Sarah Nader’s all-time favorite toy, and books, growing up were American Girl. Her favorite show, behind “Friends,” is – and has been – “Antique’s Roadshow.”
Last year, the lifelong Waukesha resident got to combine those two loves, which both happen to be celebrating milestone anniversaries this year: American Girl turns 40, and “Antiques Roadshow” is in its 30th season.
Nader, and her Molly McIntire doll, will be making their debuts during May 4’s episode of the hit PBS program.
In the late-’80s or early ’90s, Nader got into the American Girl books, she said, checking them out from the school library and dreaming of having her own someday.
She saved up chore money to buy Kirsten – one of Wisconsin-based Pleasant Company’s original American Girl dolls – right from the catalog.
“From there, it just became my thing – the thing I loved the most,” Nader said.
She’d go on to have four more dolls: Samantha, Molly, Felicity and Addy.
While the dolls had been in storage for years before being brought back out for “Antiques Roadshow,” they’ve stayed with Nader in spirit throughout her life.
Nader – who works in corporate retail and is also a part-time pilates instructor – has an appreciation for the kind of person American Girl shaped her into, and how they sparked her love for American history. She even minored in history in college.
“I loved what they stood for. They encouraged little girls and young women to be strong and smart and brave and kind and generous,” she said.
Though, some social media commenters could use a refresher on a couple of those lessons after what Nader said she’s experienced since a preview from her segment on “Antiques Roadshow” was released.
Here’s a look at Nader’s connection to American Girl, how she ended up on “Antiques Roadshow,” and more:
Waukesha woman’s connection to American Girl
Nader, her best friend and both of their moms went to two Pleasant Company warehouse sales in Middleton, she said, which is where Nader purchased Molly, Samantha, clothes and accessories. She bought Molly for $50 with birthday money.
As a child, Nader recalled sitting her dolls around her to read to them – the American Girl collection “a million times,” as well as other books – from her bedroom fort. She’d write her own stories with them, too, and act them out.
For one of Nader’s birthdays, her mom threw her an American Girl-themed tea party. Nader and her friends dressed up as the dolls, and her mom even had the birthday cake modeled after Molly’s own.
“It was just the best birthday party,” she said.
When Nader was done playing with the dolls, for good, they were stored “really carefully” – wrapped in fabric, laid facedown to protect their eyes and placed in lock-tight containers.
How a Waukesha woman ended up on ‘Antiques Roadshow’
“I have loved ‘Antiques Roadshow’ probably since its inception in the mid-’90s,” Nader said.
“When other teenagers were doing teenage things,” she said, she spent her Friday nights tuning in (that’s when it used to air). Nowadays, the show makes her Monday night every week.
“It’s the history. It’s the factor that you never know what’s coming next. You never know what item is going to be there. You always learn something,” she said. “It’s just got everything for me.”
Last year, Nader saw on social media that the show was bringing its tour to St. Louis.
With that being drivable, she said, she applied for tickets via an Instagram contest conducted by the show, and ended up winning two.
Nader’s husband couldn’t take off of work, so she asked her dad if he’d accompany her. Being “the best dad I could ever ask for,” he made it happen, she said.
Each person with a ticket could bring two items to get appraised, Nader explained. In a suitcase, she brought – you guessed it – her American Girl dolls (they were considered one collection). Plus, her husband’s handmade vintage smoking jacket.
Nader’s dad brought his great-grandfather’s clay marbles, and artwork Nader’s mom wanted appraised.
When the father-daughter duo arrived to Grant’s Farm for their timed entry, they went in a line where they were directed to other lines that corresponded with the category of the items they brought. With the doll line being the furthest away, that’s the one they hit first.
“It was a really relaxed, fun atmosphere,” Nader said. “Everybody was in a great mood, happy to be there.”
When she reached the front of the line and was unpacking her dolls, one of the show’s doll appraisers, Brigid Jones of McHughs LLC in Virginia, “got kind of a look on her face, had kind of a reaction,” Nader recalled.
Jones stepped away for about 10 minutes, Nader said. When Jones returned, she pulled Nader aside and asked what she thought about being filmed.
“My jaw dropped,” Nader said. “I had absolutely zero idea that I would be chosen to be filmed. It was surreal.”
When Nader agreed, she said, a producer came over to conduct an initial interview with her, then left to deliberate with other show personnel.
About 20 minutes later, Nader said, she was told she’d be going to hair and makeup, and was advised not to tell anyone about this or look up anything online.
She got to watch someone else’s filming to know what to expect before being mic-ed up and positioned on the set herself. Nader’s dad got to go to the green room with his daughter, and was given a headset to hear her time with Jones.
While Nader and Jones chatted for about 20 to 30 minutes, Nader said, the segment was edited down to a few minutes.
“It was an amazing experience,” Nader said. “Whatever the doll was worth, or is or isn’t worth – I know there’s a lot of online kind of discussion about that – even if it was worth zero dollars. The fact that I got to go to my favorite show, see the whole process from beginning to end, and be filmed. It was amazing. It was priceless.”
More on that online discourse she mentioned in a minute.
Sneak peek of Waukesha woman with Molly American Girl doll on ‘Antiques Roadshow’
The “Antiques Roadshow” YouTube channel shared sneak peeks of May 4’s episode, titled “Grant’s Farm, Hour 2,” including a video featuring Nader and Molly.
“I brought my American Girl Molly doll,” Nader told Jones in the preview, as the doll is shown. “I actually got her from the warehouse sale at the Pleasant Company in Middleton, Wisconsin, probably 25, 30 years ago.”
When Nader was in elementary school, her best friend, and both of their mothers went to a warehouse sale for “a fun girls weekend,” she told Jones.
“It was kind of a crazy event, lots of people in line rushing for dolls, and I just had to have Molly,” she continued.
“I loved her braids and her glasses and her bangs,” Nader laughed, pointing to her own bangs.
“I can see the resemblance,” Jones said.
The appraiser went into a brief history of American Girl founder Pleasant Rowland, her company – which was sold to Mattel in 1998 – Molly’s story, and more.
“This particular Molly is one of the first Mollys,” Jones told Nader, pointing out the color of the doll’s torso, her original “made in West Germany” clothing including a real-knitted sweater, and actual glass in her eyeglasses.
“Yours being an early 1986, one of the first ones coming from Germany, makes her a little more significant,” Jones said. “You took great care of her.”
Jones estimated the value of the doll to be about $1,200 to $1,500.
“Oh my gosh. That’s amazing,” Nader responded. “I’m so glad I never took her hair out and played with her. And, thanks mom for taking me to the warehouse sale.”
Commenters pointed out that while the appraiser was going over the history, she named Felicity as one of the original three American Girl dolls. “FACT CHECK: The original American Girl Doll characters were Molly McIntire, Samantha Parkington, and Kirsten Larson. We will be updating the episode accordingly,” the show wrote and pinned in the comments.
The Journal Sentinel’s arts editor Jim Higgins recently did a deep-dive on American Girl in honor of its milestone anniversary and the forthcoming release of a new book, “The Making of American Girl” (American Girl Publishing/Mattel Press). More on American Girl’s history can be found here.
Would Sarah Nader ever sell her American Girl dolls?
Nader doesn’t think so.
“They just have a lot of sentimental value to me,” she told the Journal Sentinel. “They were either something I earned with my own hard work and money through chores and birthday money, or they were Christmas gifts from my parents, which they worked really hard to earn money to buy them … One of them was from my grandparents, who are no longer with me.”
‘Intense’ discourse on social media: ‘You’re talking about somebody who is human and has feelings’
When “Antiques Roadshow” shared the preview from the Nader/Molly/Jones segment on social media recently, Nader said it was met with some people strongly disagreeing with the appraisal, and others “making fun” of Nader for not playing with her doll harder. Some questioned whether or not American Girl could even be considered antique.
People even did a story on it.
It’s been “intense,” “overwhelming,” and something Nader said she wasn’t prepared for. After she kept receiving direct messages and being tagged, she said, she deleted her Facebook and made her Instagram private.
“I would just like to say that, remember, you’re not just making a comment. You’re talking about somebody who is human and has feelings,” Nader said. “And, they’re not only making fun of a 40-something woman for her doll, but they’re making fun of that little 8-year-old girl, who saw the foresight to take really good care of her doll because she worked hard for it and she treasured it.”
At this point, Nader said she is trying to just be excited about her segment airing, and “the once in a lifetime experience that it is.”
She’ll be having an intimate watch party with her immediate family and best friends with pizza, a cookie cake that says “Happy Antiques Roadshow,” and champagne to celebrate.
How to watch
The episode with Nader and Molly, titled “Grant’s Farm, Hour 2,” premieres at 7 p.m. Monday, May 4, on PBS, the PBS app and on the show’s YouTube channel.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Waukesha woman brings American Girl doll to ‘Antiques Roadshow’
Reporting by Hannah Kirby, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
