Where do all the broken, balding Barbie dolls go?
Bettina Dorfmann, a German housewife from Duesseldorf, has saved hundreds of such broken Barbie dolls over the last 12 years.
Dorfmann takes or buys other people's broken Barbie Dolls or old clothes. She then will fix them or use the bodyparts to fix other dolls.
PHOTO: AFP
"People send me dolls from America, Belgium, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, and a whole lot from Canada," Dorfmann, said.
Dorfmann probably has one of the world's biggest Barbie collections with some 4,500 different models.
Dorfmann buys the dolls in the best condition to keep for herself. They can sell for up to 1,500 euros (NT$65,000) each. But she also buys lots of broken dolls which she uses for spare bodyparts and clothes.
Dorfmann said her customers are not children but adults like her — people who remember their childhood fondly or serious collectors.
(Jason Cox, Staff writer with AFP)
所有破損的禿髮芭比都到哪去了？
德國杜塞爾多夫的一名家庭主婦蓓堤娜．朵芙曼，過去十二年來已拯救了數百個破損的芭比娃娃。
朵芙曼拿走或買下別人壞掉的芭比或舊衣，加以修理，或利用它們的身體部位來整修其他芭比。
朵芙曼說︰「人們從美國、比利時、法國、義大利、日本、荷蘭寄芭比過來，也有很多是從加拿大寄來。」
朵芙曼大概是全球最大的芭比收藏家之一，珍藏了四千五百種左右的芭比。
朵芙曼購買狀況最佳的芭比做為私人收藏。所買的芭比售價可達一千五百歐元（新台幣六萬五千元）。不過，她也買了不少壞掉的芭比來做為備用的身體部位和衣服。
朵芙曼說，她的顧客群不是孩童，而是像她一樣的成年人——是深深懷念童年時光的人或有心的收藏家。
（翻譯︰賴美君）
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