Rare dolls of today?

From what I can tell, dolls are mostly rare because they're limited artist sculpts, they're older, or they just flew under the radar before being discontinued. There are so many artists making limited run dolls/heads that it would be difficult (or impossible) to list every rare doll out there!

I think a good example of a really sought after rare doll would be anything from the artist birdcube, though. Their ordering periods are often extremely short (I've heard as short as 3 minutes) or extremely limited, so they're just hard to get your hands on.

 

When I think of rare dolls, I immediately think of the original Volks Suigintou and Shinku, followed by Souseiseki and Suiseiseki. You can see them as one-off models, but I rarely ever see the original fullsets.

 

I think there's rare in terms being limited, so not many in circulation, but also rare in terms of dolls from older companies that have since closed down or changed focus, an rare as in not (or no-longer) the popular ones that everybody wants and/or is talking about.
For example, I have a small collection of RML/Real Missing Link heads on various bodies (they didn't make bodies for the early heads they did). I'm assuming the heads they made/sold fifteen years ago are still around, in people's collections, but I don't see many pictures of them, and they hardly ever crop up on the secondary market these days.

I still see pictures of Elfdoll, BJDs, and they do still crop up on the secondary market, so I'd say they are less rare.

Customhouse dolls are similar in that respect. The tinies from Customhouse (Petite Ai and some Ange Ai) do still crop up for sale and are still discussed a little in the forums with pictures shared, but that interest may have been kept going by Luts acquiring the rights to the sculpts and re-releasing some of the heads on their own bodies.

Teddy

 

I've been collecting BJDs for about 8 years, and since I stuck to mostly mature tinies for the first 7, I've seen a number of lines discontinued due to a lack of popularity. I've seen a few other DIM Honey Alana around, but she was available for less than a year. Some companies stop making dolls after a while for various reasons, so their dolls are rarer. There are also limited time event dolls that are less popular, so few get made. Some dolls are discontinued suddenly because the company or artist makes a few and discovers making them is really complicated or difficult.

 

There are many, many more BJD companies today than there were when the hobby was just starting out, and many that have ceased production, so it’s hard to list off every rare doll in the world. Some dolls start out super common and then go out of production for a while and become more rare. The CP Delfs or Dream of Dolls are good examples there—they were everywhere when I joined the hobby, but ten years later they’ve become much difficult to obtain for anyone who wants to get them. There are also many small companies or single artists who maybe only produced a limited quantity of a single sculpt before they stopped making dolls that no one even remembers.

There’s a sweet spot where rare as in scarce, and rare as in sought after meet that you find the most expensive dolls people pay crazy prices to obtain. Shinku and Sugintou come to mind to me too there, or Fairyland’s MNF Liria. Demand is much higher than supply, so they become crazy sought after status symbols for their owners. There are a lot of limited dolls that never reach that status, because they’re just not as sought after, but that can change over time. It can also change the other way—Volks Williams used to be breathtakingly expensive on the secondhand market, but he’s been rereleased enough times now that it’s driven his price down. You really never know.

 

To me, it'll be Artists' sculpts because they are usually either a lottery or limited quantity. One artist that I have been eyeing their works is Mori9.

 

A lot of the answers here are pretty spot-on. Another type that's not generally considered are the ones that were rare because no one was interested in them when they were available, they got discontinued, and people are still uninterested in them, so they remain inexpensive (or actually lose value). I have a couple of those and I really love them

 

I think I have one of those, a BeYours Catseye. She's discontinued now, and though I just love her and think she's gorgeous, I've never seen another one here.

 

I’m not sure if she counts as rare since she’s still available to buy new, but OfButterfliesNThings dolls, especially my Paulette. I’ve seen a few other Claudette sculpts, but never another Paulette, or any Nicolette, nor have I seen owner photos of their 1/4 girls. It kind of baffles me, considering how many people I see begging for plus size dolls. These girls are true plus size dolls and very pretty!

 

Artist sculpts for sure. I have a Choma from napalm dolls, a Wol from Seedarts and two incoming artist dolls (Frappzilla dandelion moon and a Magic Mirror Levon) which are gonna be pretty uncommon. Particularly Levon which it looks like there's only 20 of being cast.
eep!

Of more mainstream, I have a few that I simply cannot find many other owner pics of. If I look up Doll Leaves Ben for example, there's literally mine, and ONE other person. What?
Likewise my Blue Fairy Rudy I can't find many other owner pics.
They just seem to be quite unpopular sculpts which I find wierd. They're both still available new (well Ben is, Blue Fairy's order periods are wierd) but seem to just fly under the radar, making them very uncommon to see.

I also have a few discontinued limited sculpts from DC, but those are fairly easy to find owner pics of so while there's not that many about, at least they get shared so i'm not sure are really THAT "rare". Still, they can't have made that many of the limited dolls, but they do rerelease them periodically so...

The DIM dolls aren't that "rare" in that you see them fairly often, but they're far more sought after than there is supply now the company is completely gone. I know i'd likely never be able to replace my two for a price i'd be willing to pay, simply because they're not available new now and those who have them aren't that eager to rehome them.

So i suppose there's a lot of factors there.

I have a couple of defunct company sculpts too. And those are always interesting, particularly when they were companies that were never overly popular even at their height. And there's the still in business companies who just don't see to get much attention because they don't have mainstream dealers or for whatever reason people just don't share their dolls from them. (seriously it is SO HARD to find owner pictures of most of the Doll Family A SD dolls for example, and Spirit Doll's whole lineup aren't common either. I don't get it)

 

I've collected most of Fantasia Doll's 2016-2017 female sculpts, and they seem relatively uncommon. I recall when the company surfaced, since they were new and had no feedback, many people wanted to wait and see for the first people to receive their orders. Shortly after the first dolls arrived at their owners, the company already went under. They resurfaced last year, but the quality was pretty... odd on the new dolls and the proportions of the heads were changed on a 3D software.

This is one of my girls:

 

I have several dolls who could be considered very Rare. Unidoll folded in 2010 or so, and I have only ever seen two Unidoll Suris- both of which were in my hands at first, then I sold one and I still own the other. Iplehouse Akando was one of the first run of EIDs back in 2010ish as well, and while they used to be very common they are now hardly ever seen in favor of newer ones- the Akando sculpt itseld has been discontinued. Soom Lupin was one of the first Super Gems in 2009 and I've seen two others, ever, so he's rare. He's the one in my avatar pic there- Lir.

I think my rarest doll is actually a doll body- Aoi Tuki Tukihime. I can't tell if Aoi Tuki is even still casting dolls. They were a TEENY tiny handcast operation that did a few very THICC hipped dolls and only a couple have ever gone past my radar. I think there have been two total on DoA and one is currently in my collection. Her original head is currently on the MP I believe. I have her with a Migidoll Jina head.


So yeah Rare to me is dolls who either had a short production run, few made, are just older, or all three sometimes!

 

Another rare company is Creature Doll.
I've seen other people with pictures of their Creature Dolls (I also have 2 of my own) but I've had an open WTB for a while now and no bites lol

 

I think there are two of us here who have 1/3 Fect Doll girls.... I don't know anyone who has either of their 1/3 guys. The company was always obscure and most of the people who bought from them seemed to go for the 1/4 sculpts rather than the larger dolls.

Spirit Doll has already been mentioned. There are more of their older sculpts around than their newer ones, but I wouldn't call any of them common. I have a Meng Po on order and have yet to find a single owner picture of her anywhere.

Lati's long-defunct Black Line dolls are also rarer than proverbial hen's teeth. I have a Largo pair, but can count on one hand the number of other Lati Blacks I've ever run across.

 

There are also dolls that come as a one of a kind fullset like some artist ones sold at places like Ldoll (which has also stopped completely) and other doll conventions. I have an asella raspberry artist cast in light turquoise resin that came with a special wig and clothes made for her. There was only six raspberries sold at that convention that year and each one was a different colour so that makes them very rare.
A fair chunk of my collection are also older and discontinued sculpts that I hardly see spoken about anymore so that makes them fairly rare to me.

 

That's my Kid Delf Somi, also. She was a standard model for a year or two around 2006-2007ish then discontinued, not very popular. I haven't found any other active users who own one. I'm the only person who posts photos of Somi to Instagram. Makes me a bit sad it would be nice to see others around.

I also own a kid delf Jeong and a Volks Ian who are both quite rare too. But I know other people who own those!

 

Just here to second and third what everyone said that rarity and demand don't always align, as well as how there are just so many more artists out there now that there will never be another El army or similar. I never thought I'd be watching the CP thread for new pictures with such nostalgia.

Unless you're buying something "on trend" or from a company that has consistently offered basic models with few discontinuations then whatever you get is likely going to be considered somewhat uncommon as owner pictures are harder to come by over time or companies disappear.

Multilingual doll people who are active in other forums also might have different insights into this question since I think some sculpts/companies are regionally more popular.

 

When I first think of rare dolls, I think of the dolls keiko-chan is talking about. I agree that this does not seem to be what most people are thinking about when they talk about rare dolls, however. I probably think of this kind because my first doll was a Souldoll Lupinus and Dream of Doll hybrid. Lupinus was the sculpt that made me decide spending the money and getting into the hobby was worth it, but as far as I can tell few others share my enthusiasm for the sculpt. I have come across very few of them on this forum or anywhere else, and Lupinus has long since been discontinued.

On the other hand, I would not have thought Dream of Doll would be rare when I got my first doll since Dream of Doll sculpts seemed to be everywhere. However, I have not seen one for sale or in new pictures in a very long time.

I have a few other dolls that may be rare for various reasons (probably mostly because they are old and discontinued.) I have been meaning to take my dolls out of their boxes and redo faceups and such, so I will post pics of the uncommon ones here if I get to that soon.

 

One off auction dolls! I'm thinking about artists like Marina Bychkova. I'm also in love with Alisa Filipova's made to order dolls! I wish I can bring one of her creations home someday. btw Volks' Mana is also rare--limited to 31 sets