PennilessCaucasianRubbish American Doll Adventures: Another Sekiguchi Doll Comes Home to the Dollhouse! Welcome Salome!

Greetings and Salutations Doll Friends!

As you may have surmised by my two previous posts about them, I am totally enamored with Vintage Mattel Sekiguchi Dolls! They were produced in Japan in the early 1980s as collector dolls for older girls. If you want to hear the stories of the first two I was lucky enough to find, you can find Selah's story here or Magdalene's story here. So enamored was I to get these dolls, I even traded off other dolls in order to get them! That's right The Babysitter Club Dolls have been sold and shipped away via eBay. Sometimes, sacrifices must be made, right?

Meet Salome!! Yes, another Biblical name and she is named after Salome the Disciple, not the dancer! You know, as in the one who followed Jesus along with Mary and Mary Magdalene? As in the mother of James and John, sons of Zebedee, mother of the sons thunder and mother of the son (John) who was Jesus' favorite. So... Yeah... Had to be done.

I love her! Naturally... I knew I would. The quality of these dolls just blows me away. I don't know how they weren't more popular back when they were made. I suspect it had to do with the original price... Back in the early 1980's, $80 was a lot of money. It's still quite a bit so by today's standards! Only about $25 less than American Girls now and it's 30 years later! I've tried to explain to my daughter that it'd be more like $250 now... Maybe even more. So, no surprise they were made top-notch! Now, due to the magic that is eBay, I got her for less than half of that original cost, including shipping! I love the Internet!

Here she is with Selah and Magdalene in the Doll House. She still has all her original clothes on in these photos.

As you can see in next photo, she was basically 'brand new in box' as much as a 30year old doll can be 'new'. She still had what my husband calls the 'Asphyxiation Bag' on her head. Ha!

She had her original hat, in Mint condition.

Doesn't she have the sweetest face??

Here is her tag, still attached to her arm. She is a La Cheri III from 1984. Magdalene is a La Cheri from 1982. So she is a couple years newer than Magdalene! I real younger sister!!

They were Limited Editions and Salome's number was 678. They changed the little round tags from the first year, from cork to leather. They also stamped on the numbers this year as opposed to them being hand written in 1982. Interesting!

Here is the label on the box. Again, it's a really nice box, just like Selah's was. Magdalene didn't come with her original box.

Even back then, the doll manufacturers had it all figured out! You tuck in photo of the other dolls available and all of the sudden, you need another one! Hmmm,,, Will I stop with three Sekiguchi's? I suspect not but... For now... I'll be good.

Look, they were even under Warranty from defects! So sweet!

I just thought her little hat was so sweet! And makes me suspect, even more, that La Cheri dolls were Mattel's answer to My Friend Doll's from Fisher Price. They were my most beloved dolls when I was a girl and I can imagine loving these to play with them with. The La Cheri's are about four inches taller and have all soft bodies but are otherwise very similar!

Here she is, meeting several of the other dolls from the Doll House. It's gotten to where we can't really fit the whole Sorority of Dolls into one room anymore! Teehee. I am planning on a new "Meet and Greet" of all my dolls but it's just one more Blog Post writing itself in my head that I need to photo and make happen. Get me talking dolls, and I'll have things to say forever I imagine. Hence, me writing this blog. Even if no one ever reads it, it is still fun for me because it feels like I am writing a letter to a friend who loves dolls as much as I do. So... Hello friend!!

Here is the back of Salome's dress. So pretty!

Here she is with Saige, an American Girl doll. Most often people wonder how 18inch dolls compare to them, so I had them take a photo together.

Much like Magdalene and Selah, the attention to detail with the outfit is amazing. She had on little nickers and a slip that makes her dress poof, cute little shoes, and white socks. Her pinafore could probably stand alone as a sun dress if you're low on doll clothes. The printed yellow dress is adorable by itself without the pinafore too of course.

So, like the other vintage dolls I've added to my collection, Salome couldn't wait to get some more modern clothes on!! The other dolls couldn't wait to get a hold of her dress to try on either so they got along like peas and carrots. Here are the three Sekiguchi dolls with two other 18inch dolls, an American Girl named Panda and an Our Generation named Rebecca.

And just the 18inch dolls alone.

As for how the clothes fit other 18inch dolls, they fit fine but are a tad snug in neck for the American Girl doll. Just didn't snap it and it was fine. Also, getting the clothes off and on would probably be challenging for a girl even my daughters age. You have to very carefully put in both arms at same time and work it up and on... If you've any experience in dressing dolls, this probably won't be an issue but I don't want anyone to buy a doll like these and experience difficulty in getting the clothes on and being upset with me. So I mention it. Also, the snaps on the wrist cuffs wouldn't snap for the American Girl Doll because her wrists were too thick but were fine to snap on the Our Generation doll.