Questions would you buy if you saw BJDs at a Thrift Store?

I would not. Partly because I'm at my doll limit space wise, partly because I doubt an ordinary thrift store is strict about recasts. I'd rather get a doll directly from the manufactuer or place that's strongly pro-artist.

 

Let's run the numbers!
Not every doll without a CoA isn't legit. I don't even trust CoAs to be legit. In fact, most of my dolls do not have a CoA and all are legit. I'll look at the doll to check for anything strange.
My biggest issue is supporting bootleggers and supporting people who support bootleggers. At a thrift store, only whatever charity or organization running the store benefits from my purchase. If I am wrong in my judgement, unsavory parties will not benefit. This is NOT the case for consignment shops and I will not take chances there. I'm leaving anything I have a doubt on.
Is it cheap enough I can verify at home with friends and the mods? Goodwill will let you return within 7 days here. Most smaller stores won't let you return at all. Is it cheap enough I can use it for target practice at the range if I'm wrong and can't return it? There's a lot to consider in the moment because you won't get a second chance!

 

I likely would, depending on the doll, the price, and how closely they'd let me look at it first.

If it was priced ridiculously low and in good condition, and I strongly believed it was legit, I probably would, if for no other reason than to rescue it. I would want to examine it first, and I think I'm pretty good at being able to tell, especially if it's a company I'm familiar with. Lack of CoA means very little to me, as plenty of legit dolls never had a CoA or it's been lost, and CoAs can and have been faked. If it had the doll box, company faceup, fullset pieces, etc, I'd feel a lot more confident about it.

Though if it obviously was not legit or I was on the fence about it, I wouldn't buy it. I'd have to be very sure about it. And would still do more research to confirm it! And also look around the stolen and missing doll posts to be sure it didn't end up there without the owner wanting it there!

 

I'm pretty picky, so it would depend on the doll, price, and whether it has other markers to indicate if it's genuine or recast. It'd have to be a really good price and I'd have to have really good confidence it's genuine, and then it'd depend on the doll. In all honesty, probably not, unless I thought it'd be perfect for a character of mine, or I knew it was one a friend was looking for (and then I'd let them know I saw it, and let them make their own call about whether to pursue it or not).

I don't think writing off everything at a thrift shop as probable recasts is quite fair. A lot of things end up there either being donated out right, or from estates, where whoever sent it probably simply didn't know anything about the items, or if they did, how to properly price and sell it on their own. Especially if it's from an estate, there's so many other things to deal with, that it's often just easier to donate the deceased's belongings. I'd be more concerned about if it was potentially stolen, personally.

 

@quilleth big same on the stolen front. Especially if it looks put together. Not to say that blank dolls can't also be stolen, but if it's got a custom faceup and everything, I'd probably assume it didn't leave the owner willingly.

 

I don't think CoA is the end all be all, there are so many other ways to identify if one has a legit doll. Most of mine don't have certificates, either because they didn't come with one from the company or it has been lost to time from all the previous owners, but the headplates/stamps/seamlines/resin colour are all in the right place so I was never worried. I'd buy a CoA-less doll in a heartbeat, but I'd have to see some other things in it that I can trust. If it's an older sculpt that has heavily yellowed and maybe has an outfit from somewhere I can recognise, I'd be much more inclined to believe it's just another hobbyist's old doll, who has maybe passed or left it behind a lot of stuff, rather than when stumbling upon something in rather suspiciously fresh-looking resin of a sculpt I know has been counterfeited.

It's fully possible to find bjds in random thrift shops that are not bootlegs but I think the chances are not great. But of course it also depends on the store and place, Mandarake is also, in theory, a thrift store chain and has a whole section for bjds (of course they also give no legit-guarantee) In any case, if I was confident it's an older legit doll for a decent price I'd probably not leave it in the store, but if it's something from a hyper popular company that I've seen counterfeits sold of before, and that looks too pristine to be true, I'd be vary.

 

I would definitely buy dolls at thrift stores if they are from companies that are no longer active (like Doll in Mind, Dream of Doll, Glorydoll etc.) With the exception of DIM, I think dolls from older companies would be harder to make counterfeits of.

If it’s Volks, Iplehouse, Luts, Fairyland etc (old companies but active), I’d be a little more hesitant and would want to inspect more. Having a CoA is not a deal breaker for me- I have a doll that doesn’t have one but I purchased directly from the artist (JunKyungSun of DIM and Arttong ) It was a sculpt she made very little of and only makes it in bisque now

 

The majority of my dolls don't have CoAs.

When I got them (or when they were made, if I got them second or third hand) CoA's weren't really a thing, and the few that did come with them, I dind't bother to keep track of as it's the doll I'm interested in, not some random bit of paper that happens to arrive with it... So yes, I'd happily buy a BJD I found in a charity shop.

Unless they're trying to sell the doll, why would it come up at all? I don'tlook at somebody's pictures of their dolls and think, "I bet they haven't got CoAs for all of them, I bet they're not legit!" Also, I'm not paranoid, so I don't waste my time worrying that somebody might randomly decide my dolls aren't legit without a COA.

Teddy

 

I have a thrift shop BJD. I got him from Goodwill. I'd guess that at some point in his history, he was someone's darling. By the time he ended up at Goodwill, he seemed to have spent a long time in storage. He has the COA for his body, and I don't think they were issued for his head at the time though the markings in the head would show he is legit. He is my 3rd oldest doll; per the COA, he will be 20 years old next year (made in 2006). I was very pleased to find him as the company that made his body is no longer around, and the sculpting on it is super nifty!

 

I would enjoy owning a doll from a thrift store if I had good reason to believe it was not a recast or stolen. Sometimes people default on storage units, pass away, or otherwise lose custody of beloved things, so I wouldn't assume there was anything wrong before examining it.

It is nice to have a doll immediately, to be able to take it home right away without wait times. I also imagine it would probably need some rehab, which I would enjoy. Customizing is such a fun part of the hobby.

 

I’ve bought one BJD at a thrift store, and she came with pieces of her fullset outfit that to me proved she was the genuine article. No one would go as far as to simulate the outfit in good fabric just to donate it if it wasn’t, and I’ve never seen her sculpt recast (though I don’t know for sure, I just know she didn’t come up when I searched her on AliExpress!). I also agree that I own plenty of legit dolls that don’t have CoAs, by virtue of age, or by virtue of old owners splitting dolls/losing papers/etc. there are many ways to authenticate a doll, a CoA is just the most straightforward.

If I find a BJD at a thrift store at all, it’s coming home with me. I’m seconding what nyaaain said—if it’s counterfeit, no one but the thrift shop makes any money off it, and the thrift shop isn’t going to use that money to support counterfeiting. I’d bring it home, and then do whatever I can to authenticate it—see if I can match the faceup to owner photos, check resin colours it was offered in, check for joints being smooth/well sanded/well finished, and any subtle internal markings a legit would have. If I had any doubts about its legitimacy, I’d also show it to the mods here, and get their opinions before mentioning it to anyone, but I’d want to do as much leg work as I can to make it easy for them to tell me.

If it turned out to be legit, I would fix it up and show it off here, and if it was definitively a recast (colour that was never offered that didn’t lift with acetone dipping/lightly sanding the inside of a joint, jointing in the wrong shapes/sizes, parts cast together that are only cast separate, magnet parts being strung instead, really shoddy insides of joints from a company that always finishes dolls nicely, counterfeit headplate—something definitive), I would engrave “recast” inside the head, and inside the torso and then re-donate it, so that it can be enjoyed by someone comfortable owning it, but could not be sold as legit. It wouldn’t impact the aesthetics or the structural integrity, but it wouldn’t be a safeguard so that any future buyers of that doll know what they’re getting. Plus goodwill would get to make money on it twice. I would probably donate it with a box, and a quick write up printed out that discloses that it’s a recast, what makes it visibly a recast, and has some dealers/resources for finding legit BJDs, so that whoever buys it, if they’re not in the hobby, has that information. That page might get recycled by its next owner, but it’s worth providing some information so that that owner can make an informed decision.

 

Absolutely yes. "Shoot first, ask questions after". I would buy it, drag home, then start looking what it is, why, etc. and what to do with it.

 

I'd totally buy it. It's a rare find.

It's a bjd and it's supporting a charity. I would examine it more thoroughly once I got it home. See if copies had been made of the doll, look up pictures compare the head plate with the legit company. Maybe even ask the mods here, if I needed help confirming it's legitimacy.

If it turns out to be a legit doll, then score!!

If it doesn't, time to practice some extreme mods. I have a dremel and some apoxie sculpt waiting for it. I never need to show the doll, but I could still find a creative use for it.

 

I would, and some of the reasons above why people have said they would not buy it, are rather a factor into why I *would*. If the doll was stolen or lost - great! I have knowledge and connections within hobby communities to help find the owner and get the doll back to them, and it only costs the thrift store price plus shipping. (Maybe not even that, if the owner was local!)

If it's a fake, then being bailed out by someone who "knows better" would get the doll out of circulation. None of my money would go into the hands of a person who makes or supports the counterfeits, and one more bad product would be taken off the market permanently.

I saw a BJD from Dollmore on Goodwill online recently, going for only ~$30. The only reason I didn't bid was because there was already a single bid on it, and the optimist in me wants to believe that someone was really excited to be getting a bargain on such a nice thing. Maybe it would be their first BJD, and their entry into our world, or maybe it's their twentieth. Doesn't matter, it's an opportunity I didn't want to take away from someone else.

Might seem counter-intuitive, but that's my mentality for why it would make sense to buy the dubious or bad conditions ones, but leave the nice ones unless it is something I'm really looking for.

 

I have bought quite a few, all online! Sadly I have not found any BJDs (or MJDs) in the physical thrift store but I always look!

As for the online listings I inspect the pictures as best I can. Sometimes it's very obvious they're a recast and I quickly pass, other times it takes a bit more research to figure it out. And I think there's been one or two that I took a shot with because it wasn't glaringly obvious it was fake but also not reassuringly real either - thankfully those turned out in my favor.

Though I do have some experience in purchasing a fake doll, two actually (not BJDs). I looked at the pictures and it did appear to be custom painted so I thought it was legit, or legit enough, to bid for it. Once the dolls were in my hands, it was obvious the kits were fake but they had been painted/rooted by an artist. This was a new issue for that particular hobby. It definitely sucked but in the end it didn't benefit the original artist that cut corners and I adored the dolls so they've stayed and I don't have any real negative feelings about having them in my collection.

 

I've never had this experience with BJDs specifically, but I have with another typically-expensive, rare, and highly collectible item. Even though I don't regularly collect them, I pounced on it. So I have no doubt that I'd do the same, especially with something I'm already in the hobby for.

I'm reasonably sure of my ability to tell legitimacy vs questionability, so I'd leave it if it felt suspicious, but otherwise I'm in, and I'm stoked. About half my dolls are secondhand already, and I've got a few who were either made before COAs were a thing, or who just didn't come with theirs for whatever reason. There are other ways to tell. I think even if it wasn't a sculpt I was interested in, I'd still buy it for the rush of such a rare find in the wild. I could always sell it on if I decided I didn't want it after all.