Retired Groovy Girls Dolls

Are you a fan of the Groovy Girls by Manhattan Toy? Groovy Girls are 13" specialty cloth play dolls designed for girls ages 3+. Manhattan Toy introduced the Groovy Girls in 1998. Groovy Girls are soft dolls with contemporary, removeable clothing. They are multi-ethnic, and reflect a diversity of hair and skin tones. They are funky, but not too far out for girls to want to play with them.

Originally, Manhattan Toys just started with the "Girls" or dolls. Early lines used the same letter of the alphabet for a single series of dolls -- like Liza, Lucy, Lexi and Lupe in 1998. Other series started with other letters of the alphabet. Recently, the dolls' names start with different letters, even though they are in the same series. Some dolls stay in production for several years, and some dolls are introduced and then shortly retired.

After introducing the dolls, Manhattan Toy began introducing related items -- like separate outfits, pets, furniture and accessories. Many of these specialty items were produced for a short while and then retired. In addition, some special Groovy Girl items were produced for special occasions -- like the Olympics, or for specific retailers -- like Sam's Club -- for a short while, and then retired.

Estate Sale Theft Trend

Have you ever been to an estate sale? For the uninitiated, an estate sale is different than the garden variety garage sale, at which one of your over consuming neighbors lays out stuff that he never should have bought in the first place. It's hard to find anything decent to buy at the typical garage sale.

But an estate sale, that's a different story. At a true estate sale, the entire household is opened up. The general public is invited to wander through, inspect, buy. Multiple generations of furnishings, prized possessions, and the general detritus of someone's life are laid bare for your perusal.

I like to go to a lot of estate sales. Sure, I sift through a lot of junk, but I find amazing things -- vintage dolls, antique English transferware, silver, jewelry -- mixed in. A recent trend, probably exacerbated by the rotten economy, seems to be estate sale theft.

Last week, I went to a small, tightly controlled estate sale held in a garage. (The house was staged for sale and no one could enter.) The liquidator was distraught because someone had stolen a piece of gold jewelry right from under her nose. This week, I went another estate sale. The family had a collection of antique guns. Wouldn't you know it, someone stole an antique gun, again right under the watchful clerk's nose. The house was packed full, there were probably 50 or 60 people in a small space, it is really scary to thing of a light fingered bandit strolling around the crowd with the stolen gun. Luckily, no one would sell a loaded gun at an estate sale (we think). Have you noticed more theft at estate sales in your area? Is this a trend?