To hide or not hide your BJD's when you are out of the house?

Oh no, hiding them away would never work for me. Firstly, I simply have too many (50-ish) with too little closet space. And secondly, I display them in small groupings throughout my home in artistic vignettes. They’re part of the decor, and as such, they seem like part of the family because they’re always “there” to be enjoyed by everyone. I’d never be able to lock them away…everyone would miss them, and it would totally destroy my personal interior design aesthetic.

But I can understand why, if you only had a few, one might want to put them in a safe, hidden place from an abundance of caution. They are, after all, beloved luxury items and a personal treasure. So why not? It’s just not the way I personally choose to treasure my collection…I’m more of the letting it all hang out there where I can enjoy it the most and investing in a good set of locks persuasion.

 

I mean, I don't think people will take dolls? They might knock them over but most people are completely unaware that they have any value. I keep min on a shelf with doors so they can't fall, but I'd never picture a thief going for them, they'd steal things with worth to normies like TVs, electronics, shoes, bags, ect.

 

I think dolls would be the last thing most burglars would even think to steal? They would be more likely to target things like electronics that they know are of value and that they can quickly resell.

BJDs are a rather niche hobby after all and most people outside the hobby aren’t aware of how much they cost, so I don’t think they will be targets for a normal burglary.

 

I leave my dolls out. I think the average burglar still looks for electronics and jewelry. If I'm wrong I don't want to be corrected in all honesty because realistically, it would not be healthy for me to live in so much fear that I completely restructured the way I have dolls inside my own house. Granted, I think I live in places where one would not think I have anything of particular value. I try to take precautions over who locally might know if I have something valuable and where I live. After that it's out of my hands in my opinion.

 

Interestingly, I actually have experience with this. Back when I only had one doll, I had her stored in an office space I was renting. Some people broke in and stole my game cube, all the games, and a 10 year old laptop. They broke the doll either through spite or carelessness (a 60cm obitsu so I was able to repair her) and didn't touch the $800 sewing machine nor the $300 dress form.

In a way, I was very lucky. Though, my experience showed me that if someone's looking for something to pawn they'll absolutely dig though everything and trash whatever they don't think is worth much. I don't share this to spook you, I just don't think keeping your dolls out of sight would change much.

My best advice? Lock your doors, and remember to lock your windows too because an open window was how they got into my space.

 

I feel like people are more likely to steal my fancy drawing monitor than my dolls. One of these is easier to flip for cash.

The average person can't even tell which doll I own is the most expensive one and I keep leaving them around randomly disassembled when I am in the middle of a project which probably makes them look even more dubious in value.

 

He'll have his hands full with your TV and laptop.
He wil put your phone in his pocket if it's out.
He'll consider your dolls creepy and not worth his time
which is probably true because the pawn shop on the
corner won't give him much for them. Your dolls as a
burglary target can be pretty low on your worry list.

 

Also, selling secondhand dolls requires (in any reputable space where they would be worth selling) proof of authenticity, which a burglar is unlikely to grab, which would wildly lower the value. Stolen dolls can sometimes be identified by their face ups and reported as stolen goods and the thief can be caught that way. Overall, even if a robber knew the value of bjds, stealing them would be more trouble than it's worth in my opinion.

I also try not to live my life endlessly looking for worse case scenarios. I try to take reasonable precautions, but I would rather be robbed than be worried everyday about a robbery and be unable to relax and enjoy my possessions because I felt the need to lock them away.

 

I worry about being robbed to because I was robbed once on Xmas and had everything stolen. It was a pretty good Xmas which is really rare for me, so that was pretty disappointing.

What I worry about daily is will my dogs be hurt or stolen if there is a robbery more than my dolls. Will i be attacked and my dogs dognapped when they are outside, since dog napping seems to be on the rise. This also makes me think will my dolls be robbed if i one day go out one day when i decide to have a photo shoot for my dolls once I learn. However, I do worry about my dolls as well, since I love my dolls too just not as much as my dogs.

I feel like if there was a robbery my dogs and other stuff like dolls would be targeted because I dont really have stuff like tv and those electronics devices such as ps5, since i don't need those things. I do have my phone and a laptop and that's good enough for me. No one in my family uses a tv or play those video games at home. I really do want a ps5 though... it looks fun.

I think I will get a tv and eletronic devices later that way if there was a robbery the robbers would go for that, but I hope never to be robbed again.

But I think i don't have to worry too much for my dolls because these dolls are only desirable to doll collectors so those robbers will have a hard time selling the items... I think they would go for more easier items to steal and make a profit off of stealing from others such as electronic stuff, purses, jewelry, watches, and pets.

 

Like others said, electronics, cash, and jewelry are waaaaay more targeted. Dolls fall under collectibles, and would probably be considered the same as funko pops or anime statuettes. And honestly I can see a burglar pocketing some random hentai statuette because boobies (whether it cost $15 or $200), over an articulated doll that to outsiders looks more like something from a horror story about hauntings (see that recent geico commercial where the guy finds a bunch of dolls and mannequins in the attic of his new house).

 

Lucky for us doll collectors most people are creeped out by dolls and are more likely to run screaming from our home than to steal them

 

Most burglars are looking for a quick and easy take. Leave out old laptops and cell phones with no personal info on them as well as jewelry boxes of cheep paste stuff and piggy banks full of pennies; and they'll likely leave the dolls alone.

 

When it comes to dolls, they are not considered a "good target" for burglars. Burglars are looking for things that are easy to resell and most of them will know how much they can get for an item. If they are not sure of their abilities to resell an item, they will leave it alone.

We have been burgled once a long time ago. We lost the VCR, a set of V8 camcorder, an expensive set of cameras and jewellery. However. we do have this painting that's actually worth quite a bit of money hanging on the wall and that was left alone. Once again, this is because normal burglars have no idea if they can resell such things.

Now, if you are leaving your house for an extended period of time and you do not live alone, then I would definitely recommend you to keep your dolls behind locked doors. I've recently heard of a girl who was out on a business trip who lost her dolls and doll furniture because they were left out on display. She lives with her mother (who have no idea the price range of the dolls) and her mother invited the neighbour over. The neighbour's kids absolutely trashed everything. She was devastated but couldn't do anything because she was still on her business trip. So if there is any potential of kids and/or pets that might come close to your dolls while you are away, keep them locked up.

 

I don't really think about things like this. I haven't hidden my dolls away, that would take over an hour to do most likely, but I usually keep them upstairs in a spare bedroom, and other than the dolls, there is nothing of any value whatsoever in there. I'm sure a burglar would be far more excited about the den with the tv, two computers, 9 gaming consoles and a ton of games for all them. Most people I've met in this area just think of my dolls as big Barbies and are totally shocked by the value.

 

I sometimes relocate my dolls to avoid sunlight in certain hours of the season when I know I’ll be gone for long period of time. When the sun is not the issue, I make sure they are safe from my cat boys. That’s all about it. Lol.

On a general security side, I rely on home security since I’m very uncomfortable with neighbourhood I currently live.

 

Most thieves would have no idea how valuab;e dolls are - they're after eay to sell, "regular" high cost items, not specialist market items so woould be unilkely to take dolls even if they were aware of their worth (which they'd be unlikley to know)

And, I'd sepend more time hiding-and-unhiding them than I'd spend away feom the house, if I were to subscribe to that sort of thinking:


And this is just he ones in the livingroom....

Teddy

 

I have to agree with everyone else. My anxiety over my dolls comes more from the neighbor's banging too hard on the walls or my cats getting up on the display - I worry about them falling over and down. Having put them on stands, I feel much better about their ability to stay upright despite cats or wall thumps. But I also have the room in the highest part of the house. We also have neighbors with flood lights, security cameras, the whole shebang outside so good luck not getting caught by either the literal police across from us or the marines next to us.

So if a burglar was to come in, I would expect the tv, computers, video game systems, and any visible jewelry to be stolen. I would be more worried about my cats - did they find a safe place to hide or did the burglar hurt them?

The only time I heard of a doll being stolen was from a friend who said her friend had to put them in the luggage compartment of a bus and someone stole the bag they were in. I keep expensive items like that, close to me.

In the end though, to me, the life of people and animals means more to me than jewels, electronics, or even my dolls.

However, I also have a LOT of dolls. For me to hide them would be...tedious. If you just have a few dolls, and you're able to hide them quickly for your own piece of mind, then there is no harm in that until you feel comfortable leaving them out.

I have too much other anxiety in my life to worry about being robbed or my dolls being stolen.

 

I think most burglars wouldn’t realize they’re even valuable. UNLESS the burglar knew you and had heard talking about how much they’re worth I guess.

 

I have actually heard of people I know irl having their sewing machines stolen before (maybe thieves are just taking anything with a power cable?) but most people wouldn’t know where and how to sell collectibles even if they got them legitimately. There’s lots of people who receive a huge amount of Barbies or something similar in an inheritance that end up going to Reddit looking for advice on how to get rid of them.