Finally a new post!! Vintage Engel Puppe 16inch and 18inch Dolls!

Greetings Doll Friends!

I am so sorry for my absence! I've been mired down with technical issues! When I changed my blog from being under my original "anonymous" authorship to be affiliated with my personal "real" Google+ instead, in hopes of fostering better communication, my Blogger App on my phone no longer had ANY of my posts. I changed it back but they are still gone from there. They are still "gone" this morning, see:

 I was all despair, thinking I'd deleted my whole blog for a moment! Was greatly relieved to find it still there! Whew! However I have had a dickens of a time getting my recent attempts to post to "Save as drafts" as was my normal way of posting. I take and post photos from my phone and then flesh out writing portion via computer or iPad. Couldn't get photos to post though! So today I decided trying to post just photos by hitting "publish" and it worked! So you'll have to forgive me if I post a wordless photo post initially going forward until I figure it out. Don't have time to say much more and so will have to come back and add more photos and the story of these amazing dolls I got for a song on eBay later! Have a doll project I am working on and it's a tricky balance, doing the projects, photographing them, posting photos and writing... NOT complaining, I love it, it's my hobby! But being my TypeA self, it's hard to leave things done less well than I know I am capable of doing but... Life is slowly taking the TypeA out of me! Haha! So... Back with story of dolls later! In meantime, you can check out how cute they are via photos! A pictures speaks a thousand words, right? 

Till I get back....

XXOO 

Heather

***UPDATED December 15, 2015***

Hi Doll Friends!

Kind of forgot I left this un-done. I am so used to posting 'complete' posts! I've posted a lot in the last few days because I had a 'backlog' from when I was having issues posting at all. Anyway... So am back.

I think I've mentioned before that I have a 'watch list' on eBay that I keep my eye on. It includes dolls I generally can't afford unless I find them on a lark and win a bid for cheap or something. When I first saw this lot of dolls, I thought it was a pretty good deal but still out of my price range to be spending on dolls just at that moment. They were listed at $135 with free shipping. See? Great deal still but.... I put them on my watch list though because, who knows, right? Well, I think sometimes when you put something on a watch list, the seller gets more motivated to get you to buy or something because this has happened to me more than once. When I glanced through my watch list a few days later, they'd lowered the price to $95!! Including shipping!!! The shipping alone on four dolls still in their boxes would likely be $40 or something...? I still don't know what it cost the seller to send them? They were beautifully packaged though and showed up at my house like this. Because, as you can guess, I hit "BuyItNow" before I took another moment to think!

They were not only 'new in box' but had obviously been stored in a climate controlled storage area with no odors at all. Why do I say this? Because they even smell 'new', like brand new from the factory new. They actually smell almost exactly like Herberger's Department Store did when I worked there in the late 1980's. Which is ironic because these dolls were made in 1988 and 1989. Perfectly preserved by some doll collector for.... Me, apparently. Thanks Doll Collector!!!

They all had their original literature and even the receipts for original purchases on the Home Shopping Network back in 1988 and 1989. Every single one of them was over $100 new nearly thirty years ago!?! Four hundred dollars worth of dolls in 1989 money and I got them all for under $100! What an amazing find!! So totally stoked. Most of the Engel Puppe dolls I see are not nearly in as good of shape and are usually $50 or more for ONE doll. *contented sigh* I love eBay. Too much!! I need to change my passwords and forget them! But that's another matter... On with the dolls...

Here are their original reciepts. 

They were each attached to the box in the same way, with one simple rubber band around their neck held on by these little rubber hooks. They also each had on a hair net to keep their hair nice, which I don't think had ever been removed. 

See the rubber band?

They all had this same little note about their hair in the boxes too. The hair? Oh my goodness it's so pretty and soft!!!

Here is the first one. I haven't named her yet because nothing has come to me... It will... I just need to keep looking at her. Heidi maybe? 

Such a sweet face.

This one is the only 18inch one of the four. The other three are 16inches tall. I didn't know it when I got them, but she is my favorite of all of them! She is so pretty and her hair is amazing!! I named her Crystal after one of my best friends because she looks a lot like her. I've written up her review here.

See what I mean about her hair? Glorious!!

Probably the softest doll hair I've ever brushed. 

Gorgeous!!

This one is to be named Carla after a co-worker I had at Herberger's back in my teens. She was one of my hardest bosses ever but also one of my best. She taught me a lot. This doll looks like she might've as a girl. 

She came with the cute hat!

I am working on a review of her right now... I'll eventually get one done on each of them. 

See how long her hair is!?

This is Lance. Or that is what they named him. Which I thought was funny and might actually keep since I know a Lance and this could work as him. 

I think he's a great boy doll!! I mean, really, a boy doll of this quality would set me back what I paid for all four. He is only 16inches but they'll work really well with the 18inch sized dolls. 

So handsome!

A factory flaw! A strange one at that! He seems to have a smear of clear sealant glue on his arm with a small bit of paper stuck in it. How odd! I haven't tried to get it off yet and it's not exactly like I can take him back to the store at this point. Haha. I don't really mind 'flaws' in dolls though. People have flaws a plenty and so why can't dollies have a few?

Here they all are at the table I bought the same day they arrived in the mail, off Craigslist. I got the table and two chairs for $25!! They are reproductions of American Girl Doll Kirsten's table. She was the doll I orignally wanted back in the 1990's but was too cheap to every buy because I thought it was silly for grown-ups to buy dolls. Silly me silly me... Luckily I don't feel that way anymore. Dolls make me happy, what's the harm in that?

Here we have Panda (AG) photo bombing so you can see a size comparison... American Girl seems to set the standard afterall. 

Keep an eye on my blog for reviews of all four dolls!!

Till next time!
XXOO
Heather