Goodby, Dollies as Collector’s Treasure Is Lost

Next to the charred skeleton of his house, Glen Offield stood Tuesday and contemplated life without his Barbies.

“They meant everything to me,” the unemployed collector said. “I could do without eating. I don’t know if I can live without them.”

Inside his gutted house, the broiled torsos of his cheap “Tammy” dolls jutted, unladylike, from a heap of black rubble. But there was no sign of the 5,000 Barbies, which resided--Ken dolls included--in the master bedroom of Offield’s rented Meade Avenue house in Normal Heights.

No blobs of melted pink vinyl remained. No singed blonde bouffants. No hull from Ken’s vintage 1964 hot rod with roll bar. Nothing.

Authorities say that’s because two fires were set deliberately over the weekend to cover up what is perhaps the largest Barbie doll heist in the nation’s history. About $1 million worth, none of it insured.

“The only thing missing is every single bit of his Barbie collection,” said Jeff Carle, an investigator with the San Diego Fire Department. “Somebody knew exactly what they were doing.”

Fire officials say the Barbie-stealers doused the house with gasoline early Saturday morning while Offield was at a doll show in Los Angeles and set fire to it after kidnaping every Barbie, Ken and Skipper. Every Francie. Every Christie. And all their friends. chnically, all of the dolls count as Barbies.)

Ignoring Offield’s brand-new TV, VCR and an autographed poster of Marilyn Monroe, they grabbed Barbie-sized houses, clocks, typewriters, appliances and pets. Even the Barbie Ferrari and Corvette. Everything down to the last little pair of Barbie pumps.

When the house didn’t burn completely, Carle said, the crook returned Sunday morning and lit another fire to obscure the theft. But the complete lack of Barbie corpses made it clear they’d been stolen. Even at the center of a blaze, experts say, they wouldn’t have disintegrated.

Offield says he is known “worldwide” for his collection, which he says contains every single piece of Barbie paraphernalia made between 1959 and 1972, including about 200 prototype dolls. Every item is in mint condition and “never played with,” he says.

Offield, 42, who would describe himself only as an unemployed art director for a video company, says he isn’t a wealthy man and couldn’t afford insurance. He has no family and, he says, not much of a social life. He was only “rich in Barbie dolls.”

“I enjoyed my collection. I worked on it every day,” said Offield, who lives alone. “I’m not the kind of person who runs around at night.”

Barbies were a key part of his livelihood. He carted them, along with other collectibles, to doll shows and lent them to Mattel, their manufacturer, for promotional materials.

Fifteen of his dolls appeared on the cover of Smithsonian magazine in December, 1989. The cover was so popular that Smithsonian created a museum poster emulating it and featuring 31 of Offield’s most stylish Barbies.

His dolls also modeled for Mattel’s Barbie trading cards, dressing up as stewardesses and flower children.

He even had what he describes as the only “Becky” in the world, a Barbie prototype that was never manufactured. Sadly, Offield held up her picture and told how someone recently offered him $20,000 for her. But he wouldn’t sell.

“Her name was Becky,” he stammered. “It was Becky.”

Offield said he was devastated to return from Los Angeles and find his house burned. He said he is suspicious of a certain person, someone who has been inside his house and knows where the valuable dolls were kept.

He also cast suspicion on his housesitter, who he said claimed not to know how to turn on the burglar alarm, when the sitter’s own home has the same kind.

“I find it strange that the only time in a year that the alarm isn’t set, the house gets burglarized,” he said. “There’s something weird going on here.”

But Offield said he feels confident that his collection’s fame will make it extremely difficult to sell the hot Barbies in this country. He believes the thief will try to take them to Japan and says he’s alerted Barbie colleagues here and abroad to watch for his dolls. Even though he has no savings and only the black golf shirt on his back, he’s offering a reward for their return.

“I’m homeless and penniless now, but when I get back on my feet, I’ll pay them back, (for returning the Barbies),” he said. “I’m totally devastated by this.”

Offield said he started the collection eight years ago, buying individual Barbies and whole collections. It was one more chapter in his long history of doll-collecting, which started when he was 2 years old.

“I was always interested in fashion, and Barbie the doll had some interesting fashions over the years,” he said.

Ruth Cronk, president of the International Barbie Doll Collectors Club, said Tuesday that she’s heard of no other big Barbie heists, but acknowledged that interest in vintage Barbies has skyrocketed over the past decade.

At the club’s 1980 convention, fewer than 100 people showed up. But 600 turned out for a recent convention, she said.

Cronk herself paid $2,300 for a 1965 Barbie, an extra-expensive doll because her hair is parted on the side. Most Barbies have a middle part.