What do I do about a doll collection ?

Question

My stepdaughter packed her stuff and stored it under the carport. We are cleaning everything out to get ready to have the house painted. The dolls were in a cardboard box and had carpenter ants and roaches crawling all over the place. I got them out and the bugs. The dolls have a slight case of mildew.

She won't come get them, so I was going to put them in a plastic container up in the attic.

My question is, can the mildew be remedied and if so how? If it costs any money, we don't have it right now, can they be stored and then later be cleaned?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Answer 1

Attics are not good places to store dolls, especially if the boxes are already mildewed. The heat & humidity will most likely speed up the spread of the mildew. Mildew can be transferred from cardboard to vinyl & the end result is not pretty. In addition, not all plastic storage containers can survive in an attic. I have seen dolls melted into their cardboard boxes due to heat & humidity.

As the first poster said, you need to find a doll doctor or restorationist who can tell you what the dolls are worth & if they are even worth saving.

Very few dolls appreciate in value & many collectors want perfect dolls in perfect boxes.

If you can't do that, I would recommend wrapping each doll in archival, acid free tissue paper & storing them loosely in the plastic containers.

Answer 2

find a doll dr. They will now what to do and if they can be fix it will not take a lot of mony and If she will not come and get them maybe the dr. can tell you if they have a $ in them then tell her if you are not going to get them i will sell them. and they nee to be claende now or it will never come out.

Answer 3

I would contact Twin Pines of Maine.  http://www.twinpines.com/

They will give you free advice and also make the best doll cleaners in the industry.