Mannequin Appraisal
How much is your vintage mannequin worth?
Although we sell used mannequins, we are NOT mannequin appraisers. But we do have some tips that will help you determine the value of your mannequin if you think you have vintage mannequin you want to resell.
Determining the resale value of a mannequin is tricky, even with our experience.
We’ve sold a Rootstein mannequin (one of the most popular brands) in mint condition for as little as $100 and others we’ve sold for close to the original retail price of $1,000.
First you need to identify the manufacturer of your mannequin and ideally find out the year it was made.
This blog post HERE will give you some tips on how to identify what brand of mannequin you have by looking at the hardware
If you still don't know, we suggest you post detailed photos of your mannequin on the Facebook Group VINTAGE MANNEQUINS The members in this group are mannequin collectors from all over the world.
Many of them are former visual merchandisers and have personally worked with all the top mannequin brands. Their collective knowledge far exceeds our knowledge about the value of mannequins.
The most sought after mannequin brands with the highest resale value are:
Rootstein,
John Nissan,
Patina V.
Wolf and Vine
Ralph Pucci
Decter
Hindsgaul
Sometimes collections within a brand are more popular than others. For example with Ralph Pucci mannequins, the Mara Kalma collection is a huge fan favorite.
1. Condition – mannequins with broken or missing parts are not going to be as valuable because of the difficulty and cost of repair/replacement.
2. Pose – sitting, reclining, leaning or partner series mannequins are harder to find than a mannequin standing upright. So they tend to be more sought after.
3. Series – a hard to find Rootstein mannequin like Cher, Joan Collins, Twiggy or Donaluna is going to bring a lot more money even if it is damaged.
But a Rootstein in mint condition from a series that was reproduced more widely, like the Lipstick or Calendar Girl series might not bring in as much money because all the long time mannequin collectors already have them.
4. Ethnicity – African American mannequins are harder to find because they were not widely produced. Same with Asian mannequins.And many of the vintage African American mannequins have been “WHITEWASHED” so the look Anglo. (The opposite of Blackface) So that means it is going to be expensive to restore it to its original skin tone. Buyers will factor that into what they are willing to pay for the purchase price.
5. Restoration Cost. We acquired a bunch of highly coveted vintage Rootstein mannequins in with all their parts from a museum. Although they were in excellent condition structurally, especially given their age, unfortunately their realistic faces and bodies had been painted over. They were either yellow or lilic, even the glass eyes on this Cher mannequin had been painted over. We did not get nearly as much as we could have as a result.
When you post your mannequin for sale it is recommended that you include a photo of the catalogue. On our Pinterest board we have catalogues for Decter, Rootstein, Pucci, Greneker, Hindsgaul and Patina V.
We have also wrote an extensively about Rootstein on our blog and have individual posts on almost all their mannequins
Once you are certain that you have an authentic vintage mannequin and not a knock off the best place to sell it is on Ebay.
Before you post, I suggest you watch Ebay for awhile to see what the going rate is for your brand of mannequin.
Good luck.