That's right, that little b---- has everything and now she has me wrapped around her finger like that song by the Police. She has all the cool friends, had a great guy (heard they split), drove all the best cars, has the biggest houses, and to top it off she never gains weight or gets old! That's right, I'm talking about Barbie!

I'm a Barbie Doll collector of 250+ dolls, so far. If you are a collector such as myself, there is a good chance you have a guide book already. In fact, I have two. Although they are not current, they still have their use. If you don't own one and collect, I would recommend getting one.

Technical Junk:

The Collector's Encyclopedia Of Barbie Doll Exclusives And More is the second edition. It has 485 pages with more pictures than reading. Just the way I like it. The book's author is J. Michael Augustyniak. The copyright is 2000 and includes dolls from 1973 until the end of 1999. The ISBN is 1-57432-134-X.

My Reason For Recommending An Old Book:

Ok, so the book is old. Even so, I still return to it. Why would anyone want an old book? The truth is I can't say that I have seen any newer ones, or at least any newer ones worth while. That and this book seems to be one of the better ones I've seen. Maybe it was the whole 9/11 thing, or maybe it wasn't. I can't really say why I can't find a newer edition or why Barbie's values have gone all crazy. I can only speculate.

My Likes:

There's many more reasons why to own this book though. Granted it's old, but it was great when it first came and that is why I feel that it's still very good.

It's a hard cover book and the picture on the cover of a variety of Barbies is clear, sharp and draws you in. The book itself is very sturdy and durable. It can take the abuse I give it. Should I dare say, well made? I haven't broken its spine yet, this is a good thing. Yup, men and books, they really don't fair too well with me. Just kidding. I couldn't help myself with that one.

The book mainly focuses on Barbie Dolls, but also includes pictures and values of some of Barbie's friends, fashions, and accessories.

It lists the dolls by their names and titles and where they came from. Such as, on page 30 it shows one of the Avon Barbie Doll exclusives. It lists the doll as Avon 1998 Winter Splendor Barbie. It then goes on to give a brief description of the doll and then lists her value in bold.

The value might be bunk, but the description and picture of the doll still work great in identifying the doll. If I'm unsure of a name of a doll, spelling, or what it used to go for in price, I can look it up with ease. I can then look it up on eBay and look at the completed items list to see what price I can expect to get for it or pay for it. Which by the way, with a lot of the dolls their value has dropped nearly 50%, sometimes more, sometimes less. It all depends on the popularity and demand of the doll.

Another thing I really like about the book is if there were two different types of the same doll I can look that up as well. A good example of this would be one of my favorite collections, the Dolls Of The World. In 1982 the first India Barbie (first Indian, but not the first doll of the collection) was released to this collection. There are two variations of this doll. Both dolls look pretty much the same, but one has a shirt that is textured and sparkly golden, while the other one has a shiny metallic golden version. They're also both worth the same. Old book or not, still valuable information to me.

There's two other variations that come to mind. One is from the Dolls Of The World Collection again. The Jamaican Barbie is exactly the same, but with the variation one has blue plastic earrings and another has silver earrings. The one with the silver earrings is worth five dollars more than the other.

The second variation (the third I've mentioned) that comes to mind is Spiegel's Golden Qi-Pao Barbie. There's one that is single and by herself with nothing special, while the other is a the Hong Kong Commemorative Edition 1998 Anniversary Edition Golden Qi-Pao Barbie which comes in a big, very displayable box, with a gold coin bearing the doll's likeness, and is limited to 8,888 dolls. The value of this doll is almost double that of the one without the coin. It's always nice knowing these things.

The book is well written as far as I can tell. It's informative and easy to understand. Each doll is provided with its own details and sometimes a collection in general will have its own details. The Dolls Of The World was a collection that the author introduced as a whole, along with each individual doll. It's one of the longest running collections to date and that probably has something to do with it.

The book also appears to be well organized. The contents are listed in the front like they should be. After that you get a short introduction which gives a little bit of Barbie history along with how the book was put together and how the dolls have been listed. The author mentions that sometimes surplus dolls are liquidated through other retailers and how she lists the dolls regarding this matter. She gives an example of how there was an exclusive to J.C. Penney but it was sold at Hills, but that she lists the dolls according to whom the doll was created for. The doll would be listed as a J.C. Penney Barbie rather than a Hills Barbie. That makes sense to me.

The book also discloses information about the ever growing importance of the condition of Barbie's box and how to rate them (C 1 through C 10, C 10 being the best), what to expect if the doll's box is less than mint, and what her values are based on. Mint meaning the box is in perfect condition the way it left the factory. The values in this book are based on Barbies with mint boxes that were NRFB, which means "Never Removed From Box". That is important for many collectors. Many collectors almost end up collecting the boxes rather than the dolls. Pathetic, but true. Boxes are that important. Collecting has been taken to a new level over the years.

The next part of the book shows all the different Barbie Doll head molds that have been used over the years. It shows pictures, names of the doll that introduced a particular head mold and the date. This also includes Barbie's friends too.

The rest of the book is pictures, values and details of Department Store Specials, Store Promotional Dolls, Wholesale Club Dolls, Barbie Doll Exclusives, Collector's Series, Convention Dolls, and Mattel One-Of-A-Kinds. Very Comprehensive indeed.

Not to mention that nifty little index in the back of the book is listed alphabetically with the doll's stock number and what page to refer to. I rest my case as to why I like this book and still think it's worth having.

My Dislikes:

I can't say that I really have too many complaints. The only complaints I have are the obvious. I wish there was a newer edition available. A newer edition with updated prices and the dolls that have been listed the end of 1999 to the present.

I guess if the prices of Barbie Dolls with less than perfect boxes and Barbies that were removed from the box were listed it would be even more helpful and make the book more thorough. They don't list prices for anything but mint, never removed from box dolls.

My only other complaint would be that the book could be that much more handy if it also listed an index in the back of the book, no pictures, just doll numbers and then the name of the doll that goes with the number. The other book I own has this and it makes it easy to look up a doll by its number. This especially works well when you are dealing with a shipping box that doesn't have the name of the doll printed on it, but only the number to the doll. That way if you get a doll from say eBay, and the doll comes in a shipper, you can then look up the number and see if the shipper goes with the doll you received or another doll in your collection.

Conclusion:

The book is one of the better, if not the best Barbie Doll books I've come across. The values listed in the book coincided more with the prices of doll shops than with the prices you can expect on eBay. Hot items on eBay can go through the roof, while some of the overproduced or least popular can be picked up for much cheaper prices.

I've been collecting for years and the book is very nicely done. It contains great pictures, information, and has an extensive list of Barbies that is easy to look up. If only there were a new edition out. It's still a definite recommend for a collector!

Recommended: Yes