American Girl Releases Newest "Historical" Dolls From the 90s

In 1999, you were most likely playing Soulcalibur on PlayStation 2 or watching that new “Freaks and Geeks” TV show. Or maybe you were worrying about the big “Y2K.”

For many of us, 1999 doesn’t seem that long ago. But, according to the American Girl franchise, 1999 is history. The doll company, which Mattel owns, recently released the newest dolls in its flagship historical collection, twin girls from the 1990s. Isabel and Nicki Hoffman are twin sisters from Seattle in 1999 with very different styles.

American Girl dolls first came out in 1986, and today some of those first dolls are worth a pretty penny. Pleasant Rowland created the dolls at her Wisconsin-based company, the Pleasant Company.

The first American Girl dolls were modeled after girls from different times in American history. The dolls were portrayed as girls aged 8–14 from different ethnicities, social classes, and faiths. They were dressed in outfits popular in the time they were supposed to be from and they came with a book that told their backstory.

For example, Molly McIntire, the very first American Girl doll, was supposed to be a girl born in 1944 who was growing up in the years following World War II.

At first, American Girls were only sold through mail-order catalogs, but then, the American Girl Place store opened in downtown Chicago. The store included a restaurant and a 150-seat theater. Visiting the American Girl Place store was a major event that thousands of young girls dragged their parents to every year.

Eventually, American Girl Place retail stores opened around the world, and as of July 2022, there were 12 stores still open. Rowland sold the company to Mattel in 1998 for $700 million.

American Girl dolls aren’t cheap. The popular dolls can cost between $100 and $200 when you buy them and all the accessories they come with. Many a young girl has been shunned by her peers for having a knock-off doll because her parents wouldn’t spring the big bucks for an authentic American Girl doll.

According to Ranker.com, here are the top five most valuable American Girl dolls.

Samantha Parkington - Released in 1986, Samantha portrays a girl growing up in the Edwardian era when women’s rights and child labor laws were debated. Production of the Samantha doll was discontinued in 2009 and then revised in 2014. If you can get an original, it could be worth almost $2,000.

Molly McIntire - American Girl’s very first doll, Molly, was retired in 2013. If you have one of the first Molly dolls created, it could be worth over $700.

Kirsten Larson - Kirsten’s story was similar to "Little House on the Prairie.” She was a Swedish immigrant whose family settled in Minnesota around the 1860s. The doll was discontinued in 2010 and is now valued at over $600.

Kaya'aton'my - Known as “Kaya,” this doll was a member of the Nez Perce tribe that lived in the American Northwest in the late 1700s. A Kaya doll today is worth almost $600.

Felicity Merriman - Created in 1991, the Felicity doll portrayed a girl growing up during the American Revolution. The doll was retired in 2011, then brought back in 2017. If you find one of the first Felicity dolls from the early 90s, she’s worth over $300.