Is it fair that African American Dolls tend to be higher than that of "white" dolls of the same style?

Question

When shopping for a doll that comes in White or black, you can always find that the black doll is higher in price and not as many on shelves.

Answer 1

They did not really start producing black dolls in America till the late 40's, and then they were very few, and through the years they used the same mold to make black dolls as the white dolls they were just painted differently. Ideal was one of the American companies that really pushed the black dolls.

Some of these dolls are very hard to find such as the

Madame Alexander Margret face from the 1952 Cynthia she sells for 800 to 900 dollars. Nancy Ann made a black doll as well. But as we have moved forward they have made many more black dolls, and different areas of the country carry more black dolls where you have a larger black population. Like Idaho they have very few black dolls. Its just like the food stores they carried what their buyer buys.

The black dolls from 1800's are very rare and many in museums. I do collect very old black dolls from the 1900's and they are wonderful and hard to find because so few were made. Such as a Black Alabama or a Chase Baby Cloth from 1915 worth thousands.

  

Surprising enough the French made lovely black dolls in African costumes and native features, There is a German made by Simon Halbig as well. They were also made in all bisque in Germany, France and Japan all before 1920.

Because they were not made in the great huge numbers their value stays higher.



But todays dolls are nothing like the old ones. Its supply and demand!!!!

Answer 2

Is it fair? No, few things are fair in life. Production cost should be about the same, and I always feel the selling price should be the same, too. I can say as a doll collector, though, that while the original price of an AA doll is often higher than the caucasian, the AA dolls tend to go on sale faster and end up lower in price in the end. At least that is how I have seen the prices pan out in the doll collections I am interested in. I always wait it out to buy the AA versions and end up with a great bargain. I'm not sure about what is on the actual store shelves, though. I don't get out much and do almost all of my shopping online.

Answer 3

I never noticed that. I am going to check on it.

Answer 4

the supply is less so they can charge what they want.  classic economics.  is it fair?  not really. but capitalism doesn't tend to be fair.