How to determine how much my mannequin is worth?

Although we are not mannequin appraisers, we do offer a few tips below to help you if you have a vintage mannequin you want to evaluate and sell.

We have been recycling and selling used mannequins since 2001. So we have seen almost every brand of mannequin ever produced.

There are some mannequin brands that are highly coveted by mannequin collectors and can resell for hundreds of dollars.  Other brands may not sell for more than $100.

Just because a mannequin is vintage does not automatically make it a collectible, high-ticket product. 

The most sought after mannequin brands with the highest resale value are:
Adel Rootstein (Download our Free Ebook about this Brand)
DG Williams 
Decter
Filoso 
Goldsmith 
Greneker 
Hans Boodt 
Hindsgaul
John Nissan
Patina V 
Pierre Imans
Ralph Pucci
Schlappi  
Wolf and Vine

Is your mannequin a brand name? 

The value of the mannequin will vary widely depending upon the brand. Just like with cars, a used Mercedes will hold its value, a used Ford will not. 

While all cars have the same features technically - four wheels, steering wheel, engine etc. - they are crafted with very different materials. 
A mannequin brand will carry its own unique qualities and value. 

Most, but not all, brand name mannequins will have the company name imprinted on the head, bottom of the foot or on the metal attachment fittings. Knock-offs of brand name mannequins will not have a company name. 

This blog post HERE  has a photo guide to help you identify some of the most popular mannequin brands coveted by mannequin collectors.

Each brand has very distinctive hardware which enables you to recognize the manufacturer.

If you can't identify the brand, we suggest you post photos of your mannequin on the Facebook Group VINTAGE MANNEQUINS and ask the members for assistance. 

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. 

What Factors Impact the Resale Value?

Regardless of the brand of mannequin you have for sale, these are the factors that can impact the sales price. 

 1. Condition – Mannequins with broken or missing parts are not going to be as valuable because of the difficulty of finding replacement parts and the cost of repairs.

2. Pose – Mannequins in seated or reclining poses are hard to find, so they tend to sell for more. 

3. Series – A Rootstein mannequin like Cher, Joan Collins, or Twiggy is going to bring a lot more money, even if it is damaged, because they are highly coveted AND hard to find. 

However a Rootstein mannequin from a series that was widely available, like the Calendar Girl series, might not be worth much even if in mint condition. This is because all the major mannequin collectors already own one or more from these series.
 
4 Face: A mannequin with a realistic face is always more desirable than an abstract, egghead, or headless mannequin.

Most of the Ralph Pucci mannequins have whimisical faces and these are very appealing to collectors.

5 Ethnicity – Asian and African American mannequins are harder to find because they were not widely produced. Their scarcity increases their value.
 
Many vintage African American mannequins have been “WHITEWASHED” so they look Anglo. (The opposite of Blackface) Often the paint is chipping and the darker skin tone is visible underneath the white paint (as in the photo on the left)
 
This means that 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.

6 Restoration Costs: We acquired a bunch of highly coveted realistic vintage Rootstein mannequins from a museum.

Although they were in excellent condition structurally, they had been completely covered from head to toe in yellow or lilac paint.

The glass eyes on the highly coveted Cher mannequin had been painted over. This caused us to get far less money than what she was worth because the seller was going to have to spend a lot of money to restore her. 

7. Other factors that can increase the value are glass eyes versus painted eyes. And, if mannequin comes with a hard cap wig and its original stand.

8 Shipping- Packing a mannequin for shipment is a lot of work and, if not done correctly, could result in the mannequin arriving damaged.

9.If you don't want to ship and have local pick up only, this will mean you will have a smaller pool of potential buyers. Many of the mannequin collectors who have the resources to pay top dollar may not live near you. 

Check out our article on shipping a mannequin here: 

Best Practices for Selling Your Mannequin 

When you post your mannequin for sale, include a photo of the product catalogue if possible, especially if you have a brand name mannequin. 

On our Pinterest board, we have catalogues for Decter, Rootstein, Pucci, Greneker, Hindsgaul and Patina V mannequins.

Before you post your mannequin for sale, you might want to monitor sites like Ebay to see what the current going rates are for your style of mannequin.

Check to see if is SELLING for the price, not just LISTED. Some items have been on Ebay for months without a sale because they asking too much for it.

While Ebay has lots of traffic and that makes it a popular place to sell mannequins, we personally feel their fees are too expensive.

We suggest alternative sites: Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and the Vintage Mannequin group on Facebook.

If there is a used mannequin vendor in your city, perhaps they will sell the mannequin on your behalf. We do that for people quite often. 

How do I price my mannequin?

Keith Dillion, a visual merchandiser, and administrator of the group Vintage Mannequins, has this advice and we share his sentiments:

“You may ask whatever you want for a mannequin and, if someone is interested, they will pay what they’re willing to pay. I’ve seen very collectible brand name mannequins sold for $50, and I’ve seen incredibly basic, mass produced, inexpensive mannequins sell for hundreds over what they could be bought for brand new.
 
It all comes down to what the value of it is to both you and the potential buyer.

Ask for what you would be happy to get right now, and someone will pay what they would be happy to pay right now. Negotiate to meet in the middle where you’re both still happy.”