What do you think will happen to your dolls in 20 years time?

I have no illusions that my crew will actually hold much, if any, value in the future, be it twenty years from now or a hundred. At best, they'll be interesting curiosities or dust-catcher "vintage toys" with little to no resale worth. If anyone in the family keeps them, it'll be purely for sentimental reasons, not economic ones.

Given the nature of my crew, I'd say that they're rapidly approaching that "not worth much"-point already, honestly... They're all in excellent condition. I'm very meticulous when it comes to taking care of them. But most of the sculpts I own are already considered very out-dated in style and construction, on top of being practically unsalable due to their lack of CoAs and other markers of provenance. (Recasting isn't going away. Fear of fakes isn't going to decrease, so I don't expect their lack of documentation to become anything but more of a liability as time goes on.)

What I would love to do, eventually, is just hand the entire collection over to some doll or toy museum as an example of their particular type/era of doll-making... but in reality, I doubt I could find anywhere that wanted them. In twenty years, I'll be 66... so the time-frame at least would be plausible for that kind of thing.

 

well there's still plenty of vintage 90's resin ornaments around, so I guess my dolls will last that long - but I'm not sure if they'll last as long as my antique bisque/composition doll, who is over 100 years old and still fresh-faced, with her original body and eyes, although she does have a crack in the side of her head, which her wig covers.

 

I am hoping my dolls will still be with me in twenty years. I started buying them in 2005, and I still love them as much as ever, even though I don't play with them as much as I used to. The resin will almost certainly continue to mellow in color. I am not sure who I will leave them to when I am gone.

I never purchased them to be investments. Many of mine are approaching (or are way past) the point where I will be able to get back what I paid for them, and I don't expect to. The only value they will have is whatever someone who has always wanted a particular sculpt is willing to pay. I only have a few that people would be desperate to buy.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

I am hoping they can be a heirloom or something to pass down. If not, I still hope they get equal love then as they get now. Maybe even more since they grew old with me.

 

Well in 20 years I'll most likely have significantly downsized my living arrangements and in that sense also my possessions. It's hard to say what will happen to my dolls in 20 years but if I have the space for them then I will keep them. If they just end up living in boxes because of space constraints or other situations, I would likely rather give them to someone who will enjoy having and playing with dolls. Personally I don't like to collect things that I can't see and touch and enjoy.

 

I can imagine I will have most of my dolls in 20 years time. I've already collected them for 10 years, and still enjoy them, so I imagine i'll feel the same 20 years on. I don't believe they will hold their value, if anything I think a lot of them will depreciate more. Which makes it even less likely for me to sell of a large portion of hem or 'downsize'. A lot of my dolls were made in small quantities, and selling off dolls that were lovingly sculpted for next to nothing would be heartbreaking.

I do think that the hobby could look very different in 20 years time. I don't imagine that new dolls will continue to be released at the regularity they are now. Alot of the big names that around now could be out of business. Alot of collectables have a 'golden era'. I can see 'download and print at home' bjds being a real possibility, if 3d printer technology continues to improve at the rate it has done in the last few years. I'd probably reduce the cost of dolls, which is an interesting prospect... Although I think there will always be some demand for assembled, dressed fullsets from the manufacturer. Whether i'll still be in the market for new sculpts by then, I don't know.

 

No Idea. If I'm still alive, hopefully they will all still be in my possession, ideally as part of a larger, complete collection and in a proper display space.

 

My old dolls, I thought i would have them forever, now I'm selling them to let go of my past and save space. 10 years and I'm already surprised! The ones I'll be getting this time though.. I'll be getting them during a kind period of my life. The memories this time will be ones I want to remember, and the dolls are smaller, so I'll not have to worry about space. I believe I'll still have my new ones in 20 years!

If I think much farther then that, who knows, but I hope I'll have no reason to get rid of them until I'm very old. Then I hope I can find someone younger that loves them and wants them.

 

I hate thinking about this. Both my daughters hate dolls I've asked the least resistant to them, to at least keep one and sell the rest.
If I'm not dead by then I imagine I'll still have them. I've never sold one of my dolls and I don't think I ever will.

 

Omg, 20 years from now? I'm afraid to think that far ahead. Maybe I will have them still. I love my dolls and don't want to think about what could happen to them ahead in time. I wish they could last longer so i can keep them well preserved. Maybe I could donate them to a shop? But i want to keep my dolls still...I really don't know to be honest. I'll have to ponder this question a little more.

 

i was going to say they would be buried with me, but i realised in 20 years id only be about 40 years old and hopefully not quite dead at that stage (but you never know...)

jokes aside, of course its hard to say what could happen in 20 years and who youll feel about your dolls after all that time. id like to think that i would still love and appreciate my dolls, even if they are yellowed and out of fashion... maybe id have a completely new group of dolls with my old ones sold or stored away, who is to say... im extremely sentimental so i doubt id get rid of them if they turn out to mean a lot to me. its like your grandparents holding onto that ancient, antique set of chinawear for years and years.

so i guess my final answer is, id still have some semblance of my collection with me. this hobby has no age!

 

I think I will still have them but I do have concerns about how the resin will hold up. Hopefully it will stand the test of time!

 

Yes, I wonder of the resin could begin to crumble after some time if a batch was fired incorrectly? Sometimes I do think about what will happen to my dolls and other stuff after I'm gone. Well, I don't think that much about it.

 

I dont even want to think about the resin crumbling. Nope! Never gonna happen!

 

In twenty years I'll be 79, and if the fates be kind, hopefully still going strong and definitely still collecting jointed dolls in general and BJDs in particular. So I expect all my dolls will still be here, hanging out with me at Hale o Mo'olele. (Hawaiian for House of the Flying Lizard, aka Dragon)

I may grow old, but I have no intentions of ever growing up!

 

I hope to have them, even if they are sitting on a shelf to be admired. I've done that with most of my past obsessions, so I don't see why my dolls would be different.

 

Most of mine will still be with me, I'm down to my absolute favorites and would have a very difficult time selling one. I think they will still be in great condition, so that doesn't really concern me. Some of them are from 2008/2009 so they are 7-8 years old already and they are still amazing in every way!

 

I'm right behind you, @JRyu, I'll be 78, and I may downsize some of my collections, as I still have many old Barbies, a ton of Tonners, some huge dollhouses that are still under construction in addition to my bjds. I can see the bjds staying with me to the end of time. I love my dolls!

 

I think they'll still look lovely on my shelf or in a glass cabinet. I might not be as into making/buying them clothes, but I think I'll still love them as collectors items and an art form.

 

I would like to think that I would still have any special dolls and my first ones 20 years down the road, but as other people have stated, it is quite a long time down the road so it would be really hard to know for certain.