Collectors of vintage Strawberry Shortcake Dolls have a lot to keep track of when they consider their collections. This isn't just because of a wide variety of doll types, but just keeping track of what doll was released with what features can become a bit confusing to a less experienced collector.
Many people think of Strawberry Shortcake as strictly an 80s phenom. That is when her popularity exploded, but the first dolls were actually released in 1979. The five dolls included in that bunch were Strawberry Shortcake herself, a "bad guy" named "Purple Pieman", a baby named "Apple Dumpling", and her friends "Huckleberry Pie" and "Blueberry Muffin". The pets that would become popular additions later were not included in this first issue. Except for Purple Pieman, these very first dolls can be recognized by their flat hands. The later dolls released in this first issue would come out in 1980 and they had hands which were in a curled or curved shape. Rounding out the first lot are "Orange Blossom", "Raspberry Tart", "Lemon Meringue" and "Apricot".
The dolls gained in popularity and later editions added new characters to the Strawberry Shortcake family of dolls. The values of these is often dependent upon what issue they are, what particular character they are, and of course, the condition of the doll itself.
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US $.99
| Vintage Dolls |
I came across this commercial on YouTube. This particular commercial aired in 1981. This was near the start of it all!
Today, having one of the more rare dolls from the Strawberry Shortcake line of dolls could be worth some money. I like to look at eBay as a way of judging the monetary value of many dolls because it is a real world example of what people are willing to pay for a particular vintage doll (or any collectible really). A 1985 Banana Twirl Berrykin recently sold for $415 complete with all of its papers and mint in box. That was the top recent seller as I'm looking. The average selling price for a vintage Strawberry Shortcake doll out of all the recently listed dolls was much lower. It was just around $24.
If you are looking for value, the Strawberry Shortcake dolls are one of the dolls more likely to be sold off in larger lots. Many people seem to list them in these larger groupings and this can be a way to save significant amounts of money if you are willing to make the one time investment. It is possible that you might be able to patiently watch and wait for extremely low priced dolls to appear and then manage to win them, but usually, checking out these dolls that are being sold in lots is a pretty good strategy for building a collection.
During the time period that I checked, the busiest day of the week for Strawberry Shortcake dolls to end at auction seemed to be Thursday. Wednesday had much less competition among bidders and sellers. You might want to check that out.
