From your point of view, is any BJD worth thousands of dollars?

Is any doll worth that amount from your point of view?
Would I pay it, and is it worth it are kind of different questions.
If you talk about worth just as cost, then yes, people do pay that much money, so therefor they worth it. If you mean worth as in value, then that's perceived more by the individual. If they want it badly enough, then it's worth it; worth whatever they're willing to pay for it.
To me, individually, it's not worth it. I wouldn't pay it.

To those who would not pay this amount, even if you did have the money: Let's just pretend that your dream dolly is a limited going for a few thousand, why wouldn't you be willing to pay this amount?

Firstly, I'd much rather have a doll that I can make in to one of my pre-existing characters. Even if there is a limited fullset somewhere that I think is gorgeous, all I would do with it is put it on a shelf and look at it. I know I wouldn't get as much enjoyment out of it as another, much cheaper doll.
Also, I got the chance to see one of my dream dolls in person, and she wasn't nearly as beautiful as her photos...
Secondly, I'm not interested in scouring the second hand market to own anything specific. There is no one doll I just have to have. For me, this is a fairly casual hobby. I want to be able to buy what I want, when I want it. Any doll that is even waitlisted for purchasing is almost automatically moved from the 'want list' to the 'can't be bothered' list.
And lastly, I have a husband who doesn't support this hobby at all. I think even if I wanted to buy a doll worth, heck, anything over $500, if I actually bought it, it would in all likelihood, damage my marriage.

 

If money was no object, then sure, I would pay thousands for a doll, and yes, it would be well worth it to me. Since that is not the case, no, I would never even dream of spending anything close to that kind of money.

 

I have a husband who bank rolls my doll buying and then I pay him back. Its a kind of reverse engineered layaway, but I don't miss out on the dolls I want.

Having said that If I suggested I wanted to spend $4000 I don't think he would go for it! I cannot imagine paying that much for a doll!! Especially as it would be a loooong time untill it arrived as these dolls are made to order after the release date. I have trouble waiting six weeks never mind months and months.

I don't think I could justify that kind of money even if I had it. It seems just wrong for me. I have always wanted a soom doll, Chiron, Heliot or Beryl but even 2nd hand they would be a lot and I like to create characters for my dolls and the sooms seem to come fully loaded with their own? I think I would never spend that money but saying that I don't judge others for doing so.
Things are worth what someone will pay for them, look at the art world where paintings I hate go for millions because of the name not the painting.

When I sell dolls (rarely) I try to get what I paid for it unless I had a really expensive paint job on it. But to charge loads more because it is not readily available....hmmmmm not sure. I can understand it with the really rare dolls they are almost like antiques when they are early sculpts aren't they.

The bottom line is then after all that muddled thought. If you have the money then who am I to say no to you. I don't think I could spend that much, it would make it an investment and at the moment it is a hobby.

 

To me... no. ^^; I can sort of understand if it's limited but not all the time. Especially since these dolls yellow and the only time they're really worth that much is if they're brand new. Fresh out of the box. Or freshly bought but NEVER came out of the box. There have been some people that tried to sell a doll for that much... and the face up has a scratch on it or the wig is damaged, or there's some other damages to the doll. So no... not worth it.

 

Not to me, no doll is worth thousands. I actually am really starting to love bbb/rs because they are not so costly and with some work they are great dolls, I'm thinking cheaper as I go along, not more expensive. What I really enjoy about the hobby is making clothes, glue sueding, restringing, finding new faceup artists and using them and I want to learn how to take good pictures of my dolls. For me, that is important, I'm not going to say I haven't wanted an expensive doll, but I don't think I will get one, I have priorities in my life that are far more important than my doll hobby.

 

It really depends on what doll we are talking about and how badly I want it. All very subjective stuff. I have paid loads of money on a doll before and also gotten some of my dolls for a great price. In the end it is all pretty subjective I guess.

 

To me I don't think a doll is worth thousands of dollars but if money is not an issue I could spend thousands on dolls. Buying my three grail dolls, buying more clothes/wigs/eyes etc. Another question is what makes a doll worth thousands of dollars: the mold, face up, the clothes, how rare it is, what extras come with it?

 

I may be 86'd from answering this as I don't have any dolls at the moment, nor any funds to go about acquiring one in the near future, but here are my current thoughts on it. I suppose you could consider it a fan considering-hobbiest pre hobbiest point of view, ha!

-Is any doll worth that amount from your point of view?
Four thousand dollars? No, not right now. I'm attempting to make something of an artist of myself in life and as such I've seen (paintings, prints, etc) go for what I'd considered ridiculous amounts. I remember looking at a gallery and saying 'oh, that's nice, but 600 dollars, really? I know how fast he (the artist) made that.' It doesn't take into account the years of training and devotion to his painting or skill or his particular vision or any of that, of course. That painting was totally worth 600 dollars to someone who was not in dire straights financially and also had a particular affinity for it. It also doesn't take into account that this is the artist's livlihood, and most artists actually spend a great many hours on a painting, so 600 dollars ends up to be a fairly good living but not extremely awesome in wages-per-hour if you broke it down like that. I don't know if that equates exactly to dolls.. from what I gleam you sculpt it, then you can pop out as many casts as you want. Limited really only seems a way for them to charge more for a particular sculpt and create a sort of 'rare' sculpt in the community for others to sell and trade and lust after. Smaller companies or 'artist dolls' who go through a lot to churn out even a few castings would probably only e getting their money back selling a doll for a few hundred dollars each, and I've been wondering if they didn't charge a lot less for BJDs and make them more readily collectable to people if they'd make up their loss of profit per doll with quantities. I also figure that the sort of rarity and care that is forced to be taken in choosing given the cost is part of what adds to the preciousness of a person's given doll, but now I'm totally rambling.. Sadly, perhaps, I've yet to come across something that seemed so precious to me that an obviously exorbitant fee seemed worth it.. I'm just now getting to a less than hostile view at the price of regular dolls!

-To those who would not pay this amount, even if you did have the money: Let's just pretend that your dream dolly is a limited going for a few thousand, why wouldn't you be willing to pay this amount? If I absolutely adored the doll.. I would have a hard time overcoming a feeling of responsibility toward other things with such a large amount of money. If I were rolling in money and the economy wasn't as it was in the US right now, maybe the opinion wouldn't be so harsh, but as it goes 'with great fortune comes great responsibility' and in a way I'm almost happier being poor

 

If a doll was considered an artist's OOAK work of art and there was no other doll like this one, then I think the artist has the right to take whatever he or she can get for the work. If it was an auction at Sothebys, there would be no question about price. People might have a bidding war. The doll would go to the highest bidder.

 

Hmmm....even if money was no object, I still probably wouldn't buy a thousand dollar+ dream doll. Since I started this hobby a few years ago I've noticed my taste changes every so often, I used to like a particular doll but now I can't stand him. Also, new dolls come out all the time. What I like now might not be as spectacular as a doll that will be releases several months from now. I'd rather get several nice dolls that I can play with rather than one limited one I'd be afraid to remove from a box.

 

-Is any doll worth that amount from your point of view?

Definitely--especially the Volks limiteds (Oh Shinku, my pretty...). But I don't want those particular dolls that badly so I can't justify spending that much for them. I have another reason for not wanting to pay thousands of dollars for a doll....

-To those who would not pay this amount, even if you did have the money: Let's just pretend that your dream dolly is a limited going for a few thousand, why wouldn't you be willing to pay this amount?

Assuming I could afford to buy a doll that's a few thousand dollars, I doubt there be any way I can feel comfortable around it. I'd feel too paranoid to take it anywhere, or even hold it for that matter. I could display it in a glass cabinet...but that's no fun. I rather wait until another sculpt that's not as rare shows up and steals my heart.

 

Of course a BJD is worth thousands of dollars to me!! I'm just gonna be really smart about the ones that choose me and I choose in return.

 

I'm going to preface my answers by saying that from the economic perspective, the "worth" of an item is equal to how much a person is willing to pay for it. In keeping with the spirit of OP's post, for the questions below, I am defining "worth" as what it means to me in the realm of BJDs.


Is any doll worth that amount from your point of view?

No, to me personally, no BJD out there is worth that much money. I say this without factoring in affordability, because, to me, worth and affordability are separate entities. There are many things out there that I feel are worth the price, but which I cannot afford. On the other hand, there are equally as many things that I can easily afford, but which are not worth the asking price.

For dolls, the most I'm willing to pay is $1500 for an SD-sized full-set. Everything included in this set would have to be top quality and exactly to my liking. I consider myself a casual hobbyist, not a true collector, so there's no doll that I must have no matter the cost. I've been in the hobby for so long that I can say with a good degree of certainty that there will never be a doll out there that will make me want to spend over $1500 on her. For reference, the most expensive doll in my collection is $700 for a full-set. I sometimes read on these boards posts by people who spend a sum large enough to make them state that they feel they overpaid, but that they are glad they got their dream doll. To me, the enjoyment of any object, dolls included, would be greatly lessened, if I felt that I overpaid for it, which is why it is very easy for me not to be tempted by dolls that cost beyond my personal limit.


If you have ever bought a limited doll from a second hand market for a minimum of a few thousand dollars, what are the pros and cons of this? And do you worry that it may lose value due to popularity (or lack of) or from typical wear over time? What makes that doll worth it to you?

I do not buy from the secondary market, but I will answer this anyway because loss of value applies to dolls purchased directly from the manufacturer as well. I learned a very important lesson when I used to collect fashion dolls - never purchase dolls with the hope that they will hold their value, or, would go up in value over the years. Collectors are a fickle bunch and tastes constantly change and evolve - what was hot a few years ago, is old news today. As an example, Tonner's Sydney used to command premium prices, especially for limited editions. Now? I've been trying to liquidate my collection for what I paid retail back in 2002-2003 and it is simply not happening. I'm lucky if I get half of the retail cost of these dolls (new, never taken out of boxes). With BJDs, I pay exactly what I feel I want to spend without considering resale value because if I ever do decide to sell, this value may be $0.


To those who would not pay this amount, even if you did have the money: Let's just pretend that your dream dolly is a limited going for a few thousand, why wouldn't you be willing to pay this amount?

By definition, my dream doll will never cost that much because her price will automatically make me not want her. I will, of course, still think she is beautiful/gorgeous/amazing, etc., but I will no longer want to own her. I am very content with my BJD family and I am also content with what I can buy for under $1500, so anything above that amount is no longer desirable to me. The thing with BJDs is that for most hobbyists, even if one does acquire the grail doll, there will always be something released eventually that is just as coveted and desirable. It never ends. I much rather have funds to purchase new releases that I like without having to sell any of my current dolls, then figuring out which doll I'd like to sell to finance my next desire.

 

Is any doll worth that amount from your point of view?

No. I'm willing to pay over $1000 for a fullset, but I can't imagine paying much more than that. If BJDs didn't yellow, and the risk of damaging the face-up was nearly nonexistant, I'd be willing to pay a lot more.

To those who would not pay this amount, even if you did have the money: Let's just pretend that your dream dolly is a limited going for a few thousand, why wouldn't you be willing to pay this amount?
If I had unlimited money, sure I would. If someone were extremely wealthy, the price of even the most expensive BJDs would seem tiny anyway.

 

-Is any doll worth that amount from your point of view?
No, I think there is a line, and paying more than a thousand dollars, crosses that line. There is only so much you can do to add to the value of a doll, and I don't think any doll, no matter how limited or special, should go for more than a thousand. Even if I absolutely adored a doll that cost say...1500, I wouldn't buy it. I'd just admire from afar, because I don't think it's practical to be spending that much on a doll.
-To those who would not pay this amount, even if you did have the money: Let's just pretend that your dream dolly is a limited going for a few thousand, why wouldn't you be willing to pay this amount?
Like I said earlier, it's just not practical. I can't justify spending over a certain amount of money when there are other things the money could be going towards. I do understand that this is a fairly expensive hobby, and typically the more quality or special something is, the more it costs. I can't reasonably spend more than I deem necessary.

 

-Is any doll worth that amount from your point of view?
No. Not to me. But that doesn't mean I find it stupid or wrong if it is to somebody else.If you can afford it and the doll is worth it to you, go for it. But to me, I could not justify spending $4000 on a doll. I buy the doll I WANT, not the cheapest thing I can get, but honestly, most of the high end brands and LEs don't appeal to me anyway. The most expensive doll I've seen and actually wanted was around $800....I can't even do that. I am on a tight budget, and honestly, bills come first. But even saving, I think I'd feel weird with a doll that expensive and be too concerned about damaging it to enjoy it. My most expensive was $500, and I kind of regretted doing that. i love him, but I don't see $500 in him, when I could have gotten a less expensive brand and loved it just as much.

-If you have ever bought a limited doll from a second hand market for a minimum of a few thousand dollars, what are the pros and cons of this? And do you worry that it may lose value due to popularity (or lack of) or from typical wear over time? What makes that doll worth it to you? I wouldn't, especially not second hand. Though I always HOPE sellers list things honestly, I've gotten far too many dolls second hand that the seller and I do not agree on "like new" or 'no damage'. Not necessarily that they lied, just that their opinion of acceptable and mine did not match.


-To those who would not pay this amount, even if you did have the money: Let's just pretend that your dream dolly is a limited going for a few thousand, why wouldn't you be willing to pay this amount? i just can't justify spending that much on one doll! But that may also be because I tend to favor the lesser known and lower priced companies and have not seen a doll over a grand that interested me. It's not just about cost. I just don't like a lot of them. Also, I have noticed a lot of the higher priced companies don't sand seams...and the lower priced do. I would NOT pay thousands of dollars for what looks like an unfinished doll to me when lower priced companies do sand. That is a HUGE deal to me.

 

If the doll is very rare and I had the funds, sure I'd pay thousands of dollars for a doll. It's crazy but most of the dolls that I want are all over $300 each. Why can't I fall for the cheap ones? Lol, I'm kidding.

 

I wouldn't pay that much for one. I'm probably going to have a really hard time just paying $500 or $700 for one. D:

 

-Is any doll worth that amount from your point of view?
Eh. I don't consider myself a real collector, and my reply is a very definite 'no'. Well, not for me. I respect the fact that someone else might think that a particular doll is worth $4000 and is willing to pay that amount, but I would never do it myself.

This is actually not just a doll thing. With everything collectible, there is a point at which the price exceeds the (more or less) objective cost so outrageouslythat the price one is willing to pay for it has nothing rational about it. I mean that the high price isn't motivated by anything objective but by sentiment and other irrational standards. At that point, only the real collectors are going to feel that this price is actually justified.

-To those who would not pay this amount, even if you did have the money: Let's just pretend that your dream dolly is a limited going for a few thousand, why wouldn't you be willing to pay this amount?
Gosh. Because it's just too much? I'm just not that kind of collector. I've only once spent that sort of money on something that was not useful/necessary, and that was a rare set of books by my favourite author.

I haven't got a dream dolly. The dolls I have bought are not necessarily the dolls that I think the most beautiful - they are the sculpts that I think suit my characters and style best. They aren't rare at all and I don't care about their (lack of) popularity. I look at all the other dollies and admire them, but they are just not for me.

 

i think they sell the dolls for too much money.