This one definitely has me confused.  I got her from Europe but she is nothing like the pink skin American Girl dolls I have ever seen.  In 1966, Mattel was making the transition from vintage to mod.  They produced and sold the vintage mold dolls in the mod pink skin tone exclusively in Europe and Japan.  What I don't understand about this one is her hairstyle.  Normally the European American Girls had either a sidepart or long bob.  This one has a factory flip and the color is very unusual.  The hair string is intact and the flip is just about perfect with equally nice center part.  I gently removed the head to check if she was a reroot and she is not.  There are absolutely no markings on the rim.  If she is a clone, she is the best I have ever seen.

Head has no repaints, reroots, splits, nips, green, trimmed or empty plugs.  Facepaint is complete with raspberry lips.  There is some slight typical paling around her eyes and forehead.  Body is correct pink tone marked Midge 1962/Barbie 1958 with tight arms and hips.  No finger or toe polish as they were sold.  There looks to be some faint staining to the feet and remnants of glue that was used to hold on her missing shoes.  She will come dressed in her original swimsuit in played with condition.  Doll could use a light cleaning.  She will certainly be a stunning and most unique crown jewel in your collection!

Please email with questions before auction ends. 

There is no reserve, so high bidder wins!


Now for the fine print:

INTERNATIONAL BIDDERS

Items will be sent only to the countries provided in the auction.  Shipping method must provide the required online viewable tracking for PAYPAL seller protection.  I absolutely cannot ship without tracking~

Sorry but customs fees and taxes are the buyer's responsibility and it is illegal to lower the item value or declare it as a "gift". 

Orders totaling $250.00 or more MUST be sent with signature confirmation~

CONDITION

I do not rate items as "mint" unless they are still NRFB or I have removed them from the original package myself.

Items are kept in my non-smoking home but I cannot guarantee the previous environment was also smoke or pet free.  Any odors detected will be addressed in the description.

PAYMENT & SHIPPING

Payment must be received within four days.  After that, the ebay automatic unpaid item assistant will begin. 

Shipping is normally within ONE business day of cleared payment excluding weekends or holidays. 

Package will be sent to the address provided on your PAYPAL payment only.   

I ALWAYS combine shipping whenever possible and there are NEVER added "handling" fees.   If you have won multiple auctions, please wait for a combined  invoice.  

RETURNS

Returns are accepted within 14 days.   Items must be in the same condition as sent and will receive a full refund upon receipt. 
NO PARTIAL REFUNDS!

Please contact me before leaving less than positive feedback or less than 5 stars on any of the detailed seller ratings. 
I will do my best to work out any problems but am unable to do so if I don't know what they are!

Thanks for your interest and GOOD LUCK!!!

On Apr-19-14 at 07:17:43 PDT, seller added the following information:

I didn't think this doll would create such a firestorm!  There are some people questioning her authenticity so I'd like to clarify.  This is exactly how I got her and after comparing it to pink skin American Girls and Japanese sideparts in my collection, the head mold and facepaint are far too similar to be a typical clone. When I removed the head to check for a rim marking, there were none of the telltale series of knots that a reroot would have.  It has a series of factory stitches.  Also as I mentioned in the description, there were no rim markings so if it is a vintage clone it is a pretty amazing copy.  The facepaint has no brush strokes under magnification.  More importantly, I wouldn't know where someone could even find a pink skin American Girl head to redo like this.  


All this having been said, it is being sold exactly as found so if you have any doubts it is probably best you don't bid.  

On Apr-23-14 at 06:47:50 PDT, seller added the following information:

I've added a picture of the doll next to a vintage pink skin sidepart bubblecut for comparison.  Obviously you are bidding ONLY on the brunette.  The bubblecut is NOT INCLUDED in this auction and is only being used for comparison!  I hope it helps your decision whether or not to bid~

On Apr-23-14 at 06:53:39 PDT, seller added the following information:

First I want to take a moment to say how much I appreciate my customers.  I do my best to offer nice items to add to your collections.  I take great pride in my business and strive to treat everyone the way I would like to be treated.  I've been a vintage Barbie collector and dealer for over 25 years.  An eBay member since 1998.  Started selling here in 2001.  In all that time I have NEVER tried to deceive any of my buyers and I'm not about to start now.  Judging by the number of repeat customers, it certainly isn't a practice that would go unnoticed by so many people for this length of time.  

Frankly this doll is turning into more of a headache than I could ever imagine.  I had never seen one like her before.  I got her from Spain just as she is pictured.  The seller believed it was a Barbie and sold her to me as such.  I decided to list her.  I've provided all the information I see and posted most of the questions and responses at the bottom of the listing.  There are plenty of pictures and I have said more than once that I am not sure what she is and that she could be a clone.  Opening bid of $4.99 with no reserve as almost all of my auctions are offered.  NO ONE is being forced to bid on her.  That's the beauty of eBay.  The market can and will always decide the value.
 
Now from what I hear, I am being trashed in some private Facebook Vintage Barbie chat group over this doll.  Apparently there are a lot of experts out there.  Yet everyone who has sent a question has given me different theories as to who she may be.  Even though I've been dealing in vintage Barbie for so long,  I STILL don't consider myself an expert.  To this day I confuse the names of outfits.  Yet I am constantly finding things that I've never seen before.   Funny how something like Barbie that was made as long as 55 years ago can still have so many variations.  Too often collectors forget that dolls (particularly Barbie) were made as a TOY to be played with by children and that manufacturers would use up whatever parts were on hand until they ran out.  

As my long winded vent draws to a close, I was wondering.  When the experts are through with me, could find time in their busy schedules to call out the long time dealers who list "all-original-genuine-authentic-vintage-unretouched-mint-never-played-with"  Barbie dolls that are BLATANTLY none of those things?  Maybe after that they can go after the ones who try and pass off regular mismatched pak outfit pieces as "rare Japanese market exclusives"?  I mean, I don't want to tell them how to do their jobs.  But with all the eBay listings that need to be policed, I thought maybe they could use a few leads...