Strawberry Roots

Have you ever had a collection that you feel has taken control of you at any point?

When I first found Strawberry Shortcake on ebay I had to get some of the vintage dolls. I really was only interested in the five inch dolls. 'That's all I am going to collect', I told myself.  And the Bandai line of dolls was hitting the stores around the same time, I believe.  This was so exciting to me. I could once again, not since my K-Mart experience in 1993,  go to a store and buy Strawberry! 'I am only going to collect the 5 inch dolls', I told myself -- probably as I put one of the cute minis into my cart. 

So, we flash forward to some dozen years later. I've been to the abyss and back! I'd gone insane. I had cards, books, minis, shoelaces, kids clothing, kitchenwares, cosmetics, etc. If it had an image of SSC from any era, I probably had it. Now, this is all well and good if you're intent is to collect those things and if you are truly interested in having collections of those things. But for me, many of these subcategories of SSC collections some how just happened to me.  You may roll your eyes at that, I do, but in the last few years, I feel like I suddenly opened my eyes and found that my collection had gotten away from me, I'd let it take the wheel. And I wanted it back!

I started selling the items that weren't dolls, at first on a very small scale, the things I felt I could live without. It wasn't easy for me at the beginning to break up complete sets, but I kept telling myself that I was only breaking a rule I had set for myself.  It really wasn't much at the beginning, but I used the cash I got for these items, to buy more dolls while I was waiting for the next incarnation of Strawberry. I realized that waiting for Strawberry also was part of the problem. When there was no Strawberry doll to buy -- because I had them all, what was the harm in buying a vintage greeting card, or two, or twelve, or now I have to have all the cards that have baby Apricot on them, and ones with Blueberry Muffin and then of course any with Custard, and on and on.

It felt good to earn back some money and I was on a roll.  I began to sell more and more. It was freeing to no longer be under the thumb of completing this book collection and that mug collection etc etc.  I'd sold many items, but I still had cabinets and bin after bin full of SSC things I wasn't displaying in my large space, that was, in fact, half the upstairs of my home.

Then came a time when I needed more income. I didn't want to sell really, but knew it was the adult thing to do. At this time I started to sell the many prototype items I had along with many rare things I'd acquired, too.  It was really hard, but sometimes being an adult is.  I was sad about losing such great things from my collection for a long time.

But then slowly that free feeling was coming back.  It even felt wonderful, eventually.  I had been so attached to having these things that no one else had. That now made me feel rather ill. Strawberry is for everyone and her glory should be shared with everyone. I've always felt that. And that very feeling is a blog for another day. But in this situation, I felt like who was I to hoard these things for only a select few friends to see? Who appointed me curator of Strawberry? No one! I certainly didn't have the most fabulous collection of protos and rare items, but it was impressive.  Except that it wasn't. I simply bought these things from those selling them because I had the money to spend on them -- Big deal.

So, I'd gotten over my need to be a completionist collector and I'd gotten over some odd, not really in my general character, need to have the rare and one of kind items. And I had really begun to feel like I'd gotten my head out of the sand and was becoming the collector I'd always wanted to be: a doll collector.

Now, I still have lots of other items of SSC and many other lines, but I don't have box after box of things that don't ever see the light of day. They are simply things I've not sold yet, or that I will keep because I truly enjoy, not because I need it because I have all the rest or because it's super rare. I have the items I love for the joy of Strawberry, for that feeling towards these dolls I had as a kid and still do. Don't get me wrong, this office is still a sea of pink and red! I still have a collection that makes normal people's eyes bug out when they walk into my office.  I love that, and I hope I always have way too many dolls around me!


I'm not decrying having it all! Isn't that the American dream? Seriously, I applaud those who have this vast and organized collection of everything Strawberry, I even admire them. Truly. But I never set out to be one of those collectors. I have a love of so many other kinds of dolls that came about while waiting for Strawberry, that that is always what I'd wanted -- lots of DOLLS -- all different sorts of dolls. And that is what this new room in my new home is really starting to look like. I am so glad that something in me was able to see I'd gotten way off track with what it was I actually wanted and that the resale value on Strawberry items has been able to fund my new/old direction.

Now, I've got to leave you here.  See, there is a vintage SSC sticker lot on ebay that's ending soon and I just gotta have it! ;P