Then came that fateful day last June that
"Alice" (the doll on page 46 of the Lewis book) came up for sale on eBay and the
rest is history. Ron instantly became a Chatty Cathy collector!! After
Alice arrived, Ron realized that she needed clothing. He didn't particularly care for the
vintage "two-toned" blue dress she was wearing, and so he went back on eBay and
began purchasing every vintage outfit that was ever sold for Chatty Cathy!!
Meanwhile, I was still very busy buying dolls
for my personal collection! I purchased my first, second, and third pinwheel eyed dolls
(two Canadians and one American). We were both under the dilution that we were nearing the
end of our "collecting frenzy" and that soon we would be able to make some money
through Dollreaper!! I had sold some of my duplicate vintage clothing and dolls and had
done quite well. Ron was making headway with his doll repairs too! He had learned how to
clean them, wash their hair, and replace teeth and
limbs without damaging the dolls. He had taken apart several dolls but still had not fixed
one or put one back together. Ron was still in denial that he was a Chatty Cathy collector
too! He had this wonderful idea that Alice would be the Dollreaper "spokesmodel"
to "earn" her keep. She became a working girl!!
Then that darn Redheaded Pigtailed Canadian with green pinwheel eyes came up for sale on
eBay. We didn't know it at the time but we were both interested in her (separately). Ron
knew the moment he saw her that we would never make any money with Dollreaper!! We were
like doll junkies, buying more than we would ever sell.
Meanwhile I was trying to figure out a way to get this wonderful doll into our
collection!! (again more debt) I approached Ron with an idea that I hoped would work. Over
the years we had noticed that we both had the same taste in dolls. If I liked a doll he
did too, and visa-versa so I was pretty sure he would like her too. My idea was that we
would buy the doll for each other for Christmas and share her!
Ron agreed to the idea as long as our birthdays were thrown in too. We both decided on a
value that we would be able to afford for the each other and then we bid on the doll and
won her!!
We asked to pay her with two separate payments and after we told her it was for Christmas
she cheerfully agreed. Ron is proud of the fact that he paid more (by one penny) than me
for our Christmas Chatty, that we named Cassandra.
So that is the story of Cassandra, the doll who stopped the Dollreaper from evolving into
a profitable business.
