Tracing a dolls history, creepy or cute?

I don't think there's anything wrong with tracking the history of a doll, personally; it can be a good way to ensure the doll is legit, for instance, or a way to find out the true age if it's unknown.

I only have one "doll" that's had more than one owner before me (a body, actually), but I haven't been able to track his history so far. I'd love to actually figure it out, though. For one, I'd like to know the actual age of the body, and for another, to know if the "quirks" I've noticed are just my unfamiliarity with the body type, or something other owners experienced as well. And lastly, though I can always take other options for this, I'd like to know what sculpt is actually pictured on his box! I've learned from box openings and the like that, because of that picture, once upon a time he had a head, and I'm just curious what it was and what happened to it. (Not that I want it; his proper head will arrive sooner or later.)

 

Wow, that's a story MinekaC. It's deeply touching to realize that a doll which is sitting quietly at your home may have travelled across two oceans and many different countries just to get there.I don't think I would ever had the nerve to ask a seller who owned a doll before them; but your idea of tracing the whole history sounds really cool! I like buying pre-loved things and toys; have yet to purchase a BJD second-hand (not counting event heads which were sold by owners right after arrival); but if I do, maybe I'll be brave enough to ask.

 

I actually really enjoy this myself! My only second hand doll lived in two other countries before finding her way to me in the US. It's really interesting to know what a world traveler she is!

 

Some people might be upset -- like, if they HAD to sell the doll for financial reasons. And, people are different, some people might really not want to know. I would think it was neat if somebody reached out to me, esp if I felt like they really loved the doll, were happy they had her, etc. I'd be like aww! I'm glad you love her so!

I did look up a doll I recently bought to see where she had been, and found her path, too. It is neat to know.

 

Interesting, I have three floating heads that I would like to know their path to me.

 

Most of my dolls were secondhand. I only know where one of them was for sure, and I know that I'm not the first owner of many. I'd feel creepy, but I am curious. I've considered it, and have come across pictures of dolls taken by their previous owners. It was cool to see who the doll was for them! But, I don't want who they used to be to conflict with who they are now, if that makes any sense at all!

I've never considered tracking as a way to find out age or other information about the doll, but that's a really valid point! Maybe I'll do some digging tonight.

 

This:

Provenance can be important for these reasons and for answering buyer's questions if you decide to sell.

 

I'm not sure if I'd do that myself, I kind of already know the story of how I got Kazumi's body since I almost bought it twice when it was still a full doll, then it changed hands, once, lost it's head as the head was getting upgraded, then the body was put up for trade and I inquired about it...Few weeks later I had Kazumi. Avalon well his first owner was really nice and it was cool seeing her pictures of him before he was mine. Really interesting to see what my muffin hoarder elf used to be. I'm just really happy right now to have my new girl Noah on her way, I don't have any desire to hunt down her past I just wanna enjoy her.

 

Interesting... so far all dolls I own are either new from company or "I" am the second owner. Something I have done is downloaded the original sellers marketplace pictures (and the odd regular picture of Chiron when he was in his previous home). If I adopt a resin child and they have photos from before they came to me I want them too. I'm truly odd lol. I have in my personal collection Enyu's pictures with his former housemate 'Sebastian'... I adore those pictures as if I took them.

One a practical note having these former owners pictures (and box openings!) downloaded, so I don't lose them if the other person deletes them, should I ever find a need to part with them I have visuals of various aging stages (in other words you would be able to see any yellowing from new to me selling). And yes I have asked the previous owners if I can take the pictures for my own. The pictures in my 'flickr' of the few blank heads I have... only Chiron's arrival pictures are ones I took. The rest came from the sale threads. (which I bookmarked also ><). I trained in a field where 'documentation' was ground into you.... it's a habit now. And yes it would definitely show the authenticity.

 

My only experience tracking down a previous owner was when I wanted to have Soom give a blank Amber head I bought secondhand her original default face-up. Soom said it would be fine as long as I could tell them who the original owner of the head was. Luckily for me, the person I had bought her from was the original owner, so I didn't have too much tracking to do

Even though I'm normally not interested in my own dolls' histories, I'd definitely be interested/enthusiastic if anyone contacted me about a doll that I once sold, that had reached their hands.

 

I just had to do this with my newest doll.
He's a Dollshe Hound bought from ebay, his face-up was what got me interested because I had seen the same face-up often already on Hounds.
I thought it was a default one from back in the days where you were able to buy them from Iplehouse/Luts/Dollmore and Tensiya because surely there would not be a bunch of Hounds with always the same face-up if it weren't a default.

With the help from other forum members and friends I had to realize that I in fact was hunting down always the same doll, I basically had collected photos of the very same Hound from different owners, at different times.
He can still be seen on the first page of the Hound Database, a post from early 2006 shows him while he was owned by at least his second owner.
His second owner is also the one I found the most informations about, I crawled through his DoA posts and his Deviantart to find out as much as possible about the doll. From the other owners I only have pictures of him, but nothing else, I can't even find the source of the pictures anymore because they got saved on hard drives many years ago
He was sold in 2008 to an to me unknown person and I have no clue who owned him during these years, since when he was in the container storage because his last owner left the country etc.
I still am not sure how old he really is, but he's a minimum of 8 years, if not older....and he was at least in four countries now.

It was very interesting to hunt his past down, but it's also pretty difficult in some cases. So much information and pictures got lost throughout the years, many links are dead, many pictures taken down.
I sometimes wish we would have started a BJD archive back then XD

EDIT: Regarding contacting people...I personally would find it cute if sosmeone would contact me about a doll I once owned.
In my case I was sadly not able to reach anyone, especially because the only owner I was able to find by name and with accounts here and on DevArt has left the hobbies and his accounts roughly at 2009 DX

 

I don't know why but I think that would be a little creepy.

 

Because I buy mostly Volks dolls I always track the doll before I buy it unless the person is the first owner. I personally like to know where my dolls come from. Most of their owners are people I know through DoA and it puts me at ease. I once bought an F-01 and she was missing her headplate. The seller did not realize it was lost and it was an older mold, before they were making fake ones. I know because of her reputation that the doll was real and not a recast. But if I had bought the head from anyone else I would have been more concerned. Reputation in this hobby is everything. I never pm past owners for information. I usually just search graveyard threads or feedback posts. I am not a total crazy person. And sometimes when I see my old dolls I'll tell people especially if I was the first owner. I customize all my dolls so I know if they are mine. Plus I have made friends with people I sold dolls to. The person who purchased my Kurumi has become a friend. She bought my doll when I needed the funds to pay off my credit card. I eventually bought another Kurumi. But I will always adore this girl who helped me out.

 

i think it would be sweet for people who get a doll from new to make a little history book as it is nice to know a little about the dolls history.

 

I have a bunch of stories like these -- including a Volks School C head that I bought from a former owner on eBay, eventually sold to a friend, then wound up buying again on DoA from yet another owner after my friend sold it long afterwards. She's still wearing the same faceup! I wish I had kept better information about the first owner and the interim owner(s) --I used to know more than I can remember now, six or seven years later.

But my favorite story is Flynn's, my tan Customhouse Ainomori Jun 2nd. He was cast toward the end of 2003; his first owner was pacific_rin in England. She wrote an article for FDQ Magazine early in 2004 about her CH dolls, with pictures of her tan boy Flynn, and that's where I first saw him (and became obsessed with CH). At some point within the next year or so, pacific_rin sold him to krbuss, and they agreed that he would keep the name Flynn. Then, quite a while later, krbuss put him up for sale on DoA -- where I spotted him in time to snatch him up. I was slightly acquainted with both of his previous owners, and they liked the idea that he would still be Flynn with me . . . and so he is! (I still have a copy of that issue of FDQ with the story about him, too!) If I should ever sell him -- or, I guess, when my estate is closed out after I die -- I want to make sure his history is in the box with him. It would be kind of hard to trace him back to Customhouse now, I think, what with people moving in and out of the hobby, websites disappearing, and such.

 

I see it as neither cute nor creepy in all honesty. Unless you're doing it to go "aww he/she looked cute like that, and they also looked nice when this person had them." That I can see is kinda cute. I personally wouldn't care and would only do it for reasons such as seeing just how old it is or if there had been any modifications to the doll and such.
It seems silly to consider that creepy though. It's not like you're stalking the people who had the dolls, you're just seeing the doll in question while it was in the possession of other people.

 

I don't think it's cute or creepy really. This thread actually got me to look into where my MNF Miyu came from sense the person who sold her to me was not her first owner...I seem to be maybe the fourth owner of the doll! I found all the previous owners except the first one. I was never able to find them anywhere. The funny thing is, my Miyu STILL has her FL box and while it is beat up I do plan on keeping it. It's seen three other people before me and it's a miracle that they all wanted the box. The only real damage that the doll has is a chip out of the bottom of her one leg and her extra hands had a finger broken and re-glued and other than yellowing, she's perfect. She still had her FL faceup too when I got her...though it was pretty nasty looking, I was planning on repainting her anyway. I need to see if I can trace my other secondhand dolls too, it was kinda fun actually. As long as your just looking to see who had the doll before you and your not a stalker then I think it's fine.