One of the things I love the most about thrifting is finding something unique that I might not otherwise have ever come into contact with. By far, my most exciting thrift store find this past month was the Sasha Gregor doll I found in the toy aisle of Goodwill.
He was a bit dirty and dressed in a really ugly outfit made from a brown sock with holes cut in it for arm holes, but I recognized him immediately (and tried not to squeal in the middle of the store). ;) I had just recently restrung two Sashas for a fellow doll club member, so Sashas were a bit more on my radar than they might have been otherwise.
I found out that the Sasha dolls were produced both by Gotz company in Germany and by a company in England called Trendon Ltd (it sounds like the company was originally called Frido). I also discovered that the way you can tell whether you have a Gotz or a Trendon Sasha is to check the doll's head. The Gotz dolls have a "Sasha" mark on them, while the Trendon dolls have no distinguishing marks. The Gotz dolls were produced from 1965-1970 and then again from 1995-2001. The Trendon dolls were produced from 1966-1986.
There were a couple of fun facts I discovered about the Sasha line in general, too. For instance, did you know that the Sasha dolls were produced in a tannish-brown color because their creator (also named Sasha) did not want the dolls to represent any specific race? The dolls were also made with asymmetrical facial features to make them more like real children. They were flat-footed so they could stand on their own, and could even balance upside-down in a headstand position.
The Gregor I found can still do a headstand, even though his arms are a bit loose.
There's more I could share about Sasha, but I need to wrap things up and get my girls ready for bed. ;) I found a lot of useful pages online about Sashas. If you'd like to do more research yourself, you can see a couple of them HERE and HERE. :) And here are a couple more helpful sites:
sashadoll.com
sashadolluk.co.uk
Thank you so much to Serenata for sharing these links! :) I think I actually found the sashadoll.com one in my earlier research. I hope these help all of you find even more information on this line. :)
I was really torn about letting go of my Gregor. On the one hand, it was very exciting to find such a normally expensive doll at the thrift store. (Full disclosure: I found him for $4.99. I did a starting bid of $29.99 because if he doesn't sell for at least that much, I'll very happily keep him. I didn't feel I should start him any higher because I got him for such a low price, especially since Goodwill wrote the price on his leg and I couldn't get it all the way off.) :( But the thing is, I have so many other dolls and toys I'm already collecting, I really don't need to branch out into yet another line. I'm starting to run out of room! Gregor is cute, but I'm not as into Sashas as I am into other lines.
My other motivation for finding Gregor a new home is that I'm trying to save up for a writers conference next spring. My goal is to get my book finished by the end of December and then spend the next few months editing it. The conference I hope to attend (Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference in California) would give me an opportunity to meet with agents and editors who might be interested in my work. :D
Because the conference is extremely expensive, I'm going to try to slow down on doll purchases and try to earn a little extra to set aside. I don't know if going this next year will be a financial possibility, but I'd like to try. If it doesn't work out for 2015, I'll aim for 2016. Maybe by then I will have finished my second book, too (I have four planned for the series).
While we're on this subject, one of my goals this month has been to try to work on my book for at least one hour every weekday. The success of that goal has been varied, but I've definitely been typing more on my story than I would have if I wasn't making the attempt. ;)
So if my posting seems more sporadic or distracted in the next couple of months, that's one of the reasons. ;)
Okay, so enough of that randomness! All that to say, I've got some eBay listings up, things might be sporadic, but I'll have another post up this week! ;)
Hope you all had a nice Monday! Talk to you soon!
Thanks for those links on Gregor! I've seen a few of them on flickr and have wondered about them! :) Good luck with the sales!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, KrissyLou. It was really fun learning more about them. I thought some of you might find the links interesting, too. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the good luck wishes, too! :) Every little bit counts. :)
P.S. The My Child doll will be the next time around...I'm still working on cleaning up her clothes a little bit. :)
There are many more links on Sasha, these two hardly scratch the surface! There are also lots of blogs dedicated to Sasha & Gregor....mine alone has links to further blogs. A good website is www.sashadoll.com & another at http://sashadolluk.co.uk where you can get an idea of prices!
ReplyDeleteYou should get a lot more for him than what your starting price is! Far too low in my opinion regardless what you spent on him. Oxy 10 should remove any marks.
I really hope you'll reach your goal!
ReplyDeleteIt's odd, I can't see anything on your ebay :(
Awesome find! He's so cute! I've always like Sasha's, but they're not my favorite line.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your writing conference! My dad is a writer and he's done a few, and he really enjoys them!
Have a great day!
Thanks very much, Serenata! I'm a real newbie when it comes to Sashas, so I appreciate you sharing that extra information.
ReplyDeleteI know the starting price was low, but I had to go with my conscience. ;)
I thought about using Oxy 10 on him, but I was hesitant to do so since his vinyl is a darker color. When I used Oxy 10 on my Mermalade Zelf, it gave her blue plastic white spots. I wasn't brave enough to try it on Gregor just in case. ;)
Thanks, Meritre! I'm sorry you can't see anything on my eBay link. I've added a link to the Sasha doll in the post. Hopefully that one will work, and from there you can click the "see seller's other items" link. Please let me know if it still doesn't work.
Is anyone else having a problem seeing my items?
Thanks, Nina!
How fun that your dad's a writer! :) I have several writer friends who have been to Mount Hermon and have told me how helpful and informative it is. :) Here's hoping I get to go! ;)
It works with the "view seller's other items" link, thank you very much! I wonder if the problem is that I'm overseas.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that worked for you, Meritre. I guess the fact that you're overseas could be the issue...I don't do international shipping, so maybe it's something eBay did automatically.
ReplyDeleteSasha! I distinctly remember, as a child, my mother explaining about Sasha's ambiguously brown skin tone. I think that might be why I had one.
ReplyDeleteI think it's such a neat idea for a doll. :)
ReplyDeleteIt used to drive me CRAZY when the local thrift stores used to write prices on their toys with permanent marker. Thankfully, they've all switched to stickers or tied tags these days. Occasionally, I'll see a doll or action figure that has a child's name written on it though. On one hand, I find that charming, but, on the other, it does detract from a toy's appearance/value. I usually get those off with diluted nail polish remover, but it's tricky to do on painted areas without also removing some of the paint.
ReplyDeleteOn a similar note, I witnessed a conversation between two thrift store employees, at the closest St. Vincent de Paul Society thrift store, several months ago, where the more experienced woman asked the newer one not to place price stickers on the hair of dolls, stuffed animals, etc., because a customer (not me!) complained that the toys' hair gets pulled out when you remove them. The other worker's response to this request? "I don't care." I have no idea if that attitude had anything to do with it or not, but said woman is no longer employed at that store [maybe she was just having a bad day, she was always nice/polite to me--I even had a brief conversation with her about the differences between Liv and Bratz dolls one time, at the register, when I was purchasing full-sized Liv Sophie and Daniela dolls (with 7(!) wigs altogether in Ziplock bags), and a smaller McDonald's Liv Alexis doll].
Your eBay link showed up fine for me.
Sasha dolls don't appeal to me, but I did find the information about the reasoning behind the skin color choice interesting (your Gregor just looks like a Caucasian boy with a tan to me though).
I think it's good to have a solid goal (the writing conference) to work towards, and, likewise, setting aside a daily, designated time period to labor on a long-term project like a novel is also a smart way to go about it. I can only imagine how tricky is it to juggle raising a family, maintaining a household, dealing with the mini-disasters that life occasionally throws your way, etc., and also find the time for creative outlets like writing.
Have you ever considered crowd-funding like Kickstarter? You could potentially try that to fund the self-publishing/printing of your book (if that's a route you'd be willing to take), when you finish it, or, alternatively, in the short term, you could pitch some kind of artistic product (since you like dolls/toys, perhaps something in that vein) to raise money for the writing conference you wish to attend.
Hi Mark! It's nice to hear from you. :)
ReplyDeleteYes, it's so frustrating when the prices are written on the dolls and toys at the thrift store. :( I suppose it guarantees that the price will stay on the item, but it sure makes it difficult. I think at the store I go to they use something like a dry erase marker. On some things, it comes right off, but certain types of plastic hang on to the ink.
That's too bad about the clerk's attitude on the pricing method, but to be honest, I can understand. To most people, the toys and things that come into a thrift store are not seen as valuable, and I'm sure the employees have a lot to think about and deal with. The way they price things may not be top on their priority list. ;)
I'm kind of undecided on the Sashas. I think they're cute, and I enjoyed learning more about them during my research, but to be honest, I prefer dolls with more detailed features. And as I said in the post, I really don't need to branch out into yet another doll line. ;)
Having the Writers Conference looming on the horizon has definitely given me the extra drive to get my book done. I've made some real breakthroughs this past month. :) It's great to be more consistently writing on it, too.
I've thought about it, but I was also considering starting Patreon for the blog in general (which is a similar site to Kickstarter), so I'm not sure I want to tackle two at once. I'd also like to get a little closer to finishing before I decide what direction I'm going to take my story (self publishing or traditional publishing). Much of that will probably be decided after I attend the conference. Great ideas, though...thanks! :) I'll definitely consider them.