She was a doll that represented a modern, well-rounded woman who could be anything from a mother to a doctor to an astronaut. Despite Barbie’s initial success, many parents were concerned about the mature appearance of Barbie’s body, but Ruth Handler saw it as important to give young girls a distinctly adult role model to look up to and aspire to. The first African American and Hispanic Barbie Dolls were introduced in the 1980s. By 1961 Mattel also launched red-hair Barbies, and the same year Mattel introduced Ken (named after Ruth Handler's son), a male fashion doll model. The original price was $3, but depending on accessories, an additional $1-$5 could be added on top. The first dolls were sold in two versions, brunette or blonde, and were sporting a stripy black and white swimming suit. Barbie was introduced as a successful teenage fashion model from Wisconsin and catered to young teenage girls. The first Barbie doll was officially shown at the New York Toy Fair in 1959. Ruth got inspired by this doll during the creation of her first prototype of Barbie and even bought the rights to Bild Lilli. This doll was based on a strip comic in the Bild newspaper and was catered rather as a fashion doll for adults. After a quick research, Ruth found out that there is an adult-bodied doll on the German market, the so-called Bild Lilli. She forwarded the idea of the toy to her husband, who was at the time the cofounder of Mattel, an American toy company founded in 1945.

Ruth saw her daughter role-playing with her toys and thought of toys that could fill in the niche as nothing similar was available on the American market. It was named after creator Ruth Handler’s daughter, who inspired her to make a doll that was based on a full-grown character rather than a baby. Check Out The Latest Barbie Doll Auctions on Barnebys Here!īarbie was first introduced to the public on March 9th, 1959, at the American International Toy Fair in New York. The value of a Barbie doll from this period in a mint condition circles today around $25 000. The Barbies from this period that had red hair and bendable legs are considered to be the rare and most valuable examples. Especially prized among collectors are the vintage Barbie doll models produced between 1959 and the late 1960s. Until today Mattel, the company that launched the first Barbie, has sold over a billion Barbie dolls, making it the company's largest and most profitable line. Barbies quickly became a hit and only during the first year of production sold a record-breaking amount of 350,000 dolls. Barbie doll was based on an adult woman and was designed for young girls to role-play independent, career-driven women. The majority of the dolls catered to children were based on infant and toddler-like designs. Before the first Barbie doll's debut in the late 1950s, there was nothing like it on the American market.

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