Baby Face
Rarity Ranking

The following list was initiated by a few collectors during a discussion on one of the message boards. I condensed my rarity ranking list to 10 levels, beginning with Black Sarah who has been considered the most rare of all the Baby Face dolls, although discussion among the collectors wonders if Black Becca might actually be the rarest.

The chart below is based on observations watching ebay auctions, so it is most probably inaccurate. Actual production numbers from Galoob or Kiscom have not been available so this is the best we can do to determine rarity.

Another factor to consider is how many dolls were simply thrown away in the past ten years so the production numbers would not be an accurate indication either even if we knew what they were. But it might help if we knew that there were 40 Cynthias manufactured compared to every 1 Sally that was produced for example. However, there's no way to know. The rarity ranking lists have been helpful as a guide for new collectors especially.

BATHTUB BABIES. These dolls seem to be getting harder to find, all of them. The black Tubbies are very scarce especially. Very!

COMMON DOLLS. The common dolls (8 through 10 ranking on the chart on the chart above) have stayed in approximately the same range for several years. The hard to find dolls all seem to be getting more and more expensive to obtain and harder to find. Eventually I expect the "common" dolls to become more scarce also but so far there is a steady supply of the "common" dolls at almost all times on ebay. Remember, even a "common" Baby Face is still an extraordinary doll!! :)

RARE & HTF DOLLS. We have seen a dramatic increase in prices in all the hard to find dolls in the past six months. The rare dolls have almost doubled what they bring on ebay. The midrange dolls such as Charlene, Beth, Tina, Carmen, Naomi, Kerri, and Marcy have been selling for approx. $25 to $50 more than what they were selling for last year at this time. I suspect this might be due to the existence of additional collectors who have found their way to ebay, thus making the HTF dolls even harder to get. I think the actual quantity of available dolls has stayed about the same. (Since no one keeps records or reports of bidding activity, this is all just conjecture and opinion, for what it's worth.)

STORE DISPLAY. It is interesting to note that in November 1998 the store display with five dolls sold for $456. I don't think the store display has ever sold that high since. Generally, the store display seems to sell for around $200 and as low as $125. Even the dolls are worth more than that. Bidders should be aware that it almost always breaks during shipping. It's very heavy and the plexiglass tends to crack during shipment.

• Home