my birth. I also noted in the Antiques and Collectible section of the local bookstores, there were collecting books on none other than Barbie.
Note the singular form of the noun Barbie. Girls did not have multiple ‘Barbies’ but one and only one Barbie, the star of the show.
I digress in my story of discovery.
I called my mother and asked if my Barbie and all the clothes were still packed away in her attic. Indeed they were, so on my next trip to visit the parents, I picked up Barbie. She had to ride with me because there was no Barbie car or Barbie plane or other Barbie transportation. Also, there is no Ken or Midge or Skipper or Alan, no one else – just Barbie.
Upon my return home, I called the aforementioned friend and she rushed over that Sunday night (yes, she did) with her Barbie. She was young enough to also have a Midge and Skipper; she still, though, had in her hand, her original Barbie as she came through the back door. She also brought along a Barbie Collectible book. Not the one with all the reproductions, but the one for Vintage Barbie. Snobs that we are – it’s Vintage or nothing.
We read and read, looked at pictures with critical discernment and got more thrilled and excited by the paragraph.
That explains why when my high school age son came home and walked into the kitchen, he beheld two grown women standing under the kitchen light head to head with a magnifying glass, peering closely with furrowed brow, examining in close detail Barbie’s butt.
“Let me go out and come in again,” he said in disbelief. “What are you doing?” – emphasis on “Are.”
Explaining that the markings on the but-tocks (ala Forrest Gump) could get him a sizeable inheritance or a nice trip somewhere changed his disrespect to awe.
“Really???? Let me see!” Now, I do so wish I was the one with the camera.
We all were astounded. Barbie #2 is what I have. My friend has Barbie #4 or #5…more current than mine. It seems that #1 lasted a while and then #2 came out. Dear Barbie #2 did not last long and was replaced almost immediately with #3; thus, #2 is quite rare. Hmmmm. Do I hear a drum roll? I have #2. I don’t think my hometown got #1 of anything, actually.
I also have her outfits: the classics and the TM label (which makes them worth more.)
I will write more on this adventure later, but want to tell you this: the quest for Vintage Barbie saved my sanity while I was enduring chemotherapy for ovarian cancer. The trip to a Barbie Show in St. Louis was like nothing I’ll ever experience again. And, my travel buddies and I returned to Pensacola, FL, because we had seen Fluff. I did not know at the time, but soon discovered, that Fluff is one of the later Barbie’s animals. Remember when she had a Pony and a Dog? She also had a Cat – Fluff which also came with a kennel/”cat house!”
When we got back to the condo in Gulf Shores, AL, I continued pouring over the collector’s Bible of Barbie and found that, “Oh, My Stars!!! Fluff is RARE! We have to go back and get Fluff. We can’t leave Fluff in Pensacola! He’s rare!” So, the next morning, before any other adventure could take place, we drove back to Pensacola for Fluff. Yes, I still have him.
I also have all my dear friends who would do anything to create for me a diversion from the horrors surrounding chemotherapy, and years of it.
So, hats off to Barbie.
I’ll tell you more Barbie stories later….but speaking of Cats – I also have a Camark Cat, also valuable and rare. And a story to go along with it.
EBay or Craig’s List, here I come!
