Encyclopedia of Barbie Doll Family & Friends Licensed Products, 1961-1971, Identification and Values
Alva Christensen and Laural Schwing are a mother and daughter team that has been collecting Barbie dolls since 1979. Alva, who has had a passion for antique bisque dolls since the age of 16, began collecting them when she received an A & M bisque doll from her grandmother. In the late 1940s - 1950s, Alva's grandmother owned a museum at Rainbow Pier in Long Beach, California. Alva remembers, as a teenager, riding the bus to visit her grandmother at the museum.Laural Schwing and Alva Christensen are a mother and daughter team that has been collecting Barbie dolls since 1979. In the 1980s Laural was drawn to licensed products and they branched off into this field of collectibles.In 1991, this team started collecting specifically for a book on licensed products. They spent several years starting to put it together and then took a break while Laural got married and had three children. Now they have come together once again to complete this project.