It's fantastic: Blockbuster movie boosts world's top Barbie collection

Guinness World Record holder for the most Barbies has 18,000 in her historic collection

Last updated: July 26, 2023 | 18:50

2 MIN READ

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Duseldorf, Germany: With her whopping 18,000 Barbies, Bettina Dorfmann was already in the record books, but the release of the blockbuster about the blonde icon has thrown a spotlight on her historic collection.

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"As a child I always played with Barbies," Dorfmann, 62, told AFP at her shrine to the plastic doll in the western German city of Duesseldorf..

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"When I got out my dolls for my daughter, she wasn't interested because they were too old-fashioned. That's when I started collecting them myself."

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She's been living the pink dream for 28 years, lending her bevy of Barbies - recognised by Guinness World Records as the globe's biggest - to museums and shopping malls which put them on display for a few months.

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"They usually draw between 5,000 and 20,000 visitors during the exhibitions but since the movie came out (last week), I heard the interest has really grown."

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Demand for her catalogues, which list her lovingly preserved Barbies representing various eras, ethnicities and professions - as well as a few Ken dolls - has also soared over the past week, she said.

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Dorfmann, who has already seen the US movie twice and thinks it's "great", also owns a Barbie "clinic".

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"Repairing a doll can cost anything from 10 euros ($11) to 500 or 600 euros if it's a rare model," she explained.

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Margot Robbie plays 'Barbie' in the blockbuster film.. At the North American box office, "Barbie" turned in the best debut of 2023 with $155 million in takings over the weekend.

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It also topped the German cinema charts with 732,000 tickets sold, according to industry figures.

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