A lot or a little?

To collect or not to collect. The Bold Doll thinks about minimalism and maximalism. Into which camp do you fall?

A recent conversation at home led me to ponder the nature of collecting. We were hanging a series of prints that I had made. They are based on one of my obsessions, the Sonia Ottolini doll. I had created a drawing of the doll’s foot and then screen-printed them in a series of pop-art inspired colorways.

My idea was to hang the whole series on a row. However, once we’d got them in place, my partner pointed out that it was far too much. I had to agree, it did overwhelm the room. So we instead opted for hanging just two at a time and I can rotate them as desired.

But therein lies the root of the difference between a collector and a non-collector. My other half wonders why on earth you would want more than one of anything, whereas my inclination is to get the whole range! His father actually had a fine collection of marine chronometers, so the collecting gene is in the family, but has maybe skipped a generation.

Having said that, I do try to keep things under control by opting for collections that are in some way self-limited. For example Robert Tonner’s excellent Théâtre de la Mode dolls from a few years back represent a pretty accurate interpretation of the original 1940s fashions, but the line is not so huge as to be unattainable.

Similarly, Takara’s Lady Luminous dolls have always held an appeal, with their 1980s fabulousness. Incredibly expensive when they were new, these dolls are pretty affordable these days. Probably because so few people collect them – it baffles me as to why they are not more popular. A relatively manageable number of different dolls were produced so it’s not impossible to put together a representative collection.

The single-edition doll also has a certain attraction. Once you have it, you’re done and there’s nothing more to collect, especially if it’s a gift-set. Sometimes it may not have been the maker’s intention to produce just the one doll, but for whatever reason that’s what happened. So dolls such as Lee Park’s Bambola, Wendy Roper’s Milou, and Louis Marx’s Girl from U.N.C.L.E. all have a welcome place in my collection. Not to mention the diminutive Twinkie doll, another vintage innovation from the Louis Marx company.

Much as I admire vintage Barbie and her wonderful early fashions, this doll was just too successful in the marketplace. Which means that there is way too much to collect for me to be tempted. Apart from the fact that I was much too late in the game and others got there well before I started collecting, the sheer range of dolls, clothes, and accessories is intimidating. Vintage Ken is a more likely candidate as the doll was made in smaller quantities and with fewer outfits.

For me, the big advantage of being a collector who lives with a non-collector is that our home is never likely to be overrun with a collection of any sort. The dolls are mainly packed away and cataloged, so I can usually find anything I need straight away. They just come out to play now and again, and for photography purposes. I really don’t need to see everything all at once!