Index:
Bild-Lilli, Barbie's predecessor
Barbie's friends and relatives
Barbie through the ages, 1959 - 2009
Barbie luxury doll to massproduction
The five different collector types
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Principally all Barbie Dolls are marked on their back.
Onthe back of the head and inside the feet there are occasionally
more identifications. A complete list of all the markings for each
group of dolls would be much too long and therefore only the most
common identification feaatures are described below.
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Year numbering:
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The Year numbers within the markings do not refer to the individual
production-Year or sales date, but these indicate the Year in which a
particular mold had been introduced and patented.
A doll with the marking „1966“ can be brand new (e.g.in 2002),
because the same molds are being used for decades in some cases.
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Countries of manufacturing:
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The manufacturing of Barbie-dolls requires a great deal of handicraft skill.
To keep the production expenses down most doll are produced in so called
low cost countries. These are subject to changes during the past Years.
The indication of a country within the marking may give important hints about the dolls age.
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Identification Guide:
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This identification guide is intended to be used as a QUICK REFERENCE
guide only. It includes a sampling of the many Barbie and family dolls made
by Mattel before 1976. The close up head inspection enables to identify WHO your
doll is and approximately what year she was manufactured. In most cases,
the doll name, hair colors, eye color, original outfit and country of manufacture
are given. I did not include all of the markings available on each doll,
since the year on the back of the doll is the date of patent/copyright registration,
NOT the year of manufacture.
This is the most confusing issue to anyone trying to identify the year their doll was made.
The following is a list of countries in which dolls were typically manufactured for those years.
