Second hand dollies- tracing their 'Geneology"

Ohhh my MSD Mika came with a tiny passport! With the places she's lived in before in it, I was so happy - it's really fun to be able to trace your doll's history! Especially with a relatively old one like my girl ^_^ It's a concept I'd like to continue with any dolls I sell, if I'm able to, and if (god forbid) I ever part with Noriko I'll be adding a new 'stamp' to her passport

I love finding things like that out about my dolls, it makes them more personal to me - I know that's not what you'd expect but it really does. I love knowing their past 'lives' - either where they've lived or who they've been. I rarely adopt that into their new character but it's awesome to know ^_^

 

If I'm buying a doll second-hand, I always try to find as many pics as I can from the previous owner(s), but I don't really care what their previous character was like.

 

weirdly in retrospect I wish I'd kept track of who on Ebay I'd gotten my Makoto (elfdoll Mir) from...
I didn't expect to get this involved in the hobby, and he was my first doll... I still adore him.

I'm still a bit boggled, remembering the seller commenting that she was having trouble bonding with him (with me it was instant LOVE) and that he wasn't getting along with her girls. (not an issue here, but maybe the problem was the girls fighting over him?)

I kinda wish now I could ask her more about why he didn't fit in to her doll household, but how he's very "happy" with the girls here and every time I take him to a meet up.

one of my other 2nd hand purchases I bought from someone who became a friend over on twitter... and she's got a totally new face up/personality etc. but it's kinda fun to see where she came from. (she was actually probably 3rd or 4th hand by the time she got to me.) OH and she's the one in my avi, she was a harlequin clown in her previous home.

 

I haven't bought a second-hand doll but I do know I would be curious about where the doll had been and who zie was. If I felt it particularly pressing I might ask but it may also be one of those 'better unknown' things too...Hard to say until I experience it myself. ^^

 

I bought my Zuzu Delf secondhand in the Marketplace (can't even remember from whom, and I deleted the emails like a dope), but I didn't ask any questions. I don't know whether she was loved, or if she was purchased merely as a collector's item, or if she was sold because the person needed money or had too many dolls and was cleaning house. Honestly, it didn't occur to me to ask. What was important was the personality I saw in her face and that lovely feeling of recognition--"Aha! That's the one for me!" I don't think the previous owner's concept of her would have been very useful, and might even have interfered with my bonding with her. Additionally, if she does indeed possess a spirit of her own (as at least one other Pagan has postulated here), I would assume she would reveal herself on her own without input from her previous owner!

 

First time I'd given this thought. I have many second hand dolls. It would be interesting to me to know where they have lived, all the way back to their resin blob days. But other than that, my first reaction is to leave their past lives within their own inner world. It might work out on an individual basis that some will be different, but mostly I feel we begin a new chapter in their lives.

I haven't had a character in my head that I looked for in a doll. I fall in love with a doll, through the new company photo, or in some photograph. I find faces that speak to me and if it is for sale, I try to buy. If not, then I watch for that doll. I don't feel like I know who they are until I have them here. They reveal themselves for who they want to be with me. That hasn't included who they were before, yet.

I haven't been in DoA long enough to recognize or feel I know other owner's dolls. That might be different.

 

Well, my Vikenti was second-hand from a friend on here.
I actually didn't look up who he used to be though, until about a year ago I was looking at photos on his former owner's flickr from a doll meet, and I stumbled across him as 'Logan'.
If I see pictures of Logan, that's all he is. When I look at Vikenti, I just see Vikenti. To me, it's like he's always been my doll.
I'm also in the process of buying another second-hand doll from the marketplace here- it won't affect how I think of the character I've given her, but I'm off to look up her past history now out of curiousity!

 

I like to see at least one pic of my dolls' past looks, even if just to satisfy my curiosity as to their previous life.

But by the time they get to me, I've already started working mentally on their backstory, so they're the person they're told me in my head they were by the time they make it home.

Ryu

 

I bought my only resin-baby second hand, her previous owner had only had her for a few months (she bought from company) but had made videos about her arrival and a fan video about another doll of the same mold. I thought (a dangerous past time for me) that when the previous owner got her and saw that she was nothing like the fan video ideal, she sold her. Sooo umm, not only did I research my dolly's past- I made up a story about why she was sold >.>
But she did get to start over as my Beatrice, with a small nod to her past. Her name was Saki, she is now nicknamed Miso

 

My first ever doll's head was purchased from some guy who bought her but never even took her out of her box. Her faceup was so beautiful but he couldn't remember who did her and I have yet to find the artist.
If I could only find her artist that would make me really happy.

I often joke about her long lost father because we assumed the artist was male, but we can never know.

 

I'll second what Ryuichi Sakuma 13 said.

I haven't had a second-hand doll (yet) but I already have characters ready for the dolls I (wanna) buy so who they were is no concern of mines. Not much ^u^

 

I've never bought a doll second-hand, though I'm considering one. My sister has, though, and I think I would do something similar to what she did; find out what I could about his (or her) past lives, but not let it effect how I treat the doll. I'd let the doll speak for itself, I guess. If it looked better/happier in something similar to its old personality, I'd do that, but I wouldn't hesitate to try out some new styles either.

 

I wouldn't really do it to keep the doll's personality. But I do think it's a huge help. Then you can look through the pictures, maybe see different eye and wig colors on the doll, and I think that might help when trying to find the one you want to put on them, since you can already see how different colors and styles look on the same doll.

 

I have bought second hand dolls and while I think it is interesting to see them in previous lives it doesn't change who my doll is to me.

 

I always do it, its so interesting.
Some of them have excellent pictures which I save, others didn't really have much done with them.

I'm actually tracking down the history of my latest purchase now

 

I think I'm a little different. I'm not too interested on the history of my doll (I bought her second-hand), but I'm more interested in what happened to the dolls or items I have sold in the past.

 

im pagan and i let them speak for themselves. i did run Pierce down though. my Mom got him for me on ebay. he was so "green" with a beautiful face up. so i ran his face up artist down and bingo...one former owner. he has had a few. it took him a while and i think he feared rejection again before his personality came out. the others bought second hand i have had no problems with. most of them speak before they get home lol! noisy bunch with all their wants and selfishness

 

All three of my dolls are second-hand and I don't really care what their past was! I appreciate that they were loved.

Mostly I buy secondhand because a) it's more affordable for me, as my husband and I have a tight "fun money" budget, and b) I have some really strongly-held beliefs about the environment and doing my best to limit my impact. I am not AT ALL saying that people who buy firsthand are destroying the environment! I'm just saying that, for me, if the doll I want already exists then I feel that instead of commissioning the creation of a new doll, and using those materials and being the cause another product is created in the world, when the doll I want exists and is available to me, it's a no brainer which way I should go.

Now, if a doll I want isn't available some day on the secondhand market, then I probably will buy new! I don't want anyone to think I'm down on new doll ownership. But that's a big factor to me in my decision to "adopt", if you will. But each doll is new to me, so I don't take old personalities into consideration - although I DO sometimes take inspiration from the way the doll was styled before (IE, keeping the same hair color) if I think that it looked particularly good with the doll.

 

I only own one doll that is not fresh from the company. I never bothered with the doll's past since I could see that it was well cared for and loved.

 

Yes, I'm the same! I would be happy to see a doll I used to own pop up in the gallery As far as dolls I've bought, I don't try to track their pasts at all...