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Found this girl in a cheap junk lot on ebay of course! I almost passed her by but a closer look revealed she was something special. I'd seen CIPSA made in Mexico Barbies before but they usually have bad face paint and the heads turn yellow so I wasn't really interested. But since she was only 99 cents plus postage I thought why not?? There seems to be very little info online about them although I did find a lot of photo's. None of the pix showed this girl though so I have no idea who she is. She appears to have the correct markings on her body, has the yellow tinge to her head and quite unusual make up.
Here is a bad pic of the markings on her back--the CIPSA oval is on her waist:
I think she's adorable:
Here is a link to other CIPSA doll photo's and the best info so far:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/36785693@N02/albums/72157619757996710/
Barbie appeared in Mexico in the mid 70s trough the toy company CIPSA which had the rights of Mattel since early 70s producing toys like baby beans, hot wheels etc...
But Barbie appeared just using Steffie Face Mold!, as Barbara Parlante from the rival toy company LILI LEDY had a very similar face to Barbies mod face , the company tought that if they introduce her with that face mold people would think Barbie was a clone or copy of Barbara Parlante!! (how funny lol)
So the first issues of Barbie in Mexico were issued using Steffie Face mold and they created a friend, exclusive for Mexico called Valerie (which the first issue had the Stacey face mold)
Valerie with a gorgeous platinum highlight, very in fashion for that time, is very rare this days.
But later they changed faces again!, Barbie started to use the new superstar face and Valerie using the always loved Steffie face
When Mattel Arrived to Mexico Cipsa went down to busness and they closed their toy production, but as Mattel was new they needed a new company which could help to produce the first dolls, thats why Mattel made an alliance with Aurimat in the early 80s making the same dolls from usa but the quality and the details are very different , like in the kissing barbie and so much others dolls..
Theres even some Barbies from Aurimat-Mattel that are special to Mexico, and some gifsets as well (cuatro estaciones, aniversario, western, etc..)!!! but they are not very appreciated as most of the Aurimat dolls have the Superstar face mold, and sometimes is looked like a regular doll, but is not!, the face details are different and sometimes the plastic used for the heads that most of the times is unmarked...
But almost at the 90s, Mattel as got strong in Mexicos toy market, left Aurimat out of the business to continue by itself, i guess the corporative giants are like that... and now theres only the american editions ... but still Cipsa and Aurimat left alot of amazing and beauty dolls to enjoy this days... and theres still some mysteries to discover and surprises as theres very little information about this companies... i wonder if theres other dolls or outfits that had been produced in Mexico and we dont know yet?? i hope sometime to find out!!
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