My Amazing $1.00 Find

All my life I have been fascinated with old-fashioned things, vintage items, etc.  I suppose it all began with my fascination with Anne of Green Gables as a child and grew from there.  I have found a few special items over the years, but nothing compared to what I found with my dear friend this weekend.  We try to arrive at least an hour early for any good rummage or estate sale, but this sale we were running a bit behind.  We eagerly parked, grabbed our bags and off we went to wherever our eyes led.  I immediately rummaged through some gift wrap and doilies and then over to some dolls lying in an old suitcase.  An older gentleman was already there going through each doll, turning them over and reading their markings.  I decided to let him have at it as I am not so familiar with old dolls.  My friend and I decided to go through the inside of the house and we left the driveway for about 20 minutes or so.  As we walked back through the garage and driveway I picked up an Irmi mobile that my lovely friend found for me and some other things I can't even remember now.  :)  As we stood in line to purchase I thought I'd look through the dolls one more time since there were other toys in that area too and nobody else was over there now.  I went over, saw a doll that had something hanging out of the back of her head as if it contained a talking mechanism.  I turned her over saw these gorgeous eyes with long eyelashes and thought she looked like a Blythe.  I turned her over, opened her original dress and there were the words Blythe, 1972 Kenner.  I decided to purchase her and was a bit thrilled since although I have a love for all things shabby chic I had also decided months ago that I definitely thought Blythe dolls were super cool and was going to ask my husband for one for Christmas this year (I had not done much research on them and only knew they were definitely over $100.00).  OK...back to my story...I took her back in line, showed my friend who also gave me a thumbs up and said it was a super cool find.  I was a bit thrilled to think that I was probably holding a doll worth about $100-$200.  Little did I know at the time how much she is really worth.  I asked the darling girl behind the table how much she wanted for her and she shrugged and said in a questioning tone, "I don't know, a dollar?"  I said, "sure."  We walked to the car very excited and when we got inside we admired her a bit as I started to tell her that I thought there was something wrong with her because the string in the back was hanging out of the back of her head.  As I pulled on the string the doll's face was facing my friend and we heard a click and then my friend gasped. Her eyes were changing colors!!  We were so excited.  I pulled the string again...another color..and another...and another....and another!  We screamed about a million times.  It was so exciting.  Still not knowing her exact worth, we were more and more enamored with her by the minute.  I have to say...she also has red hair like me!  I couldn't believe that man left her there in that suitcase!  I was meant to have her!  I can't believe I thought she was broken!  So...as you have probably guessed, we have no fancy equipment, no scanners, no iphones, etc.  I had to wait until I got home to look up her worth and yes, I now know I got the deal of my life!  There are some on ebay right now for $1800.00.  Her hair needs some slight help, but since my research this weekend I've learned that the red heads had the coarsest hair and their hair in general was coarse so that it would hold hairstyles.  She is gorgeous nonetheless and I will adore her forever!  I've given her the name Beca Blythe.  $1.00 for doll, priceless love.  Presenting Beca Blythe: