In a way, I think the two items you listed answer your question. Whoever buys them will think they are worth something!

How much they may be worth is another story. In general it probably will boil down to how much someone is willing to pay for them.

While some buyers may be motivated by stories about people who bought, lets say a glass bowl . . . or a pair of earrings like the ones you listed . . . and later discovered they were worth a fortune, personally, I wouldn't count on that kind of luck. I'd be willing to bet the "best" buys are made by collectors who know what they are looking at and can spot a something of potential value from a distance and buy from sellers who have no idea of the item's value.

I guess you could say I was one of those sellers last year. A few years after we were married, my husband and I bought a couple of an interesting items at an "as is" sale. We knew they had to be worth more than we paid for them, which was next to nothing (but a splurge for us at the time, because we had so little to spend).

By the time I found them in our garage last year, it was obvious they were collectible — both because of the type of item they w ere, but also because, by then we had held on to them for at least 30 years. So I listed one on eBay.

I had no idea of its value and tried unsuccessfully to find out, so I took a wild guess and with great trepidation, decided on an amount I never expected to get; then dropped the price a little and offered it as a BIN sale . . . still not sure it would sell.

Once it was listed I figured there was no turning back, so left my computer to get something to eat. When I returned, I discovered it had sold in less than 2 minutes after being listed — and the buyer later contacted me to ask if I had any more to sell.

Obviously he didn't take advantage of me. He just knew more about the item I was offering than I did.

The same probably is true of porcelain and other dolls. As I mentioned in a response to someone a couple of weeks ago, I had read that in the late '80s, when the economy was a heck of a lot better than it is today, several enterprising companies started promoting both porcelain dolls (on TV) and art (especially at fundraising auctions) as collectibles that would be worth a lot some day.

In business, there's a saying that if you wait until you can see the bandwagon, it's too late to join the parade. IOW, the way to capitalize on a good, new idea is to get in and out quickly.The ones who jump onto the bandwagon after peak sales have been achieved (like those who flooded the market with inexpensive porcelain dolls when they saw how well they were selling) usually are left holding the bag.

There still may be some valuable dolls out there, but unless you know what to look for, you probably would be better off by keeping your resale expectations in check. Those 3 for $10.00 dolls might seem like "limited editions" to a manufacturer who only made a handful of that model, but I believe the term "limited edition" usually refers to dolls that have been rated as collectible by a reputable appraiser — or at least regarded as collectible by most people.