Vintage Barbies, Family Heirlooms?

I was home recently visiting my mom and helping her clean out closets and trying to be useful. After all the work she has done these past few years helping us pack, move and unpack, I really wanted to help her with some of her daunting projects. We had been working on going through family heirlooms, old baby clothes boxes and memorabilia when she suddenly ducked into a corner and excitedly said “and guess what I got from grandma’s house!” She emerged with something that I haven’t seen since I was probably 11 or 12  but could instantly picture what was inside.  It was my Aunt’s old Barbie box from her childhood circa the 1970s. 

This Barbie Box called “the World of Barbie doll case” by Mattel, from 1968

I remember it because it always lived at my grandma’s house (much the way my barbies currently live in my moms attic) and when I would stay with my grandma as a little girl I would play with them.   I loved playing with the vintage clothes, I remember them being so different from what I had available for my barbies.  So retro and funky, and old!  I have to laugh because when I think about it now those barbies were about 20 years old at the time, and my barbies are now going on 30+.  

The dolls were in a bit of a state having been very well loved and played with over the years. And surprisingly there were 2 barbies, a skipper and a ken doll that all made it into this box! They were, perhaps, a little worse for wear, some missing limbs, and others who had been the client of an at home beauty studio. And it is entirely possible that 12 year old yours truly is the one who left them in such a state, sorry Auntie!

After pulling each outfit and admiring it, remembering how glamorous and beautiful I thought some were…

and how funky others were…

some were just classic and cute…

appreciating the little details like metallic snaps and gold metallic thread, teeny tiny labels, and tiny gold chains…

and of course my favorite of all…

The 1968 Truly Scrumptious doll from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

I got curious.  Were any of these vintage barbie clothes actually worth anything online?  Thus ensued a 1.5 hour side quest to see if any of these vintage and (according to the internet) antique styles were worth some money.  I came across a few interesting listings like these that were rather a lot of money actually (assuming the item in question was in really good condition)…

But mostly what I enjoyed seeing was the outfits that were still totally intact, some with companion pieces I had never seen, with the matching shoes and everything. 

It also left me feeling a little sad and nostalgic honestly.  Here were the cherished playthings of someone’s childhood for sale online off to find a new home.  Now I know this kind of sentimentality can lead to all sorts of problems clearing out the piles of stuff that accumulate in our homes. And I’d much rather see those pieces find a new homes and make new memories than end up in the dump. Oh and by all means if you have a pristine $800 barbie outfit, go for it!!!  But what happens to them when you keep them? There is no way we would even considered selling these treasures, there were to many memories with them, and they aren’t even mine or my moms. So it begs the question, can your old barbies become family heirlooms?  

What actually counts as a family heirloom?  

What is the definition of an heirloom you might ask…well according to webster’s online it is “a valuable object that has belonged to a family for several generations.”  I take two things away from this.  1. it must be valuable(does $300 dollars on eBay make it valuable?), and 2. it must have been passed down and have meaning to multiple generations of the family, been held by multiple hands (does 2 generations count?).  Another online resource states that an “heirloom must be at least 50 years old”.  Only 20 more years to go Brittany’s Barbies up in the attic, I sincerely hope you haven’t melted.

Value can be a tricky term though, value can have monetary implications , but it can also mean importance, usefulness, or holding regard for.  

So in our modern culture of fast everything where most of our things are purchased from amazon, Homegoods and Target, and we are all purging and “Marie kondo-ing”, and “home editing” our stuff every 5 years, what sort of heirlooms will we be passing down to future generations?  What is worthy of being a family heirloom?  How is it chosen.  I think it’s obvious for the big stuff, things like jewelry, China and the family silver. (Oh and go read Jenna’s post about Heirloom jewelry!)  But what about my brother’s hot wheels collection and my aunt’s vintage 1970s barbies and clothes? 

I think the best thing about family heirlooms is the stories we get to tell about our family, and the moments of remembering or imagining our family (living and passed) engaging with those items.  These Barbie clothes have that for me, that is the value I find in them.  I love thinking about my aunt as a little girl playing with them, making alterations to make them more stylish, and honing her notoriously excellent fashion sense on these barbies(and skipper and Ken).  And I love remembering weekend stays with my grandma playing with those same barbies on the floor of her guest room for hours.  It was always such a treat when she would pull them out for me.  

For me I think that means that I’ll be asking my mom to hold onto this barbie case a lot longer, and hopefully someday i can share it with more generations to come!

 And don’t get me started on my own barbie collection… That is a question for another day.

Special Thanks to my Auntie Boo for letting me play with these and build such wonderful memories!

Let me know what you think about family Heirlooms in the comments or if you recognize any of these outfits!