Over the years, I have had several people e-mail me when searching for information about the Mi-Bebe dolls so I will put some information about them here, all that I know about the dolls.
I don't really know too much about them myself. I got Lindsay from eBay in the year 2000. After I bought her, I looked around on the internet to try to find information about the dolls. The only marks at all on Lindsay were the words "b.b. Made in Spain" on the back of her neck. She didn't have any tags or any other identifying markings anywhere on her. I discovered that the marking on the back of Lindsay's neck was a marking commonly used by Berjusa and on dolls made by or designed by the Berenguer family (who currently design dolls for JC Toys). I think these dolls were manufactured in Spain by Karsuji company, in the 1980's and were called "Mi-Bebe" dolls (Spanish, meaning "My Baby"). Very occasionally I have seen them for sale on eBay mint-in-box. They came in tall white or off-white cardboard boxes with a flower design on them. The dolls were sometimes dressed in knitted gown and sometimes in two-piece or 1-piece pajamas and came with a toy doll's pacifier in their mouth which had a long stem that went into a hole at the back of the dolls mouth inside the mouth. The dolls had a cloth body with a stiff yellow foam insert inside of the body and their limbs and head were made of soft plastic, like vinyl, that was sewn directly to the cloth body. Their head was attached to the body with string tied around the flange on the bottom of their neck. They had a small plastic box inside of their bodies which took batteries (usually 2 AA batteries) and when you remove the pacifier from their mouth you hear a recording of a baby crying. There was also a plastic tube connected from the inside of the dolls left arm to the back of their mouth inside their head. If you squeeze their right hand their mouth makes a sucking noise like a baby sucking on a pacifier. The larger-sized Mi-Bebe had the crying mechanism and the pacifier-sucking feature but I am unsure of the smaller-sized Mi-Bebe had those features. All the Mi-Bebe girls had pierced ears.
I spent a while trying to find another of the dolls on eBay because they don't seem to show up too often and the larger-sized dolls are hardest to find, especially in very good condition. Most of them were bald head design with molded and painted-on hair and a small tuft of synthetic hair toward the back of their head. They seem to be available in sizes ranging from 18 inches to about 26 inches tall. The dolls look virtually the same no matter which size the doll is. The higher-priced ones had a full head of rooted blonde hair, though it seems that most did not have rooted hair. They all have "sleep" eyes, which close when the doll is laid down on it's back. These tend to get discolored over time so when you find these vintage dolls they may have eyes with yellow-looking whites. I have seen some African-American versions of this doll too. All the ones I've seen (I've only seen four so far) have rooted black curly hair and seem to use the same design molds so they look identical in design/pose to the caucasian dolls, except for having the dark color skin and dark hair. Only once, I saw what seemed to be the most uncommon type of Mi-Bebe doll, a girl with long blonde rooted hair styled into pigtails. That doll was the same size as my Lindsay (26 inches tall). The larger size Mi-Bebe dolls are big enough to fit real baby's 3-6 months and 6-12 month clothing, depending on the brand of the clothing. A family member had real baby's 0-3 month clothing on an 18 inch tall Mi-Bebe doll.
At one time, I chatted with another doll collector on e-Bay who knew about the Mi-Bebe dolls and owned a few herself. She told me she had never even seen a Mi-Bebe with a full head of rooted platinum blonde hair and she felt that Lindsay was quite rare indeed. This lady owned an antique shop from which she sold mostly old dolls and had bought and sold a number of the Mi-Bebe dolls over the years. To date, I have only seen a handful of Mi-Bebe dolls in Lindsay's size with a full head of rooted platinum blonde hair on eBay. I have seen four African American Mi-Bebes that were her size though, and have seen three of the 18 inch sized Mi-Bebes that had rooted platinum blonde hair. All the other Mi-Bebes I saw on eBay were 18 inch, 22 inch, 24inch and 26 inch size caucasian dolls and had the painted-on hair with the small tuft of blonde synthetic rooted hair (though I only search eBay now on occasion, since I really don't have the room for any more dolls). The Mi-Bebes with the molded/painted hairstyle seem to be the most common ones and I believe they were the ones that were in the lower price-range of the line when the dolls were originally manufactured. The Mi-Bebe girls with the rooted blonde hair reportedly sold for $100.00 at the time they were manufactured, quite a high price for a doll in the 1980's!
Additionally I have spotted an uncommon face design of the Mi-Bebe dolls, which is a chubby boy. I have seen this boy doll a handful of times and every time the doll had rooted platinum blonde hair and his face design had two little lower teeth showing. More recently, I spotted another of these boy dolls and the seller had plucked out all of the doll's original rooted blonde hair and then had placed a girls style doll wig on the doll's head and dressed it as a girl. For a moment when I saw the photos in the auction I thought it was a genuine girl doll with that face design. It would have been the first time I saw that and I felt the doll would have been rarer than my doll Lindsay, had it been genuinely a girl doll with that face design.
Only once, I saw an African-American Mi-Bebe doll with a different face design than any of the caucasian or African-American Mi-Bebe dolls which I ever saw. It had a similar face design to the caucasian Mi-Bebe boy dolls that I described in the paragraph above. This doll also has two small teeth in it's mouth but the teeth were upper teeth instead of lower teeth. I never saw a caucasian Mi-Bebe doll with this face design.
A description of a mint-in-box Mi-Bebe doll from an eBay auction I saw once reads: "The doll was manufactured by Karsuji, Inc and was made in Spain. She is 24" high with vinyl arms and legs and a cloth body. She is mostly bald with a few lines molded in plastic and colored brown indicating hair. There is a tuft of blonde hair with a white ribbon around it coming out from the right side of her head. She has a medium skin tone, full chubby cheeks, a small dimple in her chin, and a chubby medium size nose. Her sweetly curved full flesh colored lips are open in a smile. You can see the hole where the pacifier fits in. Her unusual sleepy eyes are a pretty amber color with full light brown eyelashes over her eyes. She has no eyebrows that I can see. She is wearing silver ball earrings in her ears. She is wearing a two piece knit outfit. The top is long sleeved in pink and white that has a white trim at the bottom. Mi Bebe is written in pink on the white, lace trimmed bib tied around her neck and there is a pink flower design under the writing. The bottoms are also pink and white and cut off about mid thigh. There is a white dummy (pacifier) hanging around her neck on a white cord. She is not wearing shoes. She has an instruction booklet attached to her wrist. It is in several different languages including English, French and Spanish. She requires batteries but that information is not on the booklet or box. I am assuming it would be available on the back of the doll where I can't get because of her mint in box condition. She is held in place inside of the box at her neck and hips and is in excellent condition. Her box has an attractive lid in a light yellow with flowers around window and sides. There is a depiction of a wizard baby holding a bb logo on the front. 'Take my dummy away and I'll cry' is written in Spanish, French and English across the window."
Current Value of Mi-Bebe Dolls
The dolls originally sold for about $100.00 when they were new. Right now, I suppose the value of the doll would depend on the current condition of the doll, as well as it's popularity with collectors. I have seen them go on eBay for as much as $50.00 for some that are in played-with condition. Some mint-in-box dolls went for about $80.00 to $100.00 I don't usually see them on eBay that often. Most times the person selling the doll does not even know what type of doll it is and just lists the marking on the back of the doll's neck in the auction description. If you don't already have a Mi-Bebe doll and would like to buy one, I think eBay is the best place to check to find one. You may also try checking eBay UK. Since the dolls were manufactured in Spain and sold in Europe, you might have a better chance of finding one from someone in the UK.
Magic Baby Dolls
While researching all this information, I came across a seller on e-Bay ("Wigsnthings") who had sold some dolls which she had imported from Spain (she no longer sells them). Berjusa has since gone out of business and may have sold their design molds to other companies. The dolls that "Wigsnthings" had for sale looked very much like my Mi-Bebe doll Lindsay and were similar in size (about 25 inches tall). They were being made by D'Anton Jos company and were called "Magic Baby" dolls. The seller said they were made around 1995. Some of the dolls had rooted brown hair in a short hairstyle and were dressed as boy dolls. Their rooted hair was much thicker than the Mi-Bebe dolls hair had been. Some of the girl "Magic Baby" dolls had thick rooted blonde hair in a medium blonde shade and it was styled into pigtails. A few of the "Magic Baby" dolls had a full head of thick short curly hair in a dark brown color. D'Anton Jos made the dolls in several different sizes, ranging from 18 inches to about 24-25 inches tall. The taller "Magic Baby" dolls had a cryer mechanism inside, very similar to the Mi-Bebe dolls, though they did not have the pacifier-sucking mechanism. I am unsure if the smaller-sized "Magic Baby" dolls had a cryer mechanism but I suspect they do not. The dolls did have sleep eyes like the Mi-Bebe dolls do.
Cuchi-Cuchi Dolls
I also saw several of the 24 inch (or 26 inch) "Cuchi-Cuchi" dolls on eBay. They were marked with the "B.B. Made in Spain" marking as well and were made of hard plastic. They had moveable arms and legs and their heads could turn also. They had a battery-powed mechanism inside which allowed them to talk, though all the ones I saw spoke in Spanish. I don't know if Karsuji Inc made those dolls too. Someone said they were Berjusa dolls. The Cuchi-Cuchi dolls come in a boy and girl version and the face design had some small teeth in the doll's mouth. All the Cuchi-Cuchi dolls I have seen so far have the talking mechanism and they usually speak Spanish, as those dolls were made in Spain. I think they were about 26 inches tall and they had rooted platinum blonde hair and a face design with two small lower teeth in their mouth. I think they were made around 1984.
La Newborn Dolls
While searching e-Bay's listings around the time I bought Lindsay, I found some new dolls that were designed by the Berenguer family of Spain. They are called "La Baby" and "La Newborn" and are being made by the JC Toys company of Spain. The "Angel" face design doll (like my doll Aiden) looks similar to the Mi-Bebe dolls. It's too bad that JC Toys has not made their dolls in the larger sizes like Karsuji Inc. and D'Anton Jos company did. All of JC Toys' dolls are 21 inches or smaller in height. Below is some information about the Berenguer family which I read on JC Toys' website:
JC Toys Group, Inc. is the proud owner of Dolls by Berenguer. Our company has a long history of doll craftsmanship and design. Since the 1950's the Berenguer family of Spain has been sculpting dolls from their hometown of Castalla, Spain. Up until the early 90's our beautiful dolls were known as Berjusa® dolls. Since then our company name has changed but the superior quality and beauty of our dolls has remained the same. Today the doll collection known as Dolls by Berenguer is still designed by the Berenguer family and continues to captivate the innocence and uniqueness of children everywhere.
© Copyright 2002 by JC TOYS GROUP, INC. All rights reserved.
For any questions or comments contact webmaster@jctoys.com.
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click on any of the photos to see a larger size version.
(all photos were taken from various eBay auctions which I saw between 2000 and 2008.)
(I don't actually own any of the dolls in the photos below, except for two.)
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An 18 inch tall Mi-Bebe girl in original 2-piece outfit. She has rooted blonde hair.
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A 24 inch tall Mi-Bebe girl in a 1-piece outfit. She has the painted-on hairstyle with a tiny tuft of rooted blonde hair. I'm not sure if her outfit is her original outfit.
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A 24 inch tall Mi-Bebe caucasian girl in a 1-piece outfit and a slightly smaller African-American girl, also in a 1-piece outfit.
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The African-American girl has rooted curly black hair and the caucasian girl has the painted-on hairstyle with a tiny tuft of rooted blonde hair.
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A mint-in-box African-American girl. She has rooted curly black hair.
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You can see the small hole for the pacifier in the back of her open mouth.
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A mint-in-box caucasian girl. She has the painted-on hairstyle with a tiny tuft of rooted blonde hair. On her wrist tag or on her box it reads: "Take my dummy away and I'll cry!"
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A rare African-American Mi-Bebe, which I think is a boy. He has rooted curly black hair and a slightly different face design with two small upper teeth in his mouth.
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A pair of African-American Mi-Bebe dolls. The one on the left is a boy and the one on the right is a girl. They each have the same face designs as the caucasian boy and girl Mi-Bebe dolls.
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An African-American boy Mi-Bebe doll. He has rooted curly black hair and a face design with two small lower teeth in his mouth, exactly like the caucasian Mi-Bebe boy doll.
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A photo of my doll Leigha, which appeared in her auction when I bought her on eBay. She was wearing an original Mi-Bebe knitted gown.
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A close-up photo of my doll Leigha from her auction. Her original eyes got yellowed over the years.
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A photo of a very rare Mi-Bebe girl with long rooted blonde hair styled into pigtails. She was reported to have been marked as a "limited edition" doll and had a numbered tag. Her wrist tag read "This doll is part of a numbered series. It has been specially created by our designer team to satisfy the most exigent buyer. We hope it will be to your own taste." It was numbered with the number of 495 and was stamped with the signature of Antonio Berenguer. She is not wearing her original outfit in the photo.
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A close-up photo of a Mi-Bebe girl. She has rooted blonde hair in the shorter hairstyle.
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A mint-in-box Mi-Bebe boy with rooted blonde hair.
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He has the rare face design with two lower teeth in his mouth.
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A mint condition Mi-Bebe boy with the rare face design. He has two lower teeth in his mouth, rooted blonde hair and is wearing his original outfit.
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A Mi-Bebe boy with the rare face design. He has two lower teeth in his mouth and rooted blonde hair. I don't think this outfit is his original outfit.
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A Mi-Bebe boy with the rare face design. He has two lower teeth in his mouth and rooted blonde hair. I don't think this outfit is his original outfit, though it does look like a doll outfit.
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You can easily see his lower teeth in this nice close-up photo. He seems to be in mint condition.
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A Mi-Bebe coloring book. The front of the book has "Karsuji Inc." on the lower right corner. It was published in 1983 and had 14 pages.
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A box from a Mi-Bebe doll.
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A 25 inch tall D'Anton Jos "Magic Baby" boy doll. He came dressed in a maroon velvet 1-piece outfit.
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A close-up of the "Magic Baby" boy doll. He has a pacifier on a ribbon around his neck.
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A D'Anton Jos "Magic Baby" girl doll. She came dressed in a pink dress.
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A close-up of the "Magic Baby" girl doll. She has a pacifier on a ribbon around her neck.
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A D'Anton Jos "Magic Baby" girl doll. She came dressed in maroon velvet dress.
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A close-up of the "Magic Baby" girl doll. She has a pacifier on a ribbon around her neck.
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A pair of Cuchi-Cuchi dolls, a boy and girl. I think they are dressed in their original outfits.
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A close-up of the Cuchi-Cuchi dolls. They each have a face design with small teeth in their mouths.
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A pair of Cuchi-Cuchi dolls, a girl and boy. Without their clothes you can see they have bodies made from hard plastic.
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The back of their bodies have a compartment for batteries.
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An 18 inch tall mint-in-box girl that I saw on auction once. The auction stated her box read "Bebe Blandito" and on the front it said "Mileta" so I'm not sure she was a Mi-Bebe doll, though she does look like them.
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A girl doll that I saw on auction once. She was 24 inches tall, had blue sleep eyes and rooted blonde hair styled in a cute pigtail hairstyle with bangs. She came dressed in a red velvet dress. I suspect she may be a D'Anton Jos doll. (I think the man selling her was from the UK.)
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