$300K Barbies & Elton's Pinball Machine: Award Season in Hollywood!

Hello, Collectors. 

You can’t drive down the street here in LA without a hundred billboards reminding you that it's award season in Hollywood, with every ad proclaiming “For Your Consideration”. It’s likely not our consideration they are pining after, and we here at Mantel HQ don’t have a firm opinion on whether “The Bear” should have been categorized as a comedy at the Emmys, or if “I’m Just Ken” warranted the Best Song nod at the Critic’s Choice Awards. But we do love how the focus on TV shows and films uncovers so many interesting collectibles stories. 

And the award goes to…

Collector’s Item

If it feels like you haven’t been able to escape Barbie over the last six months, we don’t blame you. The film has generated more than $1.4B, inspired the most popular Halloween costumes of 2023, and as mentioned, shocked even Ryan Gosling with the Critic’s Choice Award win for Song of the Year. 

But for generations of collectors, Barbie has always remained front and center. In fact, in 2021, Mattel generated nearly $1.7B in revenue from the Barbie brand alone, more than 60 years after the dolls first debuted. 

The most hard-core of collectors will congregate this summer at The 2024 National Barbie Doll Collectors Convention in Palm Desert, CA, which promises a “Barbie-designed” Mid-Century Modern Dreamhouse tour, among other activities. Attendees may even catch a glimpse of Bettina Dorfmann, the world record holder for the largest collection of Barbie Dolls, now totaling more than 18,500 (Interesting factoid: when Dorfmann broke the record back in 2005, her collection only had 2,500 dolls, meaning she’s added ~800 dolls per year since). 

Top collectors like Dorfmann don’t play around when it comes to Barbie, with many rare examples fetching several thousands of dollars at auction. In 2006, Christie’s held a Barbie-specific sale, which brought in nearly $200,000, led by a rare example of “Barbie in Midnight Red”, which sold for £9,000 (roughly $19K in today’s dollars). In 2020, a nearly impossible-to-find 1967 “Barbie Loves the Improvers” sold for $4,495, and for the motorsports fan, NASCAR #94 Barbies from 1998 can set you back as much as $2,000. 

And those don’t even scratch the surface for the most expensive Barbie Doll ever sold, with the tiara going to a one-of-a-kind, Stefano Canturi-designed doll featuring a rare emerald-cut, 1-carat Australian pink diamond and more than 3-carats in white diamonds. 

And at the risk of bruising his already fragile “I’m Just Ken” ego, even the most expensive Ken dolls can be had for less than $500. 

Penny Thoughts

• After picking up an Emmy earlier this week, the newest member of the elite EGOT community, Elton John, is auctioning off more than 900 items from his Atlanta home, including costumes from past performances, art by the likes of Warhol, Haring, and Avedon, and even a collector’s edition signed pinball machine (forgive us for struggling to imagine Sir. Elton as a plungeroo). Lot estimates range from $200 (sunglasses and wigs) to $1,000,000+ (a Banksy triptych) for the Christie’s auction, set to start on February 9th. 

• From one Emmy darling to the next, last week Heritage Auctions wrapped up their “Succession” themed sale. The top lots included Kendall Roy’s prepared statement for the cruise line scandal in Season 2 (sold for $18,750), Roman Roy’s funeral speech notecards from Season 4 ($25,000), and Greg Hirsch’s bronze dinner bell ($18,750). A replica Panerai Luminor from the pilot hammered for $4,500, which is only slightly less expensive than buying an authentic, working version of the watch. 

• The Heritage-run Succession sale garnered a lot of press, which is unsurprising given the Dallas-based company’s innovative approach to running auctions. Trung Phan dug into the world of high-end auctions and Heritage’s push to tangle with Sotheby’s and Christie's in his most recent newsletter, SatPost, which we found fascinating and highly recommend. 

Mantel Update

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