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Prepare for the Barbie Auction

Not everyone plays with dolls, some just collect them. This week Christie`s will offer for sale what is seen as the world`s largest private collection of Barbie dolls, which has been a lifelong passion of a Dutch mother. The collection, started in the late 1950`s by Letie Raebel is expected to raise around ?100,000 with stand alone items starting at ?80. Just to give an idea of the items up for sale, a brunette Barbie No1 from 1959, clad in her original zebra-print swimming costume, has an estimated price of between ?800 and ?1,200, while a Parisienne doll, featuring Hubert de Givenchy`s famous balloon-line skirt, is expected to sell for ?400-600.

As the most collectable doll in history, the Barbie sale has garnered much attention as has her whole life span. She has been printed on an American stamp, her portrait was painted by Andy Warhol and she even has her own biography. Famous designers clothed her, and over the years she has been tended to by Calvin Klein, Christian Dior, and dressed by them in varied professional guises, including model, astronaut, doctor, firefighter and politician.

Named Barbie Millicent Roberts and with 95 different careers and 45 nationalities under the belt around her wasp waist, Barbie has a mind-boggling array of accessories, including 43 pets ranging from a poodle to a zebra.