![]() ![]() Some production issue dolls even have three or four rows of rooted bangs. There are some regular Skipper dolls with two rows of bangs also. They have two rows of bangs – instead of one like most Skipper dolls - but Test Market Skippers were found with shorter bangs as well as with bangs the same lenght like the ones of the regular dolls. ![]() On the inner part of their thighs (one or two digits and one or two letters). Additionally, one or (most of the times) two legs have markings Their feet have a slight incline and the JAPAN marking on the right foot is written from toe to heel.Their legs are made of a different material (rougher and not as shiny, supposedly resin) and have a wider stance.The legs of the Test Market Skippers are 0.2 inches shorter than the rest of their body and the body/legs of the regular Skipper dolls.What differentiates the “Test Market Skippers” from the regular Skipper dolls? Maybe the girls interviewed found the very first issue too plump, and found that their legs were too short and looked chubby due to the wide Skipper dolls as well before mass producing them. And that Mattel, the creators of Barbie, wanted their advice on future plans for Barbie, because the members of the Fan Club were the people Mattel wantedĪlmost certainly Mattel did some market research on In the letter enclosed it says that some members of the Barbie Fan Club had been selected to become The letter of the Barbie Advisory Panel included a questionnaire of several pagesĪsking the little girls questions like how many Barbie dolls they owned, whether they would like a a boyfriend doll for Barbie and what they thought of Barbie’s hair. In 1959 for example, the company published a newspaper for members of the Barbie Fan Club to join theīarbie Advisory Panel. Mattel was interested in finding out more about what little girls liked about their dolls and how they expected them to Prototype doll with the same leg mold and no marking on the feet. In the “Miller’s” Magazine (October/November 1994) there's an article in which author states that she had seen a photograph of a Skipper In the meantime, I talked toĪnother original owner of a Test Market doll who also thinks she got her doll in 1963. I couldn't find any proof for this though. German lady who showed me her Test Market doll and told me that her father got her from the New York Toy Fair in 1963. But some of them definitely were also sold in stores to the public - in the same box and with the same accessories like the regular issue. For a long time it was assumed, that they were handed out to Mattel employees only, prior to mass Without much doubt though these dolls were the first Skipper dolls ever produced in These dolls are much rarer than the later Skipper dolls, but not as rare as they would be if they indeed were sample dolls,Īnd for sure they aren't prototypes. Doll markings: Skipper © 1963 Mattel, Inc. A very small number was sold as "Dressed Dolls" (pls. They came in the regular boxes and had the basic " Prototypes" I call them “ Test-market” dolls, because they definitely were neither Sample dolls nor Prototypes. These Skippers are often being referred to as “ Sample dolls” or It is possible that Mattel ran out of heads for a short period of time and used some leftovers from the test market period on these bodies.During the last decades some SL Skippers were found which differ from the SL dolls sold in 19. Which indicates that the Color Magic and Two-Tone Skippers must have also been some of the very first Skipper dolls ever produced.Ī very rare Skipper doll with a row of extremely long bangs on top of extremely short rows of bangs also doesn’t have markings on the inner rim of her head. In addition, some “Color Magic” Skippers - as well as “Two-Tone” Skippers (the ones with theīeige eyebrows). There are exceptions though: The so called “Test Market” or “Sample” dolls don’t have a head marking. They are hard to detect, because some dolls do have some kind of a very thin “plastic skin” on top of the inner rim, which prevents you from seeing the markings. (You can find a list of these markings on page: "Identification help: List of Skipper dolls 1964 (1963) - 1988") Sometimes (Almost) all Skipper dolls had markings on the inner rim of their heads. ![]()
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