What is my doll worth?

I own a lot of Narodna Radinost dolls. I love their craftmanship and attention to detail, their attempt to capture the rich diversity of folk costume within the former Yugoslavia and the way for many people they have been a reminder of a home left behind. Sadly however they are not worth a great deal of money.

 Souvenir dolls do not by and large go for large sums of money with the exception of those made by Lenci and perhaps the Door of Hope Mission dolls from Shanghai. Amongst collectors of souvenir dolls the Russian stockinette dolls and the dolls of Norway's Ronnaug Petterssen are popular. The Kimport dolls with a Kimport sewn tag also sell relatively well and of late I have noticed increased interest in the Syrian dolls of Baronne Sandra Belling.

I would say very generally the small 5" dolls are worth around USD $10-15, the 8" around USD $15- 25 and the larger 12"  USD $35. This is for the 1950's and 1960's dolls in good condition, the later dolls from the 1970's do bring less. These are the prices I paid when I first started collecting in 2009 and they have remained pretty constant. Of course there are exceptions and online auctions with multiple bidders can result in higher prices. Interestingly the Serbian dolls continue to be the most popular sellers in the range.

Sometimes the dolls are boxed but this does not seem to impact value at all.

Susan Hedrick in World Colors Dolls and Dress Folk and Ethnic Dolls 1997 pg 175 sings the praises of the Narodna Radinost dolls and concludes by saying

 They are some of the nicest dolls in folk costume offered to collectors in latter years. Do not  overlook them!

 I think they are still being overlooked and perhaps over time they will become more valuable but until then there is still a lot to love about them!

* This is just my opinion of course and for people listing dolls for online sale you must decide the price you are happy with.