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Sharon Korbeck is the editorial director of Toy Shop magazine, Toy Cars & Models, and Antique Trader Weekly for Krause Publications. I talked to her in October about her new book on Barbie, her job as writer & editor of collector magazines, and about her own collections.
Sharon has Masters degree in library science and started her career as a children's librarian. Her degree in English and Journalism beckoned her, and she became editor of a trade journal - for funeral directors! In 1994, she went to Krause.
"I didn't know anything about collecting toys when I started at Krause," Sharon stated. But she had been writing about death and embalming and had known nothing about that when she started. Sharon knew that her journalism background was all she needed.
Krause clearly made the right decision in hiring Sharon. She recently overhauled Antique Trader, making it a timely and more useful publication for antiques dealers and collectors. And over the seven years Sharon has been at Krause, she has become an avid collector herself.
"I have 600 Humpty Dumptys. I have them everywhere - at work, in every room in my house. I have a teapot in the kitchen and a clock in the bathroom. I have books, plush, key chains and more. I also collect tin tops and Maurice Sendak books."
Sharon just finished writing a book, "The Best of Barbie - Four Decades of America's Favorite Doll," and Sharon told me a little bit about it. "I met a woman two hours away with 2,000 Barbie dolls - Georgia Rankin. I visited her collection. The book took about a year from the time of inception. I wrote the copy, and we spent one week taking photos, which was the most time-consuming part of the project."
"Deciding which dolls to include was the hardest part. I chose the most influential or distinctive dolls of each decade." Some Barbies are in the book because they were the first racial representation or the first to represent a foreign country. Others were included because of a particular feature - the first winking eyes, or the first with a particular style of hair.
Sharon believes that the Barbie doll has remained popular because it has changed over 40 years, but yet Barbie has ultimately stayed the same. "She has that look," Sharon said, and noted that Mattel has always paid attention to who their market was.
So where does Sharon get her own collectibles?
"I travel to a lot of shows for my job, and that is where I do most of my buying. I love seeing the item, negotiating and, most of all, talking to people." Sharon has bought some items online, but finds the online venues most useful when she is looking for a specific item.
The Internet has affected prices of collectibles, according to Sharon. Something that was once though rare might now be more readily available. Yet, if you DO have a super-rare piece, you may get more through an online sale. So, Sharon says, the Internet has both helped and hurt prices.
What are the hot collectibles now? At the Atlantique City show in Atlantic City, New Jersey, people were buying up patriotic items like flags and pins. Although attendance was down about 20% from previous years because of the 9/11 attacks, Sharon said people were still buying, and dealers came to the October show from as far away as England and France.
If you would like to take a look at Sharon's new book, "The Best of Barbie: Four Decades of America's Favorite Doll," you can check it out at Amazon at
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0873492617/auctionbytescom.
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